1925 Biography - Thomas S. Jones

Thomas Sambola Jones, M. A., LL. D., is a distinguished member of the bar of the capital city of Louisiana, and in his active career his qualities as a statesman and diplomat have caused him to be called to many positions of high public trust, including that of United States minister to Honduras. At the time of this writing, 1924, he is a member of the House of Representatives of the Louisiana Legislature, a body in which he had served also in earlier years.

Judge Jones was born in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, October 5, 1839. His grandfather on the paternal side was William Henry Jones, who passed his entire life in Alabama, where he was a resident near Russellville at the time of his death. William H. Jones became one of the extensive planters in the vicinity of Russellville, and was a scion of a Welsh family that was founded in Alabama in the Colonial period of our national history, the original orthography of the family name having been Jones. The maiden name of the wife of William H. Jones was Ann Cox, and she likewise passed her entire life in Alabama.

Thomas S. Jones, M. D., father of him whose name initiates this review, was born near Russellville, Alabama, in the year 1823, and passed the Closing period of his bug and useful life in the home of his son, T. Sambola, of this sketch, at Baton Rouge, where his death occurred in 1909. He received from LaGrange College, in the city of Philadelphia, the academic degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts, and thereafter was graduated in its medical department also. After receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was for forty-five years engaged in the active and successful practice of his Profession at Jackson, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and in the period of the Civil war he was there designated by both the Confederate and Federal authorities to serve as physician and surgeon in the care of the ill and wounded soldiers of both the Southern and Northern armies. He served not only as Visiting surgeon of the Louisiana Insane Asylum at Jackson, but was for thirty years in service also as chairman of the executive board of this institution. His services as a skilled surgeon were widely requested in the Civil war period, and he performed many surgical operations not only in Louisiana but also in Mississippi. In 1889 he established his residence in Baton Rouge, and here he continued in the practice of his profession, as one of the distinguished physicians and surgeons of Louisiana, for an additional period of twenty years, his professional services having thus covered a period of more than thirty years. As a democrat he served one term in e Senate of the Louisiana Legislature. The Doctor was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was identified with various professional organizations, including the Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and he and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mrs. Jones, whose maiden name was Eliza Perkins Perry, was born at Jackson. this state, and was sixty-six years of age at the time of her death, which occurred in Baton Rouge, at the home of her son, the immediate subject of this sketch. The home of Judge Jones also figured as the place of the death of his only sister and two of his brothers. The sister, Annie Leonora, eldest of the children, was sixty years of age at the time of her death and was the widow of Rev. David M. Rush, D. D., who was a distinguished clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and who was president of Centenary College at Jackson, this state, at the time of his death. Dr. Joe S., next younger of the children, adopted the profession of his father, served as state quarantine physician of Louisiana, and was forty-four years of age at the time of his death, in the home of his brother. T. Sambola. Mr. Robert R., a successful young physician and surgeon, likewise died at the home of Judge T. Sambola Jones, his next older brother, he having been thirty-six years of age at the time of his death. Robert Perry, the third of the children, was killed in an accident in Jackson when seventeen years of age.

At Jackson, as a member of the class of 1876, Judge T. Sambola Jones was graduated from Centenary College, from which he received the degrees of both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, this institution being now established in the city of Shreveport. In 1879 he received from his alma mater the supplementary degree of Master of Arts, and in 1920 the same fine old college conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. For two years after his graduation Judge Jones taught school at Trinity, Catahoula Parish, and thereafter he attended lectures in both the medical and law departments of Tulane University, in the latter department of which he was graduated in 190_, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. From that year to the present time he has continued as a representative member of the Baton Rouge bar. His scholastic and executive ability was shown also in bus for years of constructive service as superintendent of the public schools of Baton Rouge in the earlier days of his residence in the capital city. For more than ten years he here presided on the bench of the inferior court of the city, and for six years he was private secretary to Governor M. J. Foster. His versatility has been shown in divers other directions, he was for fifteen years, editor of the official journal of the State of Louisiana, The Daily Advocate. He represented East Baton Rouge Parish in the Lower House of the State Legislature in the period from 1912 to 1918, and he resigned his seat to accept the diplomatic office of United States envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Honduras, a position to which he was appointed by the late and revered President Wilson. He retained this post during 1919-20. In the period of American participation in the World war Judge Jones served as chairman and manager of the Louisiana State Council of Defense. In the spring of 1924 he was again elected to the Legislature, in which he is now serving as speaker of the House of Representatives. The Judge was a Southern commissioner at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, and later was an official representative as Commissioner at large in the United States of the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

He was for several years owner and editor of the Louisiana Educator, which he made a power in connection with educational affairs in the state. He was associated with Colonel Thomas D. Boyd and Rev. T. K. Fontleroy in establishing the Louisiana Chautauqua at Ruston, and there served a number of years as a lecturer. He has gained wide reputation as a brilliant public speaker, and in his capacity as commissioner for the two expositions above referred to he delivered addresses before a majority of state legislative bodies in the United States. He has been influential in the councils and campaign activities of the democratic party for a long period of years. The judge has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights of Pythias. He is actively identified with the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, and was a charter member of the Baton Rouge Golf and Country Club, from which he resigned in 1919. He is affiliated with the East Baton Rouge Parish Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association. In the practice of his profession he was for many years associated with K. A. Cross, as junior member of the firm of Cross & Jones. He is now virtually retired from the active practice of his profession.

To the physical advancement of his home city Judge Jones has contributed by the erection of many homes, and his extensive real-estate holdings in the capital city include his modern and beautiful home place at 630 Third Street.

In 1883 Judge Jones wedded Miss Deborah Henrietta Spencer, daughter of the late Judge W. B. Spencer, who was a justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Mrs. Jones was survived by one child, Eliza Perry, who became the wife of James E. Halligan and who was only thirty years of age at the time of her death, in New Orleans. Mr. Halligan, who was for a number of years chief chemist at the Agricultural Department of the University of Louisiana and who was also associated with the cotton industry in this state, is the author of a number of text books presently taught in Louisiana on stock raising and agricultural subjects.

While serving as minister to Honduras Judge Jones was there united in marriage to Miss Julia deDuron, daughter of Romula deDuron, who was then chief justice of Honduras, where he is now (1924) serving as secretary of state. Mrs. Jones, a woman of culture and attractive personality, is a popular figure in the social activities of Baton Rouge.

Note: The referenced source contains an autographed portrait of the subject.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 123-124.