1914 Biography - John W. Jones

Jones, John Welch, M. D., was born in South Carolina, Oct. 18, 1826. He is a descendant of revolutionary ancestors, both of his grand-fathers having fought under Gen. Francis Marion. He came to Louisiana in 1848, and was graduated in medicine from the Tulane university of Louisiana, New Orleans, in 1852. He quickly established a large and lucrative practice in the parishes of East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge and engaged actively in the yellow fever epidemics of 1853, 1855 and 1857. At the beginning of the Civil war he raised a company (the plains cavalry) of 115 men, who elected him captain. He was in actual service as such until after the battle of Baton Rouge. In 1865 he was one of the victims of a steamboat boiler explosion on the Tombigbee river and of 39 men he alone escaped instant death, but received injuries from which he did not recover for more than 2 years. The close of the war found him reduced in fortune and broken in health; a failure in eyesight caused by the boiler explosion barred him from the active practice of medicine, but with unshaken fortitude he embarked in the drug business. In 1869 he resumed the practice of his profession and was continuously engaged therein until 1874 when he was elected superintendent of the Insane Asylum of Louisiana. At his official inception he found that institution in a sad state of demoralization and want. The attendants had not been paid for many months; no funds were found in the treasury; the patients were without clothing and the necessities of life, and none would credit the asylum for $1. It was here that the character and energy of this remarkable man shone forth brilliantly. He at once bought supplies and absolutely furnished the asylum for 3 months out of his own pocket with no certainty of being remunerated. His next step was to organize the strongest of the patients into farm hands for the purpose of raising vegetable and field products, which was an abundant success. Having relieved the institution from its pressing necessities, his energetic mind conceived the idea of making brick on the grounds of the asylum with the view of expanding its capacity, for even in those trying days Dr. Jones dreamed of a time when Louisiana would be in a position to care for every insane man and woman in the state instead of leaving them in jails to parch from summer's heat and freeze from bitter cold. After purchasing a cheap brick machine he engaged in this enterprise with characteristic vigor soon had 3,000,000 bricks of excellent quality. This put him in a position to virtually force the legislature to appropriate sufficient funds for the construction of a magnificent building which was rapidly followed by the construction of 4 other line buildings, thus increasing the capacity of the State Insane Asylum from 166 to over 600. Having now fairly launched this institution on its career of pride and usefulness he admitted all applicants, receiving 130 from New Orleans in one day and thereby closing the doors of that notorious bedlam known as the Marine hospital. After having devoted 14 years to the care and welfare of these sorrow-laden wards of the state, he resigned his position in 1888 and retired to the management of his estate. Dr. Jones now resides at Jackson, La. Though nearly 88 years of age he is still engaged in the management of his plantation and takes an active interest in everything that makes for progress and the common welfare. Dr. Jones is a Master Mason. Dr. Jones married Amaryntha Huff, a native of Mississippi, whose parents had also come from South Carolina, with one of the earliest Mississippi colonies and settled in Wilkinson county. Of this union 10 children were born. Those surviving are: Dr. Philip Huff Jones, of Baton Rouge, Dr. George Hilton Jones, of Lutcher, Mrs. George Keller, of Jackson, Miss Lily Jones, of Jackson, and W. Carruth Jones, of Baton Rouge.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Louisiana: Comprising Sketches, edited by Alcee Fortier, published in 1914, volume 3, pages 210-211.