Goodspeed's History of Tennessee -

Fayette County Biographies


Wiley B. Jones

Surnames: JONES, BAKER, BASS


Wiley B. Jones was born in Buckingham County, Va., September 25, 1813, and is a son of Author and Sarah (Baker) Jones, natives of Virginia. The father was of Welsh descent and the mother of Irish. The father was born October 21, 1769, and died near Tuscumbia, Ala., October 24, 1836. The mother was born January 4, 1779, and died in Alabama September 4, 1828. They moved to Alabama in 1817 and settled in Madison County, and in 1836 moved near Tuscumbia where they spent the remainder of their days. They were both devout members of the Baptist Church and the father a most successful farmer, and a Democrat. Wiley B. Jones was the youngest of nine children and the only one living. He was chiefly educated at Tuscumbia, Ala., and at La Grange College in Alabama, when that institution was under the supervision of Bishop Robert Paine of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. After leaving college he farmed during 1832-34, in northern Alabama, and in 1835 moved to Tennessee and settled in Fayette County twelve miles southeast of Somerville, where he lived for thirty five years, and in 1880 moved to La Grange, but continued to look after his farming interests a few years: at different times in his life he engaged in the mercantile business, but has made farming his chief occupation, and by judicious management now owns over 4,000 acres of land in Tennessee and Arkansas. July 17, 18321, he married Miss Mary 0. Bass, born in Rutherford County, Tenn., February 7, 1816. Mrs. Jones and four children are members of the Methodist Church. Mr. Jones is not a church member but accepts the Christian faith. He gives his earnest support to the Democratic party. He is a man of fine social position and esteemed by all.


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