Spencer C. Jones (7/3/1836-4/1/1915)
MSA SC 3520-1549
Biography:
Born Spencer Cone Jones, July 3, 1836, Rockville, Maryland. Son of
Rev. Joseph H. (1798-1871) and Elizabeth (Clagett) Jones. Attended
Rockville Academy; Frederick College. Baptist.
Married Ellen Brewer (7/22/1845-7/21/1876), December 21, 1871. One daughter,
Elizabeth (1/31/1875-1940) (m. Thomas R. Falvy). Died April 1, 1915,
in New Orleans, Louisiana. Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick,
Maryland.
Spencer Cone Jones was born on July 3, 1836, at Rockville, Montgomery
County. He was the son of Rev. Joseph H. Jones (1798-1871), a Baptist
minister, and Elizabeth (Clagett) Jones, a native of Montgomery County.
Jones was educated at Rockville Academy. His family later moved to
Frederick County, where he attended public schools and Frederick
College. Upon graduation, he read the law with William J. Ross of Frederick,
and was admitted to the Frederick County bar in 1860.
Jones began to practice law, but the Civil War overturned his plans.
A Confederate sympathizer, he enlisted in Company D of the First Maryland
Cavalry. In May of 1862, he was arrested and imprisoned for eight months,
being held at various periods in the city jail at Baltimore, Fort McHenry,
and Fort Delaware. When he was first arrested, he was listed as prisoner
of war in Baltimore City Jail. He was subsequently transferred back and
forth between Fort McHenry and Fort Delaware for interrogation. During
this period, he was listed at various times as either a prisoner of war
or a political prisoner. He was released from Fort McHenry on December
16, 1863. In February of 1864, Jones was charged in the Frederick
County Circuit Court for levying war and in 1865 was disbarred from the
Frederick County Bar. The state dropped the charges in March 1866.
After the war he taught school near Huntsville, Texas, not returning to
Maryland until after the adoption of the state constitution of 1867. Jones
remained influential among former Confederates, speaking at meetings of
war veterans, including the dedication of a memorial to the Confederate
dead in Winchester, VA.
Upon returning to Maryland in 1868, Jones established a law practice
in Rockville. On December 21, 1871, he married Ellen, daughter of John
and Elizabeth Stewart (Buchanan) Brewer. Ellen's father was an influential
Montgomery County lawyer, who had been a member of the state constitutional
convention in 1850. On January 31, 1875, Ellen Jones gave birth to a daughter,
Elizabeth, who later married Thomas R. Falvy of New Orleans, LA.
Mrs. Jones died a year and a half later, on July 21, 1876
A Democrat, Jones was elected State's Attorney of Montgomery County
in 1871 and re-elected in 1875. He was clerk of the Court of Appeals, elected
in 1879 and 1885, serving a total of twelve years in that office. During
this period, Jones was often appointed to serve as a Trustee in equity
cases that were adjudicated before the Montgomery County Circuit Court.
He also rose to a high position within the Maryland Democratic Party, speaking
often at state party conventions, as well as Democratic parties and rallies.
The Maryland legislature elected him Treasurer of the State of Maryland
in 1892. He was re-elected in 1894, but lost the 1896 election due
to a Republican majority in the General Assembly. Jones was considered
several times for the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination for Governor.
In 1895, Jones’ nomination was thought likely, but his ambitions were thwarted
when Arthur P. Gorman threw his support to a Mr. Hurst. Rockville
elected Jones mayor in 1898, and again in 1900. He resigned in 1901 upon
being elected to the state Senate. During the session of 1902 he
was chairman of the Finance Committee, and in 1904 he served as president
of the Senate.
As a state senator, Jones served on the Executive Committee of the State
House Building Commission.He took a leadership role in the construction
of the State House Annex at the beginning of the twentieth century. On
the Building Commission, he frequently participated in meetings regarding
the funding and contracts for the State House refurbishment and construction
of the State House Annex. In August of 1902, Baltimore Sun reported
that the idea for the Annex was Jones’ and that he was the one who submitted
the appropriations bill to fund the restoration and construction. Jones’
original bill requested $400,000, but at the request of the Governor and
Treasury officials, he reduced the amount of the appropriation to $250,000,
with the understanding that any additional money would be provided during
the next legislative session. When Jones was elected President of the State
Senate on January 4, 1904, Jones emphasized the importance of completing
construction on the State House: “So with the sunshine of prosperity, honor
and usefulness upon us should we hesitate to make this house a beautiful,
lasting and appropriate expression of our gratitude for, and pride in,
the achievements of our people? It is with sadness that we are compelled
by the necessities of the situation to vacate the old Senate Chamber, memorable
in the history of the State, and in which cluster associations which strike
a tender chord in the heart of every true Marylander. Let us have if restored
as near as, possible to its original condition and sacredly preserve it
as the holiest of all in this temple of our liberties,” (Archives of Maryland,
Vol. 401, pp. 10). Jones was particularly emphatic in his speech that the
Legislature should provide the necessary funding to complete the work on
the State House and that such work must be done in a way to retain the
original character of the building.
Jones’ term in the Senate ended with his defeat in the Democratic primary
by Blair Lee in 1905. In addition to his legal practice and his political
career, Jones served as director, and later president, of the Montgomery
County National Bank of Rockville. Socially active, he was a Mason
and Knight of Pythias, holding high offices in both organizations.
He also served as vice president of the Board of Visitors of the State
School for the Deaf at Frederick. Spencer Cone Jones died April 1,
1915, in New Orleans, at the home of his daughter, Elizabeth, and son-in-law,
Thomas Falvy. His body was brought back to Frederick and buried beside
his wife, Ellen.
