Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

James A. Jones (b. 1803 - d. 1894)
MSA SC 5496-51536
Entrepreneur,  Free Black Property Owner, Kent County, Maryland

Biography:

James A. Jones was born on September 1, 1803 on the corner of Cannon and Kent Streets in Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland to free parents, Peter and Hannah Jones.1 According to a recent article published in the Easton Star Democrat, his mother may have been of Irish ancestry.2 His father’s will states that in 1820 he had four living siblings: Nancy, George, Eliza, and John.3

Jones’ freedom allowed him to establish himself as a successful entrepreneur prior to  the Civil War.  An early record of his entrepreneurship appeared in the May 22, 1829 issue of the Chestertown Telegraph which includes an advertisement for fresh meat, porter, and ale from “James Jones, Descendent of Africa.”4 The 1860 U.S. Federal Census records that he was a butcher and owned $5,000 in real estate and $500 in personal property.5  The 1870 U.S. Federal Census records that he was a grocer and owned $4,000 in real estate and $500 in personal property.6  The 1880 U.S. Federal Census records his occupation as a retired merchant.7 

The censuses shows that a large portion of his wealth was in real estate.  Simon J. Martenet’s 1860 map of Chestertown shows that Jones owned several lots on Cannon Street and his home on High Street.8  In 1848, Jones brought a portion of his property on Cannon Street from Ezekiel Forman Chambers, who was a former United States Senator, a judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals, and a renown proponent of slavery. 9

In 1852, he was elected a delegate to the Convention of Free Colored People in the State of Maryland.10 During the convention he spoke in support of the emigration of African-Americans to Liberia.  The Baltimore Sun’s report of the first day’s proceedings of the convention states that he believed "the colored man could never rise to eminence except in Africa—in the land of their forefathers.”11 His outspoken support of the colonization movement led to threats against his life. The Baltimore Sun’s report states that following his address “he had been informed that his head, if not his life, was in danger if he left the room.  He would therefore leave under the protection of the police, and send in the morning his resignation.”12 However, after receiving assurances of his safety from the Rev. Darius Stokes of Baltimore, he decided to remain at the convention where he was elected to the Platform Committee and continued to serve as an advocate of colonization. After the convention he appears to have continued to support the colonization movement.  The Maryland Colonization Journal reports that he donated to the Maryland State Colonization Society in September, 1852.13 

Following the ratification of the Fifthteenth Amendment, it became illegal to bar a male citizen from voting because of their race.  However, many of Chestertown’s African-American residents remained disenfranchised in local elections because Chestertown required voters in municipal elections to own land.14 To fulfill this requirement an African-American businessman named Isaac Anderson sold forty-five inches of land to forty-four African-American men.15 The following year, Jones sold a square foot of land on Cannon Street to fifty-two men for the same purpose.16

Beginning in 1840, Jones served as a trustee of a congregation that is referenced in early records as the Methodist African Church Zion and the Methodist Episcopal Church of the Colored People of Chestertown.17  The congregation officially chartered itself as the Janes Methodist Episcopal Church in 1879.18  He was elected by the Delaware Conference as a lay delegate to the Sixteenth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in 1872.19 During the General Conference, Jones' fellow delegate from the Delaware Conference, the Rev. Nathan Young, presented resolutions on behalf of the Delaware Conference that requested the election of black bishops and the elimination racial distinctions in the The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church.20

Jones died in 1894. According to his obituary in the Chestertown Transcript he was married six times and had eight children.21  In his will he bequeathed most of his properties and possessions to his surviving children, including his home on High Street and his former shop also on High Street.22

Click here to view visual presentation of James A. Jones' life in Chestertown. Adobe Flash Player is necessary to access this file.

Endotes:

1. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (The Chestertown Transcript) [MSA SC 3326] “An Old Colored Man Dead," The Chestertown Transcript, March 29, 1894.

2. Peter Heck, “Butcher helped found church, fought for racial equality,” The Star Democrat, February 6, 2011, accessed July 12, 2012, http://www.stardem.com/article_032df931-cc55-5992-a076-e27b79201603.html 

3. KENT COUNT REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills) 1816-1827 [MSA CM671-12] 10, p. 255.

4. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Telegraph Collection) [MSA SC 3776] "Notice," The Telegraph, May 22, 1829.

5. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD) 1860 [MSA SM61-212] Kent County, Chestertown, Page 187.

6. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD) 1870 [MSA SM61-274] Kent County, Chestertown 4th District, Page 26.

7. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD) 1880 [MSA SM61-323] Kent County, Chestertown District, Page 133.

8. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Hammond Harwood House Atlas Collection) [MSA SC 1427 -1 -231] Martenet's map of Kent County.

9. KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) [MSA CE 118-53] JNG 12, p. 53.

10. "Colored Colonization Convention," The Baltimore Sun, July 27, 1852.

11. Ibid

12. Ibid

13. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (The Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society Collection) [MSA SC 5977] Md. Colon. Journal (S1859) 6/1844 - 6/1855. September, 1852.

14. “Affairs in Kent County,” The Baltimore Sun, May 28, 1870.

15. KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) [MSA CE 57-15] JKH 9, p. 315.

16. KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) [MSA CE 57-21]  JKH 11, p. 73

17. KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) [MSA CE 57-10] JKH 4, p. 692.

    KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) [MSA CE 57-30] SB 7, p. 347.

18. KENT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Charter Record) 1869-1898 [MSA CM648-1] Book 1, Page 115.

19. “An Old Colored Man Dead"

19. W. L. Harris and G. W. Woodruff, eds., Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1872), 4, 
accessed July 25, 2012, http://www.archive.org/stream/journalofgeneral07meth#page/n5/mode/2up

20. Ibid, 128

21. “An Old Colored Man Dead"

22. KENT COUNT REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills)1888-1896 [MSA CM671-18] TRS 1, Folio 360.

Written by Christian Savage, Summer Intern, 2012.

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