Jones, Charles

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Thomas F. McIlwraith, “JONES, CHARLES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003– 2003. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/jones_charles_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Businessman, office holder, politician, and militia officer; b. 28 Feb. 1781, second son of Ephraim Jones and Charlotte Coursol (Coursolles); m. first 8 June 1807 Mary Stuart, daughter of John Stuart, in Kingston, Upper Canada, and they had three sons; m. secondly 1820 Florella Smith, with whom he had three sons and two daughters; d. 21 Aug. 1840 in Brockville, Upper Canada.
    • Charles Jones was a member of one of the first loyalist families to settle in the upper St Lawrence valley, in Township No.7 (Augusta, Ont.) in 1784.
    • About 1802 Jones settled in Elizabethtown Township, most likely at the site of Elizabethtown (Brockville) on the St Lawrence River, and by 1803 he had opened the town’s first general store. He may have been set up by his father. In 1805 Jones bought 300 acres of riverfront property adjacent to land owned by William Buell, thus bringing him face to face with another of the region’s founding families. In a lifelong rivalry for local prominence, Jones, an Anglican, was the conservative tory, while Buell, who became a Presbyterian, represented the liberal strain. They agreed on the value of education, hard work, parliamentary democracy, and the rule of law, and were even prepared to act cooperatively when it appeared in their interests to do so. The new town-site grew rapidly, and the names of both Buell and Jones were suggested for it. The standoff between Williamstown and Charlestown was resolved by the death of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock in the War of 1812, which allowed each contestant to display his pride in the British connection and agree upon the use of the revered general’s name. The rivalry was intense, but gentlemanly.
    • In 1816 Jones had contested the single seat for Leeds in the House of Assembly. He had been particularly incensed at the imposition of martial law during the war, and his long and tedious campaign speeches stoutly defended British parliamentary tradition. Defeated by Peter Howard, he tried again in 1821 and was successful, holding one of the two Leeds seats until 1828. He resigned his seat that year in response to attacks on a position he took in the assembly on the raising of import duties for educational purposes. Perhaps because of his friendships with Robinson and John Strachan, he was immediately appointed to the Legislative Council, where he sat through the final years of his life.
    • Jones died as compact toryism was decaying, a misfit in the era of union politics and administrative reform. Furthermore, rapidly rising immigration, the accelerating pace of land clearance, and massive growth in the quantities of grain and other cargoes involved in the Great Lakes trade, all combined to overwhelm the ingrown community in which Jones had led a sheltered, almost blissful life.
  • Son of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4289
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180568828/charles-jones