Jones, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Roger Nason, “JONES, JOHN (d. 1823),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/jones_john_1823_6E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Surveyor; b. c. 1743; d. 16 Aug. 1823 in Augusta (Maine).
    • Prior to the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, efforts were being made by the Penobscot Associated Loyalists in the District of Maine to move to a new home in Nova Scotia. Assisting their leaders in arranging the evacuation of several hundred settlers to a desirable site under British control was John Jones, an able land surveyor. Jones is reported to have resided during his youth at Concord, Mass.
    • He made his residence at Hallowell. When the American revolution broke out, Jones chose to remain loyal to the British cause and subsequently he was imprisoned at Boston in 1778 or early 1779. Escaping in the spring of 1779, he made his way via Lake Champlain to Quebec and there was commissioned captain in a regiment commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Rogers. Soon after, Jones was dispatched to Fort George (Castine, Maine), which elements of the 74th and 82nd regiments had built as a preliminary to establishing a haven on the Penobscot River for loyalist refugees. 
    • There he became notorious for leading small raiding parties against rebel settlements; at the head of his band of “Rangers,” he marauded up and down the coastal areas.  With the signing of the peace treaty in 1783 and the establishment of the St Croix River as the boundary between the United States and Nova Scotia, Pagan enlisted Jones to assist in preparing a town site and land grants at Passamaquoddy Bay (N.B.), just to the east of the St Croix.
    • By August 1783, in concert with the loyalist agent William Gallop and the surveyor Charles Morris, Jones had begun to lay out the town plat of St Andrews and adjoining parcels of land along the bay and river system. 
    • In his role as surveyor Jones also suffered at the hands of the new settlers. The influx of refugees outpaced the efforts to complete the necessary work of surveying farmlands, especially as lots along the coast were taken up and others had to be found inland. Jones was often accused of favouritism, neglect, and outright rudeness in dealing with both civilian and military refugees. In fairness, however, one must consider that during the period 1783–85 he was executing his duties virtually single-handed
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4297
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68162682/john-jones