John Jones (major)

John Jones
Jones Street in Savannah, Georgia, is named in Jones's honor
Birth nameJohn Letton Jones
Born(1749-01-20)January 20, 1749
Charleston, Province of South Carolina
DiedOctober 9, 1779(1779-10-09) (aged 30)
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Buried
Old Midway Church, Midway, Georgia, U.S.
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
 United States of America
Service / branch Continental Army
RankMajor
Battles / wars

John Letton Jones (January 20, 1749 – October 9, 1779) was a major in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was aide-de-camp to general William Howe and brigadier general Lachlan McIntosh.[1]

He was killed in the 1779 siege of Savannah. Jones Street in Savannah, Georgia, is now named for him.[2][3]

Early life

Jones was born to Joseph Lewis Jones and Mary Taliaferro in Charleston, Province of South Carolina, in 1749.[4][5]

Personal life

He married Mary Sharpe, daughter of James Sharpe and Mary Newton, on December 28, 1769. The couple had five children: Mary (1770), John (1772), Millicent (1774), Hannah (1778) and Joseph (1779).[5] One of his posthumous grandchildren was Charles Colcock Jones, son of John.[3]

Jones moved to coastal Georgia in the 1770s, purchasing a plantation in St. John's Parish.[3]

Death

Jones's burial place, Midway Church in Midway, Georgia

Jones was killed on October 9, 1779, in Savannah, Georgia, during the city's siege.[2] He was reportedly cut in two by a cannon shot during the assault on Spring Hill Redoubt (in today's Yamacraw Village).[6][7][8] Aged 30, he was interred in Midway Cemetery in Midway, Georgia,[9] around thirty miles southwest of Savannah. He had been living in nearby Sunbury.

His wife remarried, to major Philip Low.[4]

References

  1. ^ "he Beautiful Row Houses on Jones Street by Lluba Lowry". Luba Lowry. 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  2. ^ a b "Jones Street, Savannah, Ga". GoSouthSavannah. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Makesi-Tehuti, Kamau (2006). How To Make A Negro Christian. Lulu.com. p. 18. ISBN 9781411689268.
  4. ^ a b Greene, George Sears (1903). The Greenes of Rhode Island: With Historical Records of English Ancestry, 1534–1902. Knickerbocker Press. p. 165.
  5. ^ a b Bulloch, Joseph Gaston Baillie (1901). A History and Genealogy of the Habersham Family. R. L. Bryan Company. p. 140.
  6. ^ "Siege of Savannah During the American Revolutionary War". HistoryNet. 2006-06-12. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  7. ^ McCall, Howard H. (2010). Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia. Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 101. ISBN 9780806302195.
  8. ^ "Spring Hill Redoubt Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  9. ^ Index of the Rolls of Honor (ancestor's Index) in the Lineage Books of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volumes 1 to 160. Vol. 55–56. Press of Pierpont, Siviter & Company. 1920.