Background
Frank Jones was born on September 15, 1832 at Barrington, New Hampshire, the fifth of seven children of Thomas and Mary (Priest) Jones. His grandfather, Peletiah Jones, had been brought from Wales as an infant.
brewer capitalist congressman executive
Frank Jones was born on September 15, 1832 at Barrington, New Hampshire, the fifth of seven children of Thomas and Mary (Priest) Jones. His grandfather, Peletiah Jones, had been brought from Wales as an infant.
Frank lived on his parents' farm until he was about seventeen, then he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he worked for his brother, selling stoves and hardware, for three years. He became his brother's partner in 1853. In 1861 he sold out his partnership and assumed the management of a brewery in which he had purchased an interest. He soon became the sole owner of the brewery, to which he added a large malt house, considered at the time (1880) to be the largest and best equipped of its kind in America.
Under the firm name of Jones, Johnson & Company, he extended his brewery operations to Boston. In the meantime he invested heavily in real estate in and around Portsmouth and became the owner of the Rockingham House, then the largest and handsomest tourist hotel in that section of New England.
He also built and managed the Wentworth at Newcastle, New Hampshire. He owned a large estate near Portsmouth known as "Gravelly Ridge, " on which he maintained a racing stable.
He was four times nominated as the Democratic candidate for mayor of Portsmouth, and was elected twice, in 1868 and 1869, although the Republican party was in the majority at the time.
Beginning in 1875, he served two terms in Congress. He refused a third nomination, but ran for governor as a Democrat in 1880 and was defeated, although he received the largest number of votes that ever had been given a Democrat for that office in New Hampshire. In 1896 he withdrew from the Democratic party and allied himself with the Republicans.
He first became interested in railroads as the chief promoter and first president of the Portsmouth & Dover Railroad. He was later interested in the old Eastern Railroad, which together with the Portsmouth & Dover was subsequently merged into the Boston & Maine system. He became a director of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1889 and was elected president on December 31 of the same year, serving in this capacity until October 26, 1892, when he became vice-president and chairman of the board. He was again elected president in June 1893, but resigned in October following, and at the same time severed all relationship with the railroad.
He died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at the age of seventy.
In politics he was a Democrat, until the latter period of his life. He was four times nominated as the Democratic candidate for mayor of Portsmouth, and was elected twice, in 1868 and 1869. In 1896 he broke with the Democratic party and became involved with the Republican Party. In 1900 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket.
On September 15, 1861, Frank Jones married Martha Sophia (Leavitt) Jones, the widow of his brother, Hiram Jones.