Education
Jones studied at the University of Virginia from 1842-1844 before completing his studies in 1845 at the College of William and Mary, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class.
Jones studied at the University of Virginia from 1842-1844 before completing his studies in 1845 at the College of William and Mary, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class.
Beginning in 1850, Jones served as the first minister of Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia, a position to which he briefly returned upon resigning from the presidency of Richmond College in 1869. He delivered graduation addresses at Wake Forest in 1854 and at William and Mary in 1856.