William Giles Jones

Background

William Giles Jones was born on November 7, 1808, in Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of a planter who was a nephew of William Branch Giles.

Education

William attended Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia. He studied law with Attorney General John Robertson of Richmond.

Career

William Giles Jones was admitted to the bar in 1830 in Virginia and moved to Alabama in 1834, where he was elected to the Legislature from Greene County in 1843, later practicing law in Mobile.

Jones again served in the Legislature from Mobile in 1849 and in 1857. On the death of Judge John Gayle, third District Judge of Alabama, in 1859, Jones was appointed as Fourth District Judge by President Buchanan. In 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union, and Judge Jones resigned. He was immediately appointed to the equivalent position in the new Confederate States by President Jefferson Davis. United States President Lincoln did not acknowledge secession and appointed George Washington Lane as United States District Judge. That court could not sit, however. Judge Jones actively presided over sessions of the Confederate District Court in Hunstville, Montgomery, and Mobile.

At the close of the Civil War in 1865, he was arrested and indicted for treason against the United States government in the same court over which he had presided. Before Jones could be tried, Congress passed an act to relieve him from further prosecution. He returned to Mobile and practiced law there until his death.

Achievements

• William Giles Jones is known for his service as a federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District, Northern District and Southern District of Alabama. He also served in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Politics

Jones was a Whig who became a Democrat.

Connections

William was married twice. His first wife died. His second wife was Eliza Hobson. He had two sons.

Wife:

Eliza Hobson Jones

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977