Gov. Daniel Webster Jones

About

DANIEL WEBSTER JONES, Arkansas’s 19th governor, was born in Bowie County, Texas, on December 15, 1839. In 1840 his family moved to Washington, Arkansas, where Jones attended Washington Academy and later studied law. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Jones enlisted in the Arkansas Confederate Infantry, was wounded in battle, became a prisoner of war, and later rose to the rank of colonel. Jones was elected prosecuting attorney of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 1874, and served as a presidential elector in 1876 and again in 1880. He was elected attorney general in 1884 and 1886, and he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1890. On September 7, 1896, Jones was elected Governor of Arkansas, and on January 18, 1897, he was sworn into office. He was reelected to a second term in 1898. During his tenure, money was appropriated for a new state capitol, and a law was enacted that rendered a system of uniform textbooks in public schools. After leaving office, Jones resumed his law practice, and he was elected in 1914 to the Arkansas House of Representatives. Governor Daniel Jones died on Christmas day, 1918, and he is buried at the Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Source

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Donovan, Timothy P., and Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., The Governors of Arkansas, Essays in Political Biography, Fayetteville; The University of Arkansas Press, 1981

Herndon, Dallas T., Centennial History of Arkansas, Vol. 1, Chicago, Little Rock; The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922. 3 vols.

Old State House Museum