NOTE: I have no connection, no further information and am not seeking additional information. 11393 ADAIR CO – WILLIAM WALLACE JONES – Jones, Gearhart, Lee, Thorp, Baker, Wheat, Garnett, Read 11393: History of Kentucky by Judge Charles Kerr, Editor, By William Elsey Connelley and E. M. Coulter, Ph. D., Department of History, University of Georgia. In Five Volumes, Volume V, The American Historical Society, Chicago and New York, 1922 William Wallace Jones. It is generally accepted as a truism that no man of genius or acknowledged ability can be justly or adequately judged while still in the heyday of life, chiefly because time is necessary to ripen the estimate upon work which can only be viewed on all sides in the calm atmosphere of a more or less remote period from its completion. This is in no way inappropriate to the life accomplishments of Judge William Wallace Jones, who has long occupied a conspicuous place in the history of Adair County. No man in the community has had warmer friends or is more generally esteemed. He is a man of refinementt and culture, deeply read, a leader of the- county bar, president of the Bank of Columbia, and one who has achieved success in his affairs. Judge Jones was born January 19, 1855, in Cumberland County, Kentucky, a son of Levi and Nancy Obedience (Gearhart) Jones. His great-grandfather, Charles Jones, was born in Wales, and as a young man immigrated to America and settled in Virginia. Shortly thereafter the colonies began their fight for independence, and Charles Jones joined the Patriot Army under the leadership of Patrick Henry in his first enlistment. Later he re-enlisted and was with the forces of General Lee. He married Fannie Thorpe, a native of Virginia, and shortly thereafter came to Adair County, Kentucky, as a pioneer, here spending the remainder of his life in the pursuits of agriculture. William Thorpe Jones, the son of Charles and Fannie Jones, was born in 1798, in Adair County, Kentucky, and as a young man went to Cumberland County, where he married Mary E. Baker, a native of that county. Mr. Jones farmed in Cumberland County for a few years and then moved to Casey County, where he spent the rest of his life as a tiller of the soil and died in 1868. Levi Jones, the father of Judge Jones, was born in 1835, in Cumberland County, where he was educated, reared and married and where he farmed for a few years. About 1859 he removed to Casey County, where he continued his agricultural operations during the remainder of his life and died at the age of forty years, in 1875. He was a Union sympathizer during the war between the states, but a democrat in his political allegiance. His religious faith was that of the Baptist Church, and as a fraternalist he belonged to the Masons. He married Nancy Obedience Gearhart, who was born in 1839, in Cumberland County, and died in Casey County in 19o7. They became the parents of five children, as follows: Maude, who died in infancy; William Wallace, of this notice; Mary E., who died at the age of eight years; C. C., who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Casey County; and Quincy R.. a farmer of Glendale, Arizona. William Wallace Jones acquired his early education in the rural schools of Casey County, and in 1874, when not yet nineteen years of age, began teaching in the country districts of Casey County. During 1874 and 1875 he taught two free schools, following which he pursued a course at Columbia Male and Female School, Columbia. Next, at home, he finished a course of study equivalent to graduating from Center College, Danville, Kentucky. From that time to the present he has continued his studies and it is safe to say that Judge Jones is today one of the best-rounded scholars in the state. He reads Virgil, Tacitus and Ovid, is a thorough Latin and Greek scholar, and is well versed in both ancient and modern literature generally. In 1877 Judge Jones was admitted to the bar and at once engaged in practice, having since had a constantly increasing general civil and criminal practice at Columbia, where his offices are located in the Jones Building, a business structure owned by him on the southwest side of the Public Square. He is also the owner of a modern residence on Greensburg Street, one of the most desirable homes of Columbia. In politics a republican, Judge Jones has long been before the public, but rather in an official than a political capacity. W. W. Jones was elected judge of the Twenty-ninth Judicial District of Kentucky in 1892 and re-elected without opposition in 1897, serving until January 1, 19o4. He was nominated by the republican party as its candidate for judge of the Court of Appeal of Kentucky in 1898. His only fraternal connection is with Columbia Lodge No. 96, F. and A. M. While his profession and his public duties have engrossed a large part of his attention, Judge Jones has also been a leader in financial affairs in this section for a number of years, and has been president of the Bank of Columbia since 1905. In 1900 he assisted in the organization of the Bank of Jamestown, of which he was vice president and a member of the Board of Directors until 1914, at which time he was elected president. He resigned the presidency in 1918. In 1895 Judge Jones was one of the main factors in the organization of the Monticello Banking Company, of which he was vice president and a director until 19o5, at which time he disposed of his quarter interest in the bank and retired therefrom. During the World war he took an exceptionally active part in all local war activities. He was chairman of the Adair County Chapter of the American Red Cross all through the war period and retains that position at the present time. He was likewise chairman of the first two Liberty Bond drives in Adair County, and assisted in all the campaigns for all purposes, likewise buying bonds and contributing to the various organizations to the limit of his means. In addition he worked helpfully and unremittingly during the epidemic of the influenza. From the elevated plane of public service down through the fields of its usefulness to the community and into the privacy of his family circle the track of the life of Judge Jones has been characterized by a constant and consistent uprightness born of high principles. He married. at Columbia, Kentucky, in 1885, Miss Loulie Wheat, a daughter of Sinclair and Fannie (Garnett) Wheat, both deceased, Mr. Wheat having been a merchant and farmer at Columbia. Judge and Mrs. Jones have one daughter, Fannie, the wife of George R. Reed, an insurance man residing at the Jones' home on Greensburg Street. KYBIOGRAPHIES Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=kybiographies KYRESEARCH: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.tips/mb.ashx