The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
mother's decease occurred also in Maryland, January-25th,
1823. His boyhood was passed alternately in labor and in
study, the former occupying however, the greater portion
of the time. At the age of seventeen he was placed to
learn the trade of plastering, in Worcester county, Maryland,
where, and also in adjoining counties and in Virginia, he
worked at his trade until I829. He subsequently moved to
Ohio, and settled in Cincinnati, having journeyed over the
mountains on foot, his wife in a six-horse wagon. At
Wheeling they took deck passage on a boat running down
the Ohio river. On his arrival he found himself the possessor of;I9o. He then went at once to work at his trade,
at $I.25 per day, as journeyman. In the ensuing year he
established hiimself in business on his own account, carrying
it on for three years in connection with Julius V. Thomason.
At the expiration of this time the partnership was dissolved,
and he sustained the business alone until the year I852.
His eldest son, James, then became his partner ill business.
Their last important job was the plastering of the fine, large
State HIouse at Columbus, Ohio. He was a citizen of Cincinnati until I857, when he retired from his regular business
and his home in the city and settled on his farm, in Mill
C(reekl township, where he has since permanently resided,
principally engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was Cornmissioner of one of the Special Road districts of Mill Creek
township, and for five years.was a member of the City
Council of Cincinnati. In I85I he was elected to the State
Legislature, and served for two years. Since the expiration
of his term he has declined a renomination for the same
office. Politically, he is attached to the Democratic party,
and cast his first vote in favor of General Jackson. In the
educational, political and religious movements he has always manifested a zealous and generous interest, and has
been a valued co-worker in many enterprises which have
had for ultimate issue the welfare of the community inl
which he has resided and the more speedy development of
the interests of his State.- He was married, December 25th,
1828, to Deborah N. Millburn, a native of Accomac county,
Virginia. They were i)lessed with ten children; three of
them are now living, and reside in Cincinnati.
business, in August, I-846, and in the following year became
the "buyer" for the firm o f J. D. & C. Jones & Co., of
which he was ill I848 made a partner, and conti nued as a
prominent me mber of this active mercantil e firm and that
of Jones Brothers & Co. ontil the dissolution of the lat t er
house, in July, Jn65, at w h i ch date the firm of George W.
Jones & Co. was creat ed, of which he was the principal,
for the prosecution of the same business so well established
by the former copartners. In July, I869, he retired from
business and devoted his attention to the managemllent and
control -of his large farm, located at Jones's Station, in
Butler county, Ohio. He was Chairman of the Executive
Committee and Treasurer Of the first Exposition, held in
Ciincinnati in I869, whi ch was styled the "Expositiong of
Textile Fabrics." The success then achieved in this comparatively small way-in making the public acquainted wiith
the products of home manufactor-ies-laid the foundation
for more enlarged plans for effecting far more satisfactory
results, and now our industrial expositions have become
the well-recognized annual occasions for the exhibition of
articles of American skill and wNorkmanship, as well as for
the influx of a large population to our metropolis, curious
and desirous of seeing and examining the products wrought
by our skilled artisans, or beholding the progress made in
matters of science. The whole nation have been made
familiar with the realizations of our expositions,- and it is
not an unreasonable deduction to suggest that our government obtained from Cinc'inn-ati the idea w~hiclh A ill develop)
into the far-famed "1 Centennial Exbibitioi-i at Philaclelphia
in I876." In I870 Mr. Jones was elected President of the
Young Men's Mercantile Library Association of Cincininati, as the candidate of the Independent party, and in this
official position wizs in-strumental in making the change ill
the constitution making any main eligible to membership;
and ill recognition of' his merits as a mall of energy and(
influence he was elected President of the Miami Valley
Ii-sur,-i-ce Company, in July, I871, undei- whose managemlent this corporation has become one of the most successful companies of the kind in Ohio, if not in the country:
its present favorable condition being in no small degree
attributable to the labors and judgment of its President.
In I872 he was Treasurer of the Cincinnati Board of Trade,
and was delegated by the Chamber of Commerce to act as
Commissioner of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition for
I873; and being reappointed he was subsequently unanimously chosen as President of the Board of Commissione rs
for the Exposition of I874, and also acted as a member
of the Executive Committee of the Musical Festival Association, held ill Cincinnati in May, I873 and I875. Ill
1849 Mr. Jones married Janle O. N. Tibbatts, daughters
of Honl. Johln Tibbeatts, ex-Member of Congress from Kenltucky, and granddaughter of General James Taylor (note
deceased) of the same State. Froml the above brief outline
of the positions heldl by the subhject of this sketch, and ofhis active participation in the a.ffairs of mlenl, we discovser
tONES, GEORGE W., is the eldest son of John
Davies and EliZabeth Jones, and was bor-n in the
~ city of Cincinnati on the 26th of October, I82"6.
lie graduated among the " honor —meni " in his
class at Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, in
1846, having while a student received the benefits of the tuition of such esteemed men of learning as
Bishop Mcllvainie, President Bronson, Professor Ross and
other reputable scholars connected with that institution, at
which some of our ablest jurists and distinguished doctors
of divinity have received their diplomas. - After the cornmpletion of his collegiate course he entered the dry-goods
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