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JOHN A. JONES , Clerk of the United States Circuit Court, for the Southern District of Illinois, was born in the District of Columbia, May 29, 1806. He was graduated at Columbian College, Washington City, in the class of 1825, receiving the degree of A.M. three years later. He came to Illinois in 1835, and settling in Tazewell county, edited the Pekin Gazette, later called the "Tazewell Telegraph," the first newspaper published in that county, at the same time serving as justice of the peace. In October, 1837, Mr. Jones was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court of Tazewell county by Judge Jesse B. Thomas, and re-appointed by Judge S. H. Treat, in 1841; was also made Master in Chancery of that court in 1842. Under the new Constitution, he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, in 1848, and re-elected in 1852. After retiring from the office, upon motion of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Jones was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court. In March, 1861, he was appointed Superintendent of the Commercial Statistics of the United States, at Washington City. His was the first appointment made by President Lincoln after the formation of his Cabinet. In May, 1866, Mr. Jones, resigned his office, and came to Bloomington, Illinois, and by the death of the former Clerk, was appointed to his present office by Judge David Davis, under the sanction of Judge S. H. Treat, in July, 1867, and has held it continuously since.

Mr. Edward Jones, his father, was a native of New York, and the youngest of five sons, the eldest of whom, John Jones, M.D., was President Washington's family physician. Edward Jones was the first Chief clerk in the United States Treasury, and served thirty-nine consecutive years. He was appointed by Hon. Alexander Hamilton the first Secretary, in 1790, who in 1795 gave him a strong letter of commendation, which Mr. Jones now has as a souvenir. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Louisa (Maus) Jones, a native of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania. Her paternal ancestors were officials of note in England and the United States. Mr. Jones has preserved a number of their commissions bearing dates from 1691 on down to the administration of Jefferson, and ending 1840.