Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

13030 . GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSschools at Blakely; Jane, born in 1911, at Arlington; and Lawrence, born in1913, at Blakely.SIDNEY J. JONES. Admirably endowed with those distinctive mental andmoral characteristics and that scrupulous technical training that insure definite success and precedence in the legal profession, it has been given to SidneyJohnston Jones to gain secure vantage place as one of the" representativemembers of the bar of his native state, where decisive victories which he haswon in many important and celebrated litigated causes have shown forth hissplendid resourcefulness and versatility as an 'advocate and the solidity ofhis legal learning. For more than thirty years he has been engaged in theactive practice of his profession at Albany, the judicial center of DoughertyCounty, and his rise to his present influential status in his profession is themore gratifying to contemplate when it is understood that Mr. Jones earlybecame largely dependent upon his own resources and that his success hasbeen the positive result of his own ability and well ordered endeavors.Mr, Jones is one of the native sons of Georgia who was ushered into theworld in the year that marked the initiation of the great civil 'conflict thatwas destined to bring much of sorrow and desolation to the fair Southland.He was born in Dougherty County, on the 3d of September, 1861, and is ason of Dr. Taliaferro and Caroline Jane (Saxon) Jones, both likewise nativesof Georgia, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer days.Dr. Taliaferro Jones was born in Wilkinson County and his wife in TwiggsCounty, their marriage having been solemnized in the latter county. DoctorJones prepared himself for the medical profession when a young man andfor nearly forty years he was one of the leading physicians and surgeons ofDougherty County, where he initiated his professional endeavors in 1856 andwhere he continued the same until his death, save for the interval of hisservice in the Civil war. Honored by all who knew him, this venerable physician passed from the stage of life's mortal endeavors in 1891, at the age ofseventy-two years and six months1. At the inception of the Civil war hesubordinated all personal interests and ambitions to tender his aid in defenseof the cause of the Confederacy. He enlisted in a company of cavalry thatwas recruited in Dougherty County. Soon after its organization, he met witha most unfortunate accident, his horse having reared and fallen in such a wayas to break the doctor's right arm, the fracture being so severe as to incapacitate him for further service as a cavalry soldier. Under these conditions hewas assigned to a position as surgeon on the county medical staff, and after acomparatively brief tenure of this position he was given an honorable discharge, the resumption of his private practice in Dougherty County havingthen occurred. His wife survived him by only a few years and was summonedto the life eternal in 1894, when nearly sixty-seven years of age. Of the eightchildren the subject of this review was the seventh in order of birth.Sidney J. Jones acquired his early education in the public schools ofAlbany and his boyhood days were passed under the conditions and influencesof the so-called Reconstruction period in the South, after the close of the Civilwar. He was favored also in having received excellent instruction under thedirection of Professor Pond, an able educator who figured as his preceptorfrom the time he was fourteen years old until he had attained to the age ofseventeen years. His next procedure was to take a position in the law officeof Col. C. B. "Wooten and W. T. Jones, constituting the representative firm of"Wooten & Jones, of Albany. He continued in the service of this firm until1881, and in the meanwhile availed himself of the excellent opportunityafforded for prosecuting the study of law. He was admitted to the bar inthe year last mentioned, but continued his services in a clerical capacity inthe office of his preceptors until 1885, when he formed a partnership withJudge D. A. Vason and engaged in the independent practice of the professionfor which he had so earnestly and effectively equipped himself. This alliance