356 JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



January, 1795, he was at Augusta, where the Legislature was 

 then sitting, the firm opponent of the celebrated Yazoo Act ; 

 but his efforts to defeat it were unsuccessful. But in 1796 he 

 succeeded, with other patriotic men, in passing the law rescind- 

 ing the Yazoo sales. In May, 1798, he was a member of the 

 State Convention which framed the present Constitution, and 

 warmly advocated that part of it which asserts the right of 

 Georgia to the whole of her western territory. In October, 

 1798, he was elected a representative to Congress by almost 

 an unanimous vote of the people ; losing not more than 

 three hundred votes out of nearly ten thousand. Mr. Jones 

 was one among the most distinguished members of the 

 republican party, and an eloquent speaker. He was op- 

 posed to the administration of Mr. John Adams, and con- 

 tributed much to the casting of the vote of Georgia for Mr. 

 Jefferson. He died at his post at Washington City, on the 

 12th of January, 1801, having given evidence, that he 

 was Georgia's friend, who would have sacrificed life and 

 fortune to serve her. His remains lie in the Congressional 

 burial ground, by the side of those of his political and personal 

 friend. Gen. James Jackson. His descendants are found in 

 the family of the Hon. William Law, of Savannah, who mar- 

 ried his daughter. 



There have been several other patriotic men in Georgia of 

 the name of Jones. Among them, the venerable Noble Wim- 

 berly Jones, the friend of Oglethorpe, who survived the Ameri- 

 can Revolution, and lived to an extreme old age ; and his son, 

 the late Judge Jones, who was a distinguished member of the 

 Legislature from Chatham county, a judge of the Superior 

 Court, and senator in Congress. 



JEFFERSON. 



Boundaries, Extent. — Bounded N. E. by Richmond, E. 

 by Burke, S. by Emanuel, W. by Washington, and N. W. by 

 Warren. Laid out from Burke and Warren, in 1796. It is 

 30 miles long, and 23 broad. Square miles, 690. 



