John P. Jones

John Percival Jones (January 27, 1829 – November 27, 1912) was an American politician who served for 30 years as a Republican United States Senator from Nevada. He made a fortune in silver mining and was a co-founder of the town of Santa Monica, California.

Early life

John P. Jones was born on January 27, 1829, in the county of Herefordshire, England. He is one of thirteen children to Thomas Jones (1793–1871) and Mary A. Jones. The family immigrated to the United States and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1831. Thomas Jones purchased property, and established himself in business as a marble manufacturer.

California Gold Rush

In 1849 John P. Jones went to California to participate in the Gold rush. He settled in Trinity County, California, where he engaged in mining and farming. He served as county sheriff, and was a member of the California State Senate from 1863 to 1867. In 1867 he was the nominee of the Republican Party for Lieutenant Governor of California.

Comstock Lode Nevada

In 1868, Jones moved to Gold Hill, Nevada, where he was superintendent of the Crown Point silver mine which was part of the Comstock Lode. When a body of silver ore was stuck in 1870, Jones and Alvinza Hayward acquired shares and were able to gain control of the Crown Point mine.

United States Senate

In 1873 he was elected by the Nevada Legislature to the United States Senate, in which he served five terms from 1873 to 1903. He served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Auditing the Contingent Expenses from 1877 to 1881 and from 1883 to 1893, and as chairman of the committee on epidemic diseases from 1893 to 1903. Jones was involved with the minting of the twenty-cent piece silver coin. Like many Republicans from the western United States, Jones left the party in 1896 over the issue of bimetalism and joined the Silver Party. He caucused with the Silver Republicans and later rejoined the Republican Party, but decided not to run for re-election to the Senate in 1902. Jones was a strong proponent of racist immigration policy, arguing on the Senate floor for the exclusion of the "tawny and the black races, in order that our own race may be kept intact and uncontaminated", and writing in favor of the Chinese Exclusion Act.".