James McHenry Jones (August 28, 1859 – September 22, 1909) was an American educator, school administrator, businessperson, and minister. Jones was the third principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute (present-day West Virginia State University) from 1898 until 1909 and is considered by West Virginia State as the institution's third president.
Jones was born in 1859 in Gallipolis, Ohio, and raised in Burlington and New Richmond, before his family settled in Pomeroy along the Ohio River. There, he attended Kerr's Run Colored School and the all-white Pomeroy High School, where he graduated with honors in 1882. At 17, he joined the Free Will Baptist church, and was ordained a minister to churches in Pomeroy and Middleport, Ohio. While ministering to his two churches, Jones began his career in education as a schoolteacher outside Pomeroy. In 1882, he was elected principal of the Lincoln School in Wheeling, West Virginia. Lincoln School was the first African-American public school in the United States, established in 1866 following the American Civil War. During his 16-year tenure as principal there, he raised the school to high school standards, and it became one of West Virginia's top African-American public schools. Jones doubled the size of the faculty and the student body, expanded the school's curriculum, and rebuilt the school after a fire in 1893.
Jones was elected principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute in Institute, West Virginia, in 1898. He increased federal and state funding to the institute, and expanded the campus through the construction of classroom, dormitory, and industrial mechanics buildings. He also broadened the institute's curriculum to include teacher and military training programs. While serving as principal, Jones was an incorporator and director of the Wilgera Oil and Gas Company, which was likely one of the first African American-owned fossil fuel companies in the United States. He also served as the Grand Master of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. Jones died in 1909, and Byrd Prillerman succeeded him as principal of the institute. Jones Hall, which houses West Virginia State's University Printing Services and the National Center for Human Relations, was named by the university in his honor.
Early life and education
Jones was born on August 28, 1859, in Gallipolis, Ohio, the son of Joseph Jones and Temperance Reed Jones. He was the sixth of ten children, nine of whom were boys. Jones's parents, inspired by Baptist preacher Thomas Jefferson Ferguson, aspired to be middle class and emphasized the importance of education to their children. Jones was raised in Burlington and New Richmond, before his family settled in Pomeroy, Ohio, along the Ohio River. He also spent time on his grandmother's farm in Lawrence County, Ohio. As a child, Jones learned the trade of a cooper and worked in this profession before and after school.
Jones attended Kerr's Run Colored School in the Kerr's Run area of Pomeroy's First Ward. West Virginia state auditor J. S. Darst cited Jones as a person who rose to prominence, despite his early unfavorable environment—the "tough", "bloody First" Ward of Pomeroy. Darst was a childhood playmate of both Jones and educational administrator James Edwin Campbell. At 16, Jones became a schoolteacher and taught two terms in the district schools of Meigs County, Ohio. He then received permission to attend the all-white Pomeroy High School, where he studied for four years, and, in 1882, graduated first in his class out of seven students with honors. Jones was the first African American to graduate from the school. At 17, he joined the Free Will Baptist church, and despite his young age, he was ordained a minister to churches in Pomeroy and Middleport, Ohio, because of his "special fitness".
Career in education
Lincoln School
Before his graduation from Pomeroy High School, Jones was elected as the principal of Lincoln School in Wheeling, West Virginia, on April 6, 1882. He competed successfully for this position against six other applicants. Founded in 1866 following the American Civil War, Lincoln School was the first African-American public school in the United States. Jones began his term as principal in June 1882. Because of the school's growth during his first year of leadership, Jones hired an additional teacher in 1883, his future wife Carrie M. Harrison. Jones had the school's building remodeled during the summer of 1884, and had two rooms added to it.