The Reverend Hugh Jones (1691–1760) is the most famous and accomplished of a sometimes confusing array of Anglican clergymen of the same name from the American colonies of Virginia and Maryland. Jones is best known for his authorship of The Present State of Virginia, and a short view of Maryland and North Carolina (London, 1724). For several years he taught mathematics at The College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, where Jones Hall is named for him.
Birth and education
He appears to have been born in Herefordshire, England, just east of Wales, in the parish of Little Dewchurch. Alumni records at Oxford University list his matriculation to Jesus College in March 1708, age 17, placing his birth around 1691. He received the B.A. in 1712, according to these records, and the M.A. in 1716. In a deposition given at age 49 (1740), he said "That he learnt Arithmetick at School, studied Geometry, Geography and Astronomy in the University of Oxford;" that he there took the degrees of B.A. and M.A.; that "Doctor Robinson, then Bishop of London ... advised [him] to perfect himself, as well as Time would allow, in the Mathematicks, for that his Lordship intended to send him over to the Colledge of William and Mary in Virginia, as Professor of the Mathematicks. That, thereupon, [he] applied himself to the Study of Algebra (which he had not applied himself to before) under the Instruction of Mr. Hudson of Christ-Church, and was admitted Professor of Mathematicks in the Colledge of William and Mary aforesaid, in the Year 1717, and continued studying and teaching the Mathematicks there till 1721."
Virginia years
Besides the College of William and Mary, Jones can be connected in some leadership capacity with Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Jamestown Church, and St. Stephen's Church of King and Queen's County. He served at least two terms, also, as Chaplain of the House of Burgesses in the Colonial Capital of Williamsburg. Allied with Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood in a dispute over ecclesiastical authority granted to James Blair, Head of the College, he fell out with Blair and, apparently, returned to England for some time after 1721. Upon his return to Virginia around 1724, Blair appointed him to lead the highly contentious congregation of St. Stephen's. He resigned that post about 1725, after a dispute over the placement of the church pulpit. He then migrated north, to Maryland.
Maryland years
Jones led the William and Mary Parish Church in Charles County, Maryland for the next five or six years, after which, in 1731, he moved farther north to St. Stephen's Church, North Sassafras Parish, Cecil County, Maryland. Apart from his clerical duties at St. Stephen's, Jones also headed a committee of Maryland mathematicians in the dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania over the circular northern border of Delaware. The above-mentioned deposition can be found in legal documents related to that dispute. Jones held the rectorship at St. Stephen's until just before his death on 8 September 1760, around age 70. His burial site is the cemetery there. He is buried next to his nephew, William Barroll, who succeeded him as rector. Nearly a century after his death the Rev. Ethan Allen, D.D. would write: "Mr. Jones was a man of very considerable learning and he gained strong friendships wherever he went. His piety was earnest and his morals unexceptionable. He had a clear, vigorous mind and wrote in a style once lucid and chaste. His published works do credit to his memory."