Allen Jones (Continental Congress)

Allen Jones was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina (later Halifax County), in the Province of North Carolina. He attended Eton College in England.[3]

After returning to the colony, he was a member of the Province of North Carolina House of Burgesses between 1773 and 1775 and delegate to the five North Carolina Provincial Congresses (1774-1776), serving as vice-president in the Fourth Provincial Congress.[3][4]

Jones served in the military throughout the American Revolutionary War (1775–83).[2]

• Colonel over the Northampton County Regiment of Militia (1775-1776)
• Brigadier General over the Halifax District Brigade of North Carolina militia (1776-1783)

He also served in the State senate 1777 to 1779, 1783, 1784, and 1787; and as a Member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780. Jones was a delegate at the state convention that rejected the proposed Constitution of the United States at Halifax, in 1788.[3]

He was the older brother of Congressman Willie (pronounced Wylie) Jones, a leader in neighboring Halifax County. Together they were the source of the Jones surname adopted by the Scottish American naval hero during the Revolutionary War, John Paul Jones — whose birth-surname was Paul. Allen Jones was also the father-in-law of North Carolina Governor and Constitutional Convention delegate William Richardson Davie.[3]

Allen Jones died on his plantation, Mount Gallant, near Roanoke Rapids, Northampton County, North Carolina, on November 10, 1798. Interment was in the private burial ground on his estate.[3]

• Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website