Biography

Biographical data provided by Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:
JONES, John Percival, a Senator from Nevada; born at ‘The Hay,’ Herefordshire, England, January 27, 1829; immigrated the same year to the United States with his parents, who settled in the northern part of Ohio; attended the public schools in Cleveland, Ohio; moved to California and engaged in mining and farming in Trinity County; sheriff of the county; member, State senate 1863-1867; moved to Gold Hill, Nev., in 1868; engaged in mining; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1873; reelected in 1879, 1885, 1891, and 1897 and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1903; declined to be a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses, and Forty-seventh through Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on Epidemic Diseases (Fifty-third through Fifty-seventh Congresses); resumed his former business activities; retired to his home in Santa Monica, Calif.; died in Los Angeles, Calif., November 27, 1912; interment in Laurel Hill Cemetery, San Francisco, Calif.; remains removed and reinterred in unknown location. 

Member of Silver Commission of 1876.