THOMAS J. JONES was born November 2, 1842, in Lincoln County, Tenn., near Petersburg, being one of the family of children born to the union of Minos C. Jones and Fannie Melson. The father was born and raised in Bedford County. At the age of eighteen he went to Lincoln County, where he married, lived and died, being a farmer by occupation. Thomas J. was reared on a farm with his parents to the age of twenty-one, when he married and moved to Bedford County and farmed a short time.
In February, 1867, he came to Shelbyville and opened a bar and confectionery business. He removed to Richmond, Bedford County, in a short time, and in 1870 he returned to Shelbyville, where he has remained ever since in the bar and confectionery business. He was married April 14, 1864, to Mary E. Harrison, a native of this county, who has borne to him eight children, five of whom are now living, viz.: William H., Fannie E., Katie E., Samuel R. and Albert B. Politically Mr. Jones has always been a Democrat. His wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and his eldest daughter is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He has been very successful in his business, and is a substantial business man of Shelbyville.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.