Name Peter Jones Succeeded by William A. Reese Role Politician | Full Name Peter K. Jones Party Republican Party Political party Republican | |
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Preceded by William H. E. Merritt | ||
Peter K. Jones, Winner of MPIF 2004 PM Pioneer Award
Peter K. Jones (1837 –February 17, 1880) was an American Republican politician who served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Greensville County from 1869 to 1877. He was one of the first African-Americans to serve in Virginia's government.
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Early life
Jones was born free in Petersburg, Virginia in 1828 to Moses and Lucintha Jones.
He married and maintained a home in Petersburg throughout his life.
Career
In 1857, Jones bought property in Petersburg.
After the American Civil War, Jones bought a home in Greensville County, Virginia, so as to qualify for entering elective politics in the "black belt" Southside county.
In 1867, Jones was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868. A Republican, he was the sole delegate elected from the convention district made up of Greensville and Sussex Counties. The 1870 federal census showed him as a 33 year old black male carpenter living with Andrew J. Price and his family in Hicksford, Greensville County, Virginia.
Greensville County voters elected Jones to the Virginia House of Delegates for the session of 1869-1871, and re-elected him for the sessions 1871-1873, 1874-75, and 1875-1877.
In 1871 and 1872, Jones bought additional lots in Richmond, paying $432.
Death
The 1880 U.S. Census for Boston, Massachusetts shows a 43 year old black man named Peter K. Jones who was born in Virginia as a servant to lawyer David K. Coolidge. However, Virginia death records for the same year show another 43 year old widowed black man named Peter K. Jones who was born in Dinwiddie County outside Petersburg to Samuel and Peggy Jones as dying of consumption (tuberculosis) months after Mary Jones, a black woman at the same address and using the same physician. Luther Porter Jackson, who researched Petersburg extensively, indicates Peter K. Jones died under unknown circumstances