GABRIEL JONES, FRONTIER LAWYER
One of the first lawyers to qualify to practice in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the advancing edge of our nation as it worked relentlessly westward in the 1700’s, was a man named Gabriel Jones.
His parents came to Williamsburg, Virginia in 1724 from Wales. Gabriel was born in Williamsburg May 17, 1724. When he was three years old, his father died and his mother traveled with her son to England. Records
show that the boy was baptized in the parish of St. Giles-in-the Fields. He was admitted to Boarding School at the age of eight. He was received through a presentation made by a Mr. Thomas Sanford of the parish and his father’s
name is recorded in Christ’s Hospital records as having been “James Jones , Citizen and Weaver. Deceased.”
When and why Gabriel returned to the Royal Colony of Virginia remain s a mystery, and the next time his name appears in public records is at the first court held in Frederick County, Virginia in 1743. There, with five
others, he was qualified as an attorney. He was, at the time, nineteen years of age.
Both Frederick County and Augusta County, to its south, were authorized in 1738, but they each delayed organizational meetings. Augusta County, withdrawing from Orange County, across the Blue Ridge
Mountains to the east, did so December 9, 1745 when it became one of the largest administative areas in the nation. Five attorneys qualifed at that court meeting and Gabriel Jones was among them. He faced a busy career and
became widely known and respected.
Gabriel Jones never became a “Rebel”, nor was he ever an active “Tory”. He, like Thomas, Lord Fairfax and some other upright men of the time, felt they could not take up arms for either side. They did not do so
out of religious convicrions and did not condemn war. Lord Fairfax had been a valued civic leader. He was in his eighties at the time, and chose to simply retire to the seclusion of his estate at “Greenway Court.” He was a personal
friend of George Washington’s and word was out that the man Fairfax was not to be molested in any way. When word of Yorktown was brought to him, he is said to have turned his face to the wall and said “All is ended”. At his side
stood his lawyer, confidant and friend Gabriel Jones. Both Lord Fairfax and Gabriel Jones were called “recusants” - a word which has which , some regret to say, has gone out of use in our time.
I remember talking with Virginia Historian Dr. Howard McKnight Wilson many year ago, about Gabriel Jones’ career and he said Jones could not have found a better area in which to practice law. Early settlers here
in the Valley were, he said, were “the most litigious people in the world”. They stood ready, at all times, to sue each other on the slightest, real or imaginary, affront. As one of the huge county’s five lawyers, Jones was blessed, or
cursed, with a constant supply of cases.
An extant portrait of Gabriel Jones shows him wearing a kerchief over the right side of his face seemingly because he had lost an eye earlier in life. I have found no explanation concerning such an injury. He,
perhaps, could have been easily engaged in fighting or in an accident. Another handicapped participant in Valley drama, in religious affairs, was a gentleman known as “One-Eyed Richardson”. He was made so by an early bout
with smallpox.
Jones had a fine spread on the banks of the Shenandoah River just below Port Republic. This section became part of Rockingham County when it was formed in 1778 and Jones was soon named to be one of the
county’s two representatives at the Virginia Constitutional Convention. A man named David Robertson was designated by that convention to record what was said in “shorthand” - the first debates recorded in the new form. The
records kept at that time show James Madison spoke over fifty times, Patrick Henry, over forty times, but with longer speeches. Gabriel Jones said nothing, but voted with the majority for approval of the new State Constitution . The
Valley votes being critical to that documents acceptance.
Even today, driving down toward the river you see road signs which tell you that you are traveling on ”Lawyer’s Road”.
A.L.M. September 10, 2002 [c739wds]
