John Jones.
by Lisa Y. Henderson
John Jones was an outspoken civil rights activist and a committed leader in the fight to repeal Illinois’ Black Codes. He was born in Greene County, North Carolina to a free mulatto mother and a German-American father. Trained as a tailor, Jones migrated to Memphis, Tennessee, then moved to Chicago in 1845 with his wife Mary Richardson Jones. He established a successful tailor shop at 119 Dearborn Street. Not long after his arrival in Chicago, Jones befriended local abolitionists Charles V. Dyer, a physician, and Lemanuel Covell Paine Freer, a noted lawyer. Freer taught Jones to read and write. Jones saw the value of the skills for business and also put them to masterful use in abolition work, including the publication of a 16-page pamphlet entitled “The Black Laws of Illinois and Why They Should Be Repealed.” Jones also worked tirelessly in the struggle against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which denied runaway slaves the right to trial by jury and imposed high fines on anyone who aided slaves or interfered in their capture. Though he arrived in the city with just $3.50 in his pocket and had no formal education, by 1860 Jones was one of the nation’s wealthiest African Americans. In 1871, Jones was elected the first black Cook County Commissioner.
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John Jones’ 1844 certificate of freedom, issued by the State of Illinois, described him as 25 years old; 5 feet ten inches tall, and mulatto; “has a scarr over the Left Eye Brown a Scratch across the cheek bone a scarr on the left Shin bone Taylor to trade.”
Photo: Chicago History Museum. Text adapted from “Early Chicago: Slavery in Illinois,” http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=76,4,3,4; see also, and more particularly, Sylvestre C. Watkins, Sr., “Some of Early Illinois’ Free Negroes” in Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, vol. 56, no. 3, Emancipation Centennial Issue (1963); http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org.
In the 1860 census of Ward 2, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: John Jones, 43, tailor, born NC; wife Mary, 40, born Tennessee; daughter Susan, 16, born Illinois; and Rachel Pettit, 20, born Illinois. Jones reported real property valued at $17000 and personal property at $700.
Fourth Generation Inclusive 
Thank you for this history. John Jones was my great, great, great grandfather.
Thanks for the thanks! I’m so glad this blog is reaching the descendants of North Carolina’s free people of color!
Interesting, I didn’t know of any children besides Lavinia, who was my great, great grandmother and the mother of Theadora Lee.
The 1870 census lists one daughter, Lavenia Jones, age 26. My guess is that Lavenia and Susan are the same person. [Sidenote: John Jones caught my eye not only because of his achievements, but because he was born in Greene County NC. I grew up in an adjoining county and have FPC ancestors who lived in Greene.]
John Jones, is buried in the same cemetery as Ida B. Wells. The name of it is Oakwoods or Oakridge, located on the South Side of Chicago.
Greetings Linda, actually, he and his family are buried in Graceland Cemetery. I have pictures of it on this Facebook page as well as many other family pictures that were left to me. https://www.facebook.com/John-Jones-528408660575010/