Capt. Jones is the son of Henry F. and Mary (Waller) Jones, and was born in Shelby county, Tennessee, Oct. 19th, 1836.His father is still living there, aged eighty-one. His mother died in l856. George M. grew up on the farm, receiving his education at the common schools of the county where he lived. At the age of seventeen he went to Memphis, Tenn., and sold dry goods for the firm of Cossitt, Hill & Talmadge. He remained with them something over three years, receiving for his first year’s service, $75.00 and board; for the second, $100.00, and the third, $150.00. He came to Springfield, Missouri, in January, 1858, but went back to Tennessee after a short time. In the fall of the same, year he returned to Springfield and engaged in the general merchandising business, the firm being Miller, Jones & Co. He only remained here a year when be went to Dillon, Phelps county, Missouri, and embarked in the forwarding and commission business, which he carried on until the war broke out in 1861. In June of that year he enlisted as a private, in Capt. Dick Campbell’s company of Independence, Mo. State service, in the interest of the South. He was next transferred to Foster’s regiment, Company A, McBride’s division, C. S. A. He was shortly afterward made quartermaster, with the rank of captain. On account of ill health, he was honorably discharged at Jacksonport, Arkansas, in August, 1863. In 1864 he re-enlisted, and was for some time acting provost marshal in Chicot county, Arkansas. He next engaged with Col. Campbell in the recruiting service until Gen. Price’s last raid in 1864. He surrendered and received his parole at Monroe, Louisiana, in the spring of 1865, and saw the cause he had espoused forever lost, and the flag he had followed so long and so faithfully up rolled never again to be unfurled over the land he had fought for and loved so well. Capt. Jones went back then came to Springfield, locating on the property where they now live, in the eastern part of the city. For two or three years he was engaged in the real estate business here, but has since devoted his time and attention to his farm, a part of which lies in the city limits. His home-place contains three hundred and fifty acres, and his farm at Campbell Station, three hundred and sixty acres. Capt. Jones has been one of the board of curators of the University, and is now, upon the executive board of Drury College. He is a member of the Masonic order, and is president of the Confederate Cemetery Association of his native county in Tennessee, in 1865, and remained until 1868. On the 15th of Oct., 1868, he was married to Mrs. Elizabeth (Berry) Campbell, widow of Colonel Campbell. They were married in Lee county, Arkansas, and their union has been blessed with three children, two girls and one boy. In December, 1868, there at Springfield. He and his wife are members of the M. E. Church South, and he has been a steward of the church for twelve years. He was also a member of the last three general conferences of that church. Greene county has no better citizen or truer gentleman than George M. Jones.
