Early life
Jones was born on January 20, 1798, inGreat Barrington, Massachusetts. There is no information between his birth and 1820. In 1820, Jones was licensed as a doctor by theOneida, New York, Medical Society, and began medical practice in 1822. However, his practice did not prosper, and he moved several more times before finally being arrested inPhiladelphiaby a creditor. He stayed in Philadelphia for a few more years, teaching and practicing medicine, until in 1824 he decided to go to Venezuela.
Later, Jones returned to Philadelphia, earned anM.D., and reopened his practice. He never had much success as a doctor, and in 1832 he renounced medicine and headed forNew Orleans, where he entered the mercantile trade. Once again, though, Jones's dreams were thwarted. Though he safely weathered two plagues, his business efforts never met with any success and within a year he had no money.
He was a member and Past Master of theMasonicHarmony Lodge #52 of Philadelphia. He was a Past Grand ofIndependent Order of Odd FellowsWashington Lodge no.2 and Philadelphia Lodge no.13 in Pennsylvania and a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Life in Texas
Anson Jones House, now in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas
In 1833, Jones headed west toTexas, settling eventually inBrazoria. Here, at last, he met with success, establishing a medical practice that prospered quickly. In 1835, he began to speak out about the growing tensions between Texas andMexico, and that year he attendedthe Consultation, a meeting held atColumbia, by Texas patriots to discuss the fight with Mexico (the meeting's leadership did not want to call the meeting a "convention", for fear the Mexican government would view it as an independence forum). Jones himself presented a resolution at the Consultation calling for a convention to be held to declare independence, but he himself refused to be nominated to the convention.
During theTexas Revolution, Jones served as a judge advocate and surgeon to the Texas Army, though he insisted on holding the rank of private throughout the conflict. After the war, Jones returned to Brazoria and resumed his medical practice.
Upon his return to Brazoria, Jones found thatJames Collinsworth, a fellow Texas patriot and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Brazoria, had set up a law practice in Jones's office. Jones evicted Collinsworth and challenged him to a duel (though the duel never occurred).
On March 1, 1835, Jones met with four other Masons at Brazoria and petitioned the Grand Master of Louisiana for a dispensation and a charter to form the first Masonic lodge in Texas. In December, when the lodge was set to labor, Jones was elected its first Master. The charter forHolland Lodge No. 36arrived in April 1836, and Jones carried it in his saddlebags during the Battle of San Jacinto. At the formation of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas in December 1837, he was elected its first Grand Master. He also became the first Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Texas.
On May 17, 1840, he marriedMary Smith Jones. Together, they had four children.
Move to politics
Jones and Collinsworth would spar again. Collinsworth was instrumental in starting the Texas Railroad, Navigation, and Banking Company, to which Jones was vehemently opposed. Jones was elected to the Second Texas Congress as an opponent of the Company; however, his most significant act in Congress was to call for the withdrawal of the Texas proposal for annexation by theUnited States. He also helped draw up legislation to regulate medical practice, and called for the establishment of an endowment for a university.
Jones expected to return to his practice at Brazoria after his term in Congress, but Texas PresidentSam Houstoninstead appointed him Minister to the United States, where Jones was to formally withdraw the annexation proposal.
During this time, while many Texans hoped to encourage eventual annexation by the United States, some supported waiting for annexation or even remaining independent. The United States, in the late 1830s, was hesitant to annex Texas for fear of provoking a war with Mexico. Jones and others felt it was important that Texas gain recognition from European states and begin to set up trade relations with them, to make annexation of Texas more attractive to the United States or, failing that, to give Texas the strength to remain independent.
Jones was recalled to Texas by new presidentMirabeau Lamarin 1839. Back at home, he found himself elected to a partial term in the Senate, where he quickly became a critic of Lamar's administration. He retired from the Senate in 1841, declining the opportunity to serve as Vice President in favor of returning to his medical practice. Late in 1841, though, he was named Texas Secretary of State by president Houston, who had been recently been elected president again by opponents of Lamar.
Jones served as Secretary of State until 1844. During his term, the main goal of Texas foreign policy was to get either an offer of annexation from the United States, or a recognition of Texas independence from Mexico, or, preferably, both at the same time.
President
In just eight years, Jones had gone from penniless immigrant to president of the Republic of Texas. In that time, he had educated himself, growing from mediocre country doctor to master of international diplomacy. He had pursued every angle open to Texas, from an alliance with Britain and France to annexation to complete independence. Now, on the eve of his greatest triumph, it was this pursuit of alternatives that was to prove his undoing.
Following popular sentiment, the Texas Congress declared for joining the Union. Jones counseled caution. Polk and pro-Texas sentiment had carried the day in the U.S. presidential election, but there was no guarantee that annexation would pass the U.S. Congress. If it failed, Jones wanted to be free to propose independence under a British and French alliance.
On February 27-28, the U.S. Congress approved Texas annexation. It would be almost a month before the word reached Texas. In the meantime, Jones had reached a deal with England and France to negotiate peace and recognition from Mexico. Jones warned the European ministers that Texans would not tolerate much further delay and gave them 90 days in which to conclude the negotiations. He also made it clear that Texas might choose annexation over the Mexican treaty even if negotiations were successful.
When the news of annexation reached Texas on March 20, a storm of protest broke upon Jones and his policies. The president was denounced as a sell-out to Britain. He was burned in effigy, and wild threats were made to overthrow the government. Through it all, Jones remained publicly silent. In his own mind, he had acted correctly, giving Texas the choice of peace with Mexico and independence, or U.S. annexation and almost certain war. But while Jones may have been a skilled diplomat, he was no politician. The people of Texas did not want choices and alternatives. They wanted annexation, and the sooner the better.
On June 4, 1845, Jones received word from the British minister that Mexico had agreed to a treaty guaranteeing peace and the permanent independence of Texas. Jones presented the treaty to the Texas Congress. A furious Congress rejected the treaty, approved annexation to the United States, and adopted resolutions censuring Jones. Later in the summer, Jones was stripped of most of his powers. Jones was stunned by the outcry against him.
For the remainder of his term of office, Jones spent most of his time at his plantation, Barrington, near Brazoria, with his wife and their three children. His final official act was to preside over the transfer of power on February 19, 1846. At the ceremony setting up the government of Texas as a state in the Union, Jones delivered a short and simple address, concluding, "The final act in this great drama is now performed. The Republic of Texas is no more." Then, with his own hands, he lowered the flag of the Republic of Texas for the last time.
Post-presidency
Jones hoped that the new Texas state legislature would send him to the United States Senate. He was not chosen, and as time went on he became increasingly bitter about this slight. Although Jones prospered as a planter and eventually amassed an enormous estate, he was never able to get past the fact thatSam HoustonandThomas Jefferson Ruskwere chosen over him to represent Texas inWashington, D.C.
After the suicide ofThomas Jefferson Ruskin 1857, Jones became convinced that the legislature would finally send him to the Senate, but he received no votes.
Death
For four days he had lodged at Houston's oldCapitol Hotel, the former seat of government of the Republic of Texas, when he fatally shot himself in his room after dinner on January 9, 1858. He was 59 years old. Jones was buried atGlenwood Cemeteryin Houston.