Father: Catesby JONES
Mother: Lettice Corbin TURBERVILLE
Family 1: Mary Walker CARTER
MARRIAGE: 1 JUL 1823, Richmond,Virginia,,"Richmond Hill"
Meriwether Patterson JONES
Mary Lee JONES
Mark Catesby JONES
Martha Corbin JONES
The Commodore commanded a small "fleet" at Lake
Pontchatrain in New Orleans in 1814. He was able to delay the British
landing and enabled Andrew Jackson to gather his forces.
Subsequently, he stopped dueling in the U.S. Navy. He helped
negotiate the treaty with the Hawaiians which gave the United States
the islands. He then commanded the Pacific Squadron in 1842. He
captured Monterey, California, from the Spanish who held Mexico at
that time on receiving the erroneous information that war existed
between the U.S. and Mexico. There is a plaque honoring is event in
Monterey Harbor.
---Jones (1891), p. 75.
He entered the navy on 22 Nov 1805, and became
lieutenant 24 May, 1812, commander 28 March, 1820, and captain 11
March 1829. From 1808 till 1812 he was engaged in the Gulf of Mexico
where he was succesful in suppressing piracy, smuggling, and the
slave-trade. When the British naval expedition against N.O. entered
Lake Borgne in 1814 he endeavored to intercept forty British boats
with his small flotilla. Although wounded and compelled to surrender,
his conduct was much praised.
---Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography
He married Mary Walker Carter on July 1, 1823
Commodore Jones commanded the Pacific Fleet for many years.
In 1826, Jones concluded the
treaty
between King Kauikeaouli of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and the
United States. This initial treaty with Hawaii granted most
favored trade status to Hawaii and granted protection to U.S.
ships.
He captured
and released Monterey, CA, in 1842. Another mention can be
found in this
history of
the Republic of California
In 1830 he was assigned to command an Exploring Expedition to the South Seas. In 1836, his nephew was expecting to join him on this expedition, but Captain Jones withdrew from this due to the lack of suppport by Congress.
His nephew, Catesby ap Roger Jones, refers to him numerous in
his private
journal.
A reference
is made to him in Military History of the West, Fall 1994
(Vol. 24 No. 1)
A description of the presentation of swords on Feb. 22, 1841, to Thomas ap Catesby Jones and his brother Roger Jones, in "Southern literacy messenger; devoted to every department of literature and the fine arts" Vol. 7, Issue 4 entitled "Honors to the Brave"
References to Jones in California in William T. Sherman's memoirs (1848 and 1849-50)
Another reference to Jones in California 1849. Has some mention of the consideration of Mares Island as a future location for a Navy Yard (as proposed by Jones).
US Congress bills relating to Thomas ap Catesby Jones
