Jones, Samuel

Samuel Jones (1735-1814), prominent member of the Philadelphia Association instrumental in the founding of the College, was born in 1735 and educated at Hopewell Academy. He was the pastor of the Baptist church at Pennepek in Pennsylvania for fifty-one years and conducted an academy for the education of young men. He was a friend of President James Manning, and on Manning’s death was asked to be president of the College, but declined because of his advanced age. He died on February 7, 1814. He was described in Reuben Guild’s Early History of Brown University:

“Dr. Jones was a ready writer and a fluent speaker. In his person he is described as a large and firmly built man, six feet or more in height, weighing upwards of three hundred pounds, and every way well proportioned. His face was the very image of intelligence and good-nature; which, with the air of dignity that pervaded all his movements, rendered his appearance uncommonly attractive. He possessed an ample fortune, which he used with signal grace and hospitality.”