Samuel Jones (1786 - 1867)
Born at Hopkinton (NH); died at Bradford (NH).
Teacher, businessman, state legislator.
Portrait by C. L. [?], 1870.

Jones (1782 - 1867) was born and educated at Hopkinton (NH). He moved to Bradford (NH) in 1809 and married a year later (Elizabeth Andrews, of Sutton, NH). Jones fathered seven children with his first wife, who died in 1849. He remarried in 1851 (Amanda Eaton, of Bradford, NH).

Jones taught school at Bradford, then built and operated a hotel at the "Mill village." As a prominent local businessman Jones became a Mason, joining the Blazing Star Lodge in 1818. On January 7, 1819 Jones "raised" St. Peter's Lodge, Number 31. Active in the Masons, Jones served as Master (1829 - 1830), District Deputy Grand Master (1841 - 1843) and Master once more (1846 - 1848). He was also Bradford's first Postmaster (1822).

Jones served as a State Representative (1821 - 1824, 1831 - 1833, 1842) and as a State Senator (1836 - 1838; President of the Senate, 1838). His last political position was a member of Governor Anthony Colby's Council (1846 - 1848).

References: D. Hamilton Hurd, ed., History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties (1885); Gerald D. Foss, Three Centuries of Freemasonry in New Hampshire (1972).