banker, zinc company executive, politician, b. Pembrokeshire, Wales. He migrated to the U.S. and to Wisconsin with his parents in 1851, settling in Iowa County. He graduated from Platteville Normal School (1872), taught school for several years, and was superintendent of schools for Iowa County (1877-1881). In 1881 he entered the banking business, and in 1884 was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Mineral Point, for which he was cashier and later secretary and vice-president for several years. A Republican, Jones was mayor of Mineral Point (1884) and state assemblyman (1895-1898). In 1897 he was appointed U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President McKinley, and served in this capacity until Jan., 1905. With his brothers, DAVID BENTON JONES, b. Pembrokeshire, Wales, and THOMAS DAVIES JONES, b. Iowa County, both of whom were Princeton graduates and prominent Illinois attorneys, William purchased the Mineral Point Zinc Co. in 1883. The company was reorganized with David Jones as president, Thomas as vice-president, and William as secretary-treasurer, and soon was established on a paying basis. In 1897 the company became affiliated with the New Jersey Zinc Co., one of the largest zinc producers in the U.S., and made extensive land purchases in southwestern Wisconsin for mining purposes. William, the only brother who remained a Wisconsin resident, maintained his home in Mineral Point and was secretary-treasurer (1887-1897) and general manager (1905-1912) of the Mineral Point Zinc Co., and also served as western manager of the New Jersey Zinc Co. He was superintendent and general manager of the Mineral Point and Northern R.R. (1905-1912). Who's Who in Amer., 6 (1910), 12 (1922); G. and R. M. Crawford, eds., Memoirs of Iowa County (2 vols., n.p., 1913); Mineral Point Iowa County Democrat, Sept. 26, 1912; Madison Wis. State Journal, Oct. 5, 1930; Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 24, 1923; WPA field notes.

While U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1897 to 1905, Jones acquired nearly 400 photographs of Native Americans taken by photographers such as Thomas Croft, H.H. Bratley, G.W. Parsons and Frank A. Rinehart. These are now available as an online gallery at Wisconsin Historical Images.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the William A. Jones Papers for details. See also the William A. Jones Photographs.

Learn More

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]