John Pringle Jones

John Pringle Jones, jurist, b. near Newton, Berks co., Pa., in 1812; d. in London, England, 16 March, 1874. He was graduated at Princeton in 1831, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in 1834, afterward settling in practice in Reading, Pa. He was appointed in 1839 deputy attorney-general for Berks county, and on 15 March, 1847, presiding judge of the 3d judicial district. Under the elective judiciary system of 1851 he was elected president of the Berks county courts for the term of ten years, at the expiration of which time he devoted himself to literature. In 1867, on the death of Judge Maynard, of the 3d judicial district, Judge Jones was appointed his successor for the unexpired term. In 1872 he travelled in Europe, and was on his way home when he died. He was the author of "Eulogy on A. Laussat" (Philadelphia, 1834); and volumes xi and xii of "Pennsylvania State Reports " (1850-'2).

Source: Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. III, ed. by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1888, p. 469.

Contributed by: Nancy.