Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/110

 JAMES KIMBROUGH JONES ONES, JAMES KIMBROUGH, for eighteen years United States senator from Arkansas, had been senator in his own state from 1873-1879 (for the last two years president of the Arkansas senate), and a representative in congress from 1881 to 1885. In the state senate he was a most valuable member of the committee of Ways and Means; and in the senate of the United States his influence and capacity have had full scope. He is acknowledged to be one of the foremost leaders of his party, lending strength and dignity to any causes to which he gives his support. He represented the Democratic party for nearly twenty years in the United States senate. He was chairman of the Democratic national committee from 1896 until 1904. He conducted the presidential campaigns of 1896 and 1900; and was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1896 and 1900. His sterling personal worth and his unusual ability are fully recognized by the public, as well as by his constituents.

He was born September 29, 1839, in Marshall county, Mississippi. His father, Nathaniel Kimbrough Jones, is described as possessing "strong good sense and upright character." His earliest known ancestor in America was his great, great grandfather, Nathaniel Jones. His physical condition in childhood was very frail and delicate and while he had a special fondness for books, his health was such that it was with difficulty that he could pursue constant and regular courses of study. He removed with his parents to Dallas county, Arkansas, in 1848, and there attended country schools and was aided in his classical education by tutors. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army as a private, and remained with it until the close of the war, when he returned to his father's plantation where he remained until 1873. He began the practice of law at Washington, Hempstead county, Arkansas in that year, and in that same year he was elected to the state senate.

In the United States senate he has served on several important committees, among them, Finance, Printing, Relations with Canada,