FRANK HATCH JONES, one of the leading attorneys of Springfield, has been engaged in the practice of the legal profession in this city since 1879. He claims Illinois as the State of his nativity and is a representative of one of its early families. His paternal grandfather came to the State in 1833, and located in what is now the town of Griggsville which he founded, naming it in honor of one of his friends. He is still living in that town and, although he has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, is still in the enjoyment of excellent health and unimpaired mental faculties. He was originally a farmer and land owner but in later life turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, dealing in agricultural implements. His wife, Mrs. Henrietta Jones, was called to her final rest in 1887. Thus after a long and happy wedded life of sixty-four years, in which they had shared with each other the joys and sorrows, the prosperity and adversity which is common to man, this worthy couple were separated. Their son George W. is the father of our subject. He was born in Massachusetts and came to Illinois in 1834. His wife, whose maiden name was Celia Bennett, is a native of the Empire State, and of their union have been born three children - William, who died in infancy; Fred B., a resident of Chicago; and Frank H., of this sketch. George W. Jones is a prominent and influential citizen of the community in which he makes his home. For a number of years he held the office of Circuit Clerk of Pike County and is now Clerk of the Appellate Court, Central Grand Division, which position he has filled for the past twelve years and has been re-elected for his third term.

Our subject, who is known as one of the leading young attorneys of the Capital City, was born in Griggsville, Pike County, on the 6th of March, 1854, and acquired his primary education in Pittsfield, the county seat of Pike County, Ill., being graduated from its High School. He early manifested a love of learning and the advantages of his boyhood were supplemented by a course in Yale College, which he entered in 1871, graduating in 1875. His choice of a life work fell upon the profession of law, and after reading in the office of Higbee & Wike, of Pittsfield, for a year he entered the Columbia Law School of New York, and after a year became a student in the Chicago Law School. The succeeding year, 1879, he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Pike County, but after six months he removed to Springfield where he has since made his home and been associated in his profession with Bluford Wilson, ex-Solicitor of the United States Treasury. Mr. Jones is a clear thinker, a logical reasoner and a forcible speaker and has won the respect and confidence of his clients and business associates. He makes his profession a daily study and the knowledge he has acquired in regard to law might well be a subject of envy with many an older practitioner. In political sentiment Mr. Jones is a Democrat and a stanch supporter of the party principles. In the district convention which convened in the fall of this year, 1890, he was nominated for the Legislature and elected. We feel that he will ably represent the people of the district and State.

The honored wife of Mr. Jones was in her maidenhood Miss Sarah I. Bunn, daughter of Jacob Bunn, President of the Illinois Watch Company. Their marriage was celebrated in October, 1882, and the young couple, who are widely known in the Capital City, rank high in the social world. Mr. Jones has been a member of the Sangamon County Democratic Committee and Chairman of the same. In 1888 he was elected President of the State League of Democratic Clubs of Illinois, and for three years was Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association.