Noble Wimberly Jones
Noble Wimberly Jones was an American physician and statesman of Savannah. He was born in Lambeth, England, and immigrated to North America with his parents, who settled in Savannah in 1733. His family was one of the first groups of settlers to arrive at the newly established Colony of Georgia. His father, Noble Jones became a leading official of the Colony.
Noble Wimberly Jones served under General James Edward Oglethorpe in the militia and assisted in protecting the province from the Spanish and Native Americans. He amassed a great income thanks to his thousands of acres of land, in which he cultivated rice along the Ogeechee River. Although he never went to formal schooling, he became a physician like his father. He practiced in the medical field in the city of Savannah for decades to come.
In 1755, Noble Wimberly Jones was elected to the Commons House of Assembly and served for twenty years, until the assembly’s termination due to the American Revolution. Noble criticized British policy and was seen as a threat to royal authority. He went on to be the Speaker of the House multiple times. Later, he was elected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress but failed to serve as he was focused on the political turmoil happening in Georgia. During this time, his father also fell ill and passed away in 1775.
Once Governor Wright was forced out of his position in 1776, Jones assumed control of the colony along with other revolutionaries. He helped to write Georgia’s state constitution in 1777 and was elected Speaker of the New House of Assembly. Once the British captured Savannah once again in 1778, Noble Wimberly Jones fled to the neighboring colony of Charleston, South Carolina. He continued to practice medicine in Charleston until they too were captured by the British.
Noble Wimberly Jones was captured as a prisoner and held in St. Augustine, Florida. Upon his release in 1781, he traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he became a delegate to the Congress. A short year later, when the British occupation ended, Jones returned to Savannah. He continued to practice medicine here and was elected to serve as the Speaker of the Georgia House. In 1795, Noble Wimberly Jones was the president of the state constitutional convention.
In his personal life, he married Sarah Davis in 1755 and went on to have fourteen children with her. One of his children, George Jones, became a United States Senator for Georgia. Noble Wimberly Jones passed away in Savannah in 1805 and was buried in the Bonaventure Cemetery. The city honors his life through a memorial located in Savannah’s Emmet Park.
Noble Wimberly Jones was not only a physician but also a Georgia patriot in the American Revolution. He served as a statesman in various locations and continued to return to Savannah at every chance he could. Upon his arrival from England to Savannah, he dedicated his life to serving the Colony of Georgia and served multiple public civic duty roles throughout his life.
