The Jonesville Community

The Jonesville Community. (Honoring Mr. Prince Albert Jones Sr.). (Obverse) , The Jonesville Community on Old Pike Road in Mathews, named for wealthy landowner George Mathews from Olgethorp County Ga. was designated by the Montgomery County Commission on October 16th, 2007 to honor the life and legacy of Prince Albert Jones Sr. (April 25, 1916 - January 13, 2008) and his family to the community. Jones was born and reared in the area and devoted much of his nearly 92 years of life to helping others in Mathews and the surrounding communities of Cecil, Waugh, Pike Road and Mt. Meigs. A farmer by trade, he supported his family and many of his neighbors with crops he planted. He used his resources (tractors, balers, trucks and other farm equipment and transportation) to help others cultivate their crops and get them to market. He also voluntarily cared for several of the local cemeteries, including New Jerusalem (on the grounds of the old Margaret Beard Elementary School) and Gilmer Cemetery in nearby Pike Road, where he and many of his family members and former residents are buried. , (continued on other side) , (reverse) , (continued from other side) , Prince Albert Jones was concerned about the common man and believed deeply in civil and voting rights. Quoting from an article appearing in the "Montgomery Advertiser" on January 18, 2008, Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Jones was one of rural Montgomery's first registered black voters, when fewer than 1 percent of the county's black residents were registered. "Mr. Jones was one of the area's most dedicated advocates for equality and used his good reputation with the white farming elite to help black neighbors and church members obtain the right to vote decades before the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act," Dees said. Jones was one of 15 children. He and his wife Essie also reared 15 children. They strongly valued Christian living, education and hard work and taught their children and others in the community the importance of working with their minds as well as their hands.