Noble Wimberly Jones

Who was Noble Wimberly Jones?

Noble Wimberly Jones was an American physician and statesman from Savannah, Georgia. A leading Georgia patriot in the American Revolution, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1781 and 1782.

Born in Lambeth, England, he immigrated to North America with his parents, who settled in Savannah in 1723, the first group of white settlers of the Province of Georgia. He was often known by his full name to distinguish him from his father, Noble Jones, who became one of the leading officials of the Province of Georgia.

As a youth, Jones often served in the militia under James Oglethorpe, helping to protect the province from Native Americans and the Spanish. Like his father, Jones became a physician, although neither apparently had any formal schooling in the field. He married Sarah Davis in 1755, with whom he would have fourteen children, including son George Jones, who would become a United States Senator from Georgia.

Jones practiced medicine in Savannah from 1756 to 1774. In 1755 he was elected to the province's lower legislative body, the Commons House of Assembly, serving until 1775, when the American Revolution terminated the Assembly's existence. After the 1765 Stamp Act, Jones was an outspoken critic of British policy. First elected Speaker of the House in 1768, he secured the services of Benjamin Franklin as Georgia's agent in London. Royal Governor James Wright saw Jones as a threat to royal authority, and dissolved the Assembly. In the years that followed, Jones was repeatedly elected Speaker, and each time Wright would respond by dissolving the Assembly.