JONES COUNTY

Jones was formed in 1779 from Craven. It was named in honor of Willie Jones of Halifax who was one of the leaders of the Revolution, president of the Council of Safety and an opponent of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. It was due chiefly to his influence that the Convention of 1788 refused to ratify the Federal Constitution. It is in the eastern section of the State and is bounded by Craven, Carteret, Onslow, Duplin and Lenoir counties. The present land area is 471.88 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 10,153. Of that population, 6,395 were white, 3,289 were black or African American, 57 were American Indian, 32 were Asian, 2 were Pacific Islander and 190 were of a different race. Another 188 were reported to be of two or more races and 398 were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The first court was directed to be held at the home of Thomas Webber at Trent Bridge, and to continue there until the courthouse was built unless some other place was selected. In 1784 an act was passed authorizing a town by the name of Trenton to be laid out where the courthouse stood. Trenton is the county seat.

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Part of Jones County is in the Neuse River Basin and part of it is in the White Oak River Basin. It is a part of the Coastal Plain region of the state.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections (Government & Heritage Library and NC State Archives)

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)