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Jones, William Caswell

lawyer, jurist, author, poet, was born July 15, 1848, in Hutsonville, Ill. His father was Caswell Jones, a merchant and beloved citizen who died when the son was in his fifth year. He received the rudiments of his education in the public schools; spent three years at the Ohio Wesleyan university of Delaware; and graduated from the law school of Ann Arbor, Mich. In 1868 he was admitted to the bar; and served with distinction as a member of the twenty-seventh general 1 assembly of Illinois in 1871 and 1872. In 1877 he was elected county judge of his county; was elected to the circuit bench in 1879; and re-elected circuit judge in 1885, his term expiring in 1891. He immediately returned to the practice of law in Robinson, Ill., and has a large practice. He is one of the authors of a standard work entitled Jones and Cunningham's Practice in County Courts in Illinois, a second edition of which was published in 1893. He has written extensively both prose and verse for current periodicals and magazines; and is the author of Birch-Rod Days, and Other Poems, published by the American Publishers' association. He is also the author of Elements and Science of English Versification, a most valuable work destined to become a standard work on that subject.

Judge Jones has been a successful business man and financier; is vice-president of the Robinson bank; and is also extensively engaged in farming and stock raising.