Gabriel Jones (politician)

Gabriel Jones (May 17, 1724 – October 1806) was an 18th-century Welsh American lawyer, legislator, court clerk and civil servant in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia.

Jones attended Christ's Hospital (one of England's "Bluecoat Schools"), after which he served as an indentured apprentice studying jurisprudence under a solicitor in the Court of Chancery and of Lyon's Inn in Middlesex. At the age of 21, Jones was admitted to practice law following the completion of his apprenticeship. He was persuaded by either Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the landowner of the Northern Neck Proprietary, or his relative Hugh Mercer to return to Virginia, where he engaged in the practice of law.

Jones served as Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia) for a tenure lasting 25 years (1757–1782) and represented Frederick, Hampshire, and Augusta counties as a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. In addition, Jones also served as the King's Attorney for Augusta County and as the coroner for Frederick County. He was elected to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress but did not attend, and was elected to represent Rockingham County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. Jones was an uncle of American pioneer John Gabriel Jones (1752–1776), and he was a friend of both George Washington and Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.