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Charles Colcock Jones, Jr. (1831-1893) was the son of Presbyterian pastor C.C. Jones, Sr. (1804-1863). Although he was not a minister, but instead a Harvard-educated lawyer by profession, and a mayor of Savannah, Georgia for a time, his reputation rests largely on his prolific historical writings and as an respected antiquarian. He was nationally known for his collection of portraits, books, manuscripts and autographs, including those of every signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Perhaps best-known for his “magisterial” History of Georgia (2 vols., 1883), which was dedicated to his father, he developed early on a fascination for the early Native American tribes who inhabited his home state, and the mounds and artifacts they left behind. In this passion, he was joined by his brother, Dr. Joseph Jones (1833-1896), who pioneered archeological studies in Tennessee, as C.C. Jones, Jr. did in Georgia. Both men prepared reports for the Smithsonian Institute of their studies, and C.C. Jones, Jr. made donations from his extensive collection of antiquities — estimated at around 20,000 artifacts — to the American Museum of Natural History, while Joseph’s collection now resides at the National Museum of the American Indian.
At Log College Press, we have assembled some of C.C. Jones, Jr.’s antiquarian writings, which remain of great interest to anthropologists, archeologists, linguists and ethnologists today. Here are some of the titles which reflect his dedication to the study of Native Americans of the Southeast.
Indian Remains in Southern Georgia: Address Delivered Before the Georgia Historical Society, on Its Twentieth Anniversary, February 12th, 1859 (1859);
Monumental Remains of Georgia (1861);
Historical Sketch of Tomo-Chi-Chi, Mico of the Yamacraws (1868);
Antiquities of the Southern Indians, Particularly of the Georgia Tribes (1873);
Aboriginal Structures in Georgia (1877, 1878);
Primitive Manufacture of Spear and Arrow Points Along the Line of the Savannah River (1880); and
Silver Crosses From an Indian Grave-Mound at Coosawattee Old Town, Murray County, Georgia (1883).
To this list may be added his discussion of the sixteenth century Native Americans in The History of Georgia, Vol. 1 (1883), and similar discussions in History of Savannah, GA.: From Its Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century (1890), Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia (1890), and other historical writings.
There is a rich amount of material to search through for those interested in not only the history of the indigenous peoples of the Southeast before the arrival of Europeans, but also with respect to the early interactions between Native Americans and Europeans in Georgia and the surrounding territory. The pioneer antiquarian studies of both C.C. Jones, Jr. and his brother Joseph did much in the nineteenth century to elevate an appreciation for that history.
