Upon graduation, in 1841, he could not be persuaded to locate at home; and although put wholly upon his own resources, he began the study of law in New York City. In 1843 he was admitted to the New York bar, and for twenty years followed his profession, the latter part of the time in Utica, N. Y. Prior to his removal there he married Harriet Dwight Dana, daughter of James Dana, of Utica, and sister of Professor James D. Dana, of Yale University, who survived until 1882. At Utica Mr. Jones made many warm friends in his profession, including the late Justice William J. Bacon, Senator Kernan, Joshua Spencer, and Senator Conkling.

Advised by his physician that he must lead an out-of-door life, he reluctantly relinquished the practice of law to give himself to rural pursuits, although still retaining his interest and membership in the New York bar. In 1858, by invitation of a former client then engaged in surveying the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, he made an examination of the proposed route, and being impressed by the natural beauty of the country, with characteristic daring determined to throw himself heartily into the development of the region where Englewood is now located. He spent the summer of 1858 in securing property rights from the original owners, and by the autumn of that year had control of nearly all the land now occupied by that village. He proceeded to lay out the town, to name its streets, and to procure a survey and map of its territory. By the spring of 1859 he had moved his family to the new place and had gained for it the support of several valuable friends. In this same spring, at a meeting of the residents, the name Englewood, suggested and advocated by him, was adopted. Since that time Mr. Jones has been prominent in the secular and religious life of Englewood, and he still maintains a keen interest in its growth and welfare. He has had the satisfaction of seeing it develop, pursuant to the general plan formulated by himself, into a beautiful and progressive suburb of New York City. In addition to the initial work at Englewood he also became largely interested in the neighboring Towns of Closter and Norwood, the latter of which he established and named.

In 1865 Mr. Jones became President of the St. Joseph Lead Company, a corporation manufacturing and mining lead in the State of Missouri; and by persistent energy, overcoming all obstacles, he has raised the company from an almost hopeless condition to its present position as one of the largest lead-producing concerns in the United States. With the lead company are also associated a railway corporation having a road forty-eight miles in length, and a cattle and farming company transacting a large business, of both of which Mr. Jones is President. He is also President of the Doe Run Lead Company. During the thirty years of his presidency of the St. Joseph Lead Company he has spent much of his time at the mines in Missouri, where now there is a prosperous community. During this entire period there has never been a strike among the men, it having been one of the chief concerns of the company, under the leadership of Mr. Jones, not only to treat its employees fairly, but also to aid in every undertaking which promised to contribute to their pleasure, or to their moral or physical welfare.

In politics Mr. Jones has been a Republican since the days of the Free Soil party. At the outbreak of the Civil War, while deep in his work at Englewood, he was an ardent Northerner, frequently speaking at public meetings. He was many years Chairman of the Republican County Executive Committee, and was chosen a delegate-at-large from the State of New Jersey to the Presidential Convention of 1872. In 1876 he was elected a delegate to the State Convention by the Englewood Republicans after he had declared himself friendly to Senator Conkling and opposed to Hon. James G. Blaine, and subsequently by the State Convention was elected a delegate to the Presidential Convention at Cincinnati. There, with five other New Jersey delegates, he refused to vote for Mr. Blaine, and voted on the first and every ballot for Mr. Hayes, who was nominated by the convention. While this course was distasteful to the Blaine adherents, so far as Mr. Jones was concerned it was in accord with the declarations he had previously made, and with the decision of his Englewood constituents. In later years he has taken no active part in politics, but maintains a loyal adherence to his party and an earnest concern for the country's prosperity.

Personally Mr. Jones is a courtly gentleman, thoroughly American, and counts his friends among all classes of men. He possesses a keen insight into human nature, and judges quickly and accurately.