JONES, Willie, a Delegate from North Carolina; born in Northampton County, N.C., December 24, 1740; attended Eton College, England; engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1776; president of the North Carolina Committee of Safety in 1776 and first Governor ex officio of the new State; member of the first constitutional convention in 1776; member of the State house of commons 1776-1778; Member of the Continental Congress in 1780; elected to the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787 but declined to accept; member of the State constitutional convention called to ratify the Constitution of the United States July 21, 1788; resumed agricultural pursuits; died at his summer home in Raleigh, N.C., June 18, 1801; interment in the family burying ground on his plantation near Raleigh, N.C.
