Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-03-08
Much Popu ar Ignorance Concern
ing the Man.
FOUNDER OF OUR NAVY.
Closed His Services as Russian Ad-
mlra.-Not a Foreign Swash-
buckIer.

period of his service was comparatively
short. and he closed his career Oh the
sea as a Russian admiral. There is
great deal of popular Ignorance concern
ing this remarkable man. owing undoubt
edly TO the fact that instead of settling
down and taking mart III the government
OF the nation he had assisted i'll found-
ing. he went abroad ana passed the re-
mainder of his days far from the people
who owe him q lasting debt OF grail
tude In the preface of his history OF
paul Jones, the Founder of the Aneri
can Navy" published by Charles Serb
ner's Sofs in two volumes, Augustus Z.
Buell. says that Jones resided IN this
country from the spring OF 1913 uutl
the fall of 1777. After that, though
continuing in the service of the United
States and passing some part Of his time
here at intervals between 1tIl and
1871. his actual dOmicile was France,
and from 1877 till his death, in ll92, ne
did not appear in this country at all.
Some of his papers were in the English
language but the most valuable docu-
ments were in French. After his death
these papers were scattered. some hndlng
their way to the United States, others
going to Scotland, and the remainder
staying in France. 1t is generally known
that the hero's name was John Paul.
and that he added the name Jones after
he had attained his majority; but the
reason for the addition, or change, is not
explained in many Of his biographies.
"Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American
Biography" states that he took the name
Jones in 1913, for reasons which are
unknown" THE National Cyclopaedia
of American Biography" says 1.-The rea-
sons for the addition are not given.
Hamersly's Naval Cyclopaedia" simply
says that he adopted the name of Jones.
The American Cyclopaedia" remarks
in its sketch of the hero that his name
was John Paul. 'that of Jones having
been assumed in after life" Mr. Buell.
states that John Paul's eldest brother,
William, was adopted in 1743 by a we'll
TODD and childless Virginia planter
named William Jones, a native of Kirk
bean parish, Scotland, and distant rel
ative of the Pauls, while he was on a
visit to his old Scottish home. by vir-
tue of the act of adoption, the brother
took the name William Paul Jones.
John visited William in Virginia during
his early sea voyaging, and the old
Scottish American planter took a great
fancy to him also, Offering to adopt him |
as he did William. But John preferred |
sea life and declined the Offer Old |
William Jones died in 1860. and by the |
terms of his will made John Paul the |
residuary legatee of his brother in case |
the hitter should die without issue: pro-
vided that John Paul would assume, as
his brother had DONE the patronymic of
mock in 1169, John Paul. who was then a
captain. qualified under the provisions of
the Will by recording his assent to it's
requirements in due form. When in
April, 1913, John Paul cropped the an
ehor Of his brig Two Friendshis lasf
merchant command--oif his brothers
plantation on the Rappahannock, he
found his brother dying of pneumonia,
then known as inflammation of the lungs |
hen William passed away, says Mr.
Buell, through the succession estab-
lIshed by the will Of William Jones,
John Paul became John Paul Jones,
sinking his old name that he had al
ready made well known and universally
respected, in Il new name that he was
soon to bequeath in blaze of glory unto
all immortality"
Not Hero by Circumstances.
The popular idea has to a great extent
been that John Paul Jones was. after
al, a foreign swashbuckler who loved
hghtmg merely for the excitement it fur
nlshed, and that he became a hero simply
because ne happened for a time to fight
Tor the right cause. This view does the
American naval hero great Injustice He
was loyal subject of the King during
ms early sen life, but his symnathies be.
came allenated through ms contact with
the Virginia coionists and when he in
uerited Il colonial name as well rs colo
mai property, he east his fortunes with
the people among whom he had been
adopted. Jones, as he was theucefor-
ward known, was n man far above the
ieVei OF the seafaring men of his time.
Instead Of idling about the ship or on
shore he early i'll life mastered the prob
lens of his profession, and became pro-
ticient IN French and Spanish. Mr.
Buell. states that he had also made him
self conyersant with the naval history
and tactical theories of his time. SO that
by ltt3, when he reached his twenty
seventh year. there was probably no ma
val officer of bis age in the British sery-
ace better educated or more accomplished
in professional requirements This re-
yeals why Jones was able to render eff
ilcient service III founding the American
navy. When. in June. 1915. the pro-
vISlonal marine or naval committee an
pointed by the Continental Congress for
maliy authorized its chairman "to invite
John Paul Jones, Esquire, gent, of Nir-
glnia, master mariner, to lay before the
committee such information and service
as may Seem 70 him useful in assisting |
the said committee to discharge it's la /
bors, it acted with the utmost wisdom; |
Tor no man at that time in the colonies |
WIS better qualified for this important |
task. Jones reported in person to the |
committee and received Il list of inqui |
RES in writing rs to the proper qualifea-
lions of naval officers, and ''the kind or
kinds of armed vessels most desirable
for the service of the United Colonies.
keeping in view the limited resources of
the Congress- He bent himself to
the important task of assisting the COM
mittee to purchase and equip suitable
vessels, and III the meantime submitted
q letter continuing his views as to the
proper qualifications of naval officers.
These views are comprehensive and log
ical, and the reader will agree with the
biographer that they euhody the logic
and philosophy of naval organization and
the elements of sea power today quite as
fundamentally as they did then or as
they ever can be embodied under any
conditions conceivable in the future"
This letter to the provisional naval com
mittee therefore contains further proof
that John Paul Jones was Il man
far above the level of the cold sen dog"
with an innate love Tor prawlS. that
through lack of data he has been made
to appear in some instances. Several
of the paragraphs of the letter to the
committee have an interesting bearing
in the case of a modern naval officer
who was recently pilloried by the yellCw