The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-04-04
WELL KNOWN
MASON DEAD
HON. JONES L. WILLIAMS
PASSED AWAY. AT
HOME IN THIS
CITY.
HONORARY G. M.
Prominent In Masonic Circles In
Mississippi; Funeral Fri
day at Caledonia
Cemtery.


in Israel"
Mr.. Jonas L. Williams, aged eighty
eight years, gave up the struggle the
last day of March and entered into
rest at the home of his son, Former
Sheriff j. B. Williams, in this city.
Death was due to senility, Mr.. Will
Hams having been in a feeble con-
dition for some time.
Funeral services were held on
Thursday, conducted by the Rev. r.
S. Gavin, d. d., and the remains were
laid to rest in the Rowan Cemetery
as Caledonia. The solemn and i'm
pressive burial service Of the Masonic
order was used at the grave.
Jones L. Williams was born May
%, 1882, in Tuscaloosa County, Ala
bama. He came to Mississippi in
1850, since which time he has resided
in the Magnolia State. September
10, 1866, at Caledonia, he was mar
ried to Miss Rebecce Wells and to
the union four children were born, two
sons and two daughters. The widow
and three of the children remain to
mourn the loss of devoted husband
and father. The widow makes her
home with her surviving son, Mr.. j.
B. Williams. The daughters are Mrs.
Annie W. Mills, Of Columbus, and
Mrs. John B. Stanley, of West Point.
Deceased united with the Baptist
Church in 1857, and during all the
years that followed he was an earnest
and consecrated Christian. He was a
deacon in the Baptist Church for
forty years.
| AT the age of twenty-one years, Mr..
Williams became a member of the
Lodge of Freemasons, and for sixty
seven years was just and upright
Mason. At the time his summons
came to join the. Innumerable Caravan
he was Honorary Grand Master Of the
Mississippi Masonic Grand Lodge.
For thirty years he regularly attend
ed the meetings of the grand body,
and was well known for his knowl-
edge of Masonic principles and prac-
tice of the tenets of the order. He
helped to organize the Masonic lodge
at Caledonia and was its first master.
He was member of the Royal Arch
Chapter in Columbus.
For one term, Mr.. Williams served
Lowndes county as assessor, and for
thirty-two years was justice of the
peace in District No. |.
In the great civil strife, Mr.. Will
liams enlisted in the Confederate
Army. He began his career as a
soldier with the rank of lieutenant,
and closed it as captain of Co. d, 43rd
Miss. Here, as elsewhere, he proved
his true worth as man and pat
riot, serving the South with heroism
and fidelity.
AS husband, father, neighbour,
friend, Christian, Mason, public off.
cial, citizen and soldier he measured
up fully to all that was expected OF
required of him. His heart was ever
warm and tender to those who needed
sympathy; his pocket-book was al
ways open to those who were in need
of charity; his latch-string was evei
out to those who needed food or shell.
ter. As son, he idolized his father
and mother. As husband he always
bore himself as if he had never gone
beyond the blissful probation of tn,
ardent lover. As a parent he mad,
Constant companions of his children
entering into all of their little whims
notions and ambitions, teaching then
how to be frank of speech and gen
erous Of heart and nature. He knew
neither envy, detraction, littleneess o
soul, malice, jealousy, nor fault-fnd
ing, His character was luminous
with good deeds, and with devotion
to his God, his family and his countr,
that some have equaled but no on
has ever surpassed
And now he has gone from out tn
vision of all who loved him so. Tn
great unknown is over and aroun
and about him. But where he is it i
light, and he can see the Great Whit
Throne, and the Jasper Walls, and tn
Gates of Pearl. Lift up your tear
dimmed eyes, We sorrowing one.
Weep not The one you loved is no
dead. He has just commenced
live. The righteous do not die. 7
them, when the body dies, comes tn
blessed realization of the tired fe,
pressing the plains of Paradis,
Jonas L. Williams fought the battle
of life we'll. He was faithful in a
his obligations, and now reaps his n
ward: BE thou faithful unto death