Noble Wimberly Jones Noble Wimberly Jones ( c . 1723 – January 9 , 1805 ) was an American physician and statesman from Savannah , Georgia . A leading Georgia patriot in the American Revolution , he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1781 and 1782 . Born in Lambeth , England ( near London ) , he immigrated to North America with his parents , who settled in Savannah in 1723 , the first group of white settlers of the Province of Georgia . He was often known by his full name to distinguish him from his father , Noble Jones , who became one of the leading officials of the Province of Georgia . As a youth , Jones often served in the militia under James Oglethorpe , helping to protect the province from Native Americans and the Spanish . Like his father , Jones became a physician , although neither apparently had any formal schooling in the field . He married Sarah Davis in 1755 , with whom he would have fourteen children , including son George Jones , who would become a United States Senator from Georgia . Jones practiced medicine in Savannah from 1756 to 1774 . In 1755 he was elected to the province ' s lower legislative body , the Commons House of Assembly , serving until 1775 , when the American Revolution terminated the Assembly ' s existence . After the 1765 Stamp Act , Jones was an outspoken critic of British policy . First elected Speaker of the House in 1768 , he secured the services of Benjamin Franklin as Georgia ' s agent in London . Royal Governor James Wright saw Jones as a threat to royal authority , and dissolved the Assembly . In the years that followed , Jones was repeatedly elected Speaker , and each time Wright would respond by dissolving the Assembly . Following the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament , in 1775 Jones helped form Georgia ' s Provincial Congress . He was twice elected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775 , but he did not attend due to the political turmoil and Georgia and the illness of his father , who died that year . He was a member of the Council of Safety by the end of 1775 . When news reached Georgia of the Battles of Lexington and Concord , Jones and several others raided the colony ' s gunpowder magazine . According to tradition , some of this powder was sent to New England and was used by Patriots at the Battle of Bunker Hill . When Governor Wright was forced out of Georgia in 1776 , Jones and other revolutionaries assumed control of the colony . He helped write Georgia ' s 1777 state constitution and was elected Speaker of the new House of Assembly . The British recaptured Savannah in 1778 , however , and Jones fled to Charleston , South Carolina . There he practiced medicine until , in 1780 , the British also captured Charleston . He was held as a prisoner in St . Augustine , Florida , until he was exchanged in 1781 . His first available transportation took him to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where he was appointed as a delegate to Congress . He returned to Savannah in 1782 when the British occupation ended at war ' s end . He continued to practice medicine , and in 1783 was again elected as Speaker of the Georgia House . He was president of state in 1795 . He died in Savannah in 1805 and was interred in Bonaventure Cemetery .