Edward Jones (missionary)
American missionary, born 1807
Edward Jones (1807–1865) was an African-American missionary to the colony of Sierra Leone. Jones was a prominent missionary and figure in the colony of Sierra Leone; he was the first naturalized citizen of Sierra Leone (though he retained his American citizenship). Jones was the first black principal of Fourah Bay College and held the post for 15 years. He was the first Black American to graduate from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Edward Jones was the brother of Jehu Jones, a prominent African-American preacher.
Early life
Edward Jones was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and became part of the mulatto elite of that majority African-American city. Many free mulattoes were freed slaves who had fought in the American Revolutionary War for the Patriots and then freed for their loyalty. Edward Jones's father, Jehu Jones, in 1798, had bought his freedom for $140 (~$2,710 in 2025) from his owner, a tailor who had taught him the craft, and also bought freedom for his wife Abigail and children. Jones Sr. became wealthy from his investments in real estate and eventually a hotel owner catering to white travelers.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Jones (missionary)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.