Dr. Isaac Newton Jones
1822-1898
At 26 years old, I. N. Jones was made 1st president of Burritt College
Source: Photo taken of drawing that is presently kept in Burritt Museum, Spencer, Tenn.
The Life Of Isaac N. Jones
Isaac Newton Jones was born June 11, 1822, in Bedford, Bedford County, Tennessee. He was the only child of Rees Jones (1801-1871) and Molly Mary Jones (1798-1862). (Ancestry.com)
Rees Jones was a blacksmith by trade and was greatly influenced in his youth by the teachings of Barton W. Stone, a Christian preacher in Kentucky. Rees traveled through central Tennessee preaching and teaching New Testament Christianity, establishing congregations, and baptizing many.
This was the world in which Isaac was reared. He attended Irving College near McMinnville and was one of its earliest graduates. Ultimately, he became a Doctor of Education and a successful businessman.
His expertise seemed to be establishing and getting educational works off the ground. For instance, when Burritt College, in Spencer, Van Buren County, began in 1848, he was one of the chief promoters and served for the first year as the school’s president at the age of twenty-six. Marion West, author of “Pioneers of the Cumberlands” A History of Burritt College, wrote that while Jones was recognized as a scholar, he “lacked the academic training needed for the position.” (See Burritt College, West). He helped to get the more well-known and accepted W. D. Carnes to come and take over the school. Carnes later served as the University of Tennessee president and remained a close associate of I. N. Jones the remainder of his days.
In 1875, Dr. Jones was president of Waters and Walling College, an institute operated by churches of Christ around McMinnville, Tennessee. The school was a short-lived college.
He moved to Manchester, Tennessee, in 1877 to start another college. Manchester College began in the fall of that year where he served as president.
Another school I. N. Jones assisted in planting and operating at Haley’s Station, Bedford County, in the early 1880s (Nashville Banner, Tues, 01.25.1881, p. 2.) Later, he operated a free school in Tullahoma, Coffee County. (The Tennessean, Friday, 09.19.1884, p.8.)
Jones was entrepreneurial in his business sense. Living most of his later years around Manchester, in 1887, he was part of a business association that started a building and loan association. (Nashville Banner, Saturday, 12.03.1887, p.2.)
I. N. Jones was known as a leader in Tennessee’s New Testament Christianity movement. He and his father were known for preaching in south-central Tennessee.
In the early 1870s, I. N. Jones became known to the readers of the Gospel Advocate for his pro-involvement beliefs in governing affairs. Since the reboot of the Advocate in 1866, the editor, David Lipscomb, had devoted many columns to a strong belief that Christians, as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, should have no participation in the kingdoms of men. Beginning with the August 20, 1874 issue, an article appeared written by Dr. Jones entitled “Strange Things,” where several of Lipscomb’s views were challenged. Over the next couple of years, Lipscomb and Jones were back and forth with one another concerning their opposing views. When Lipscomb finally published his volume entitled Civil Government in 1889, Dr. Jones sent a letter to Lipscomb saying that he was willing to write a book opposing his views if a thousand people would agree to purchase it. To our knowledge, the book never appeared. Though their differences were sometimes sharp and argumentative, Jones’ opposing views never caused Lipscomb to hold resentment. The following would demonstrate it.
In the same issue where Jones proposed his volume, The Gospel Advocate advertised a tract written by I. N. Jones entitled, “Bible Geology or Modern Geology Rebuked by Bible Revelations.” Published by the Advocate, the advertisement disclosed, “The author, Dr. I. N. Jones, touches with a caustic pen some of the skeptical and unscientific arguments and conclusions of modern geologists, and interprets some of the exalted sentiments of Solomon and Job referring to God’s work in creation as explaining many of the facts of geology. It is full of suggestive thoughts, and the author’s sturdy faith in the word of God is invaluable. It has 24 pages and sells for 10 cents. Send to this office or to Dr. I. N. Jones, Manchester, Tenn.” (GA 05.18.1893, p.312). The tract remained a staple in their published collection of tracts for nearly fifty years.
Isaac married Mary Ann Davis (1828-1909) on August 12, 1859 in Bedford, Bedford County, Tennessee. Together, the couple gave birth to six daughters and one son. They were Genevra Atlanta Jones (1853-1909), Millie Rebecca Jones (1854-1936), Martha Lucinda Ophelia Jones (1856-1882), Zachariah Davis Jones (1859-1927); Mary Newton Jones (1861-1863); Nancy “Nannie” Barton Jones (1863-1949); and Eliza Ann Jones (1865-1868). (Ancestry.com)
Death came to Dr. I. N. Jones on Sunday, August 21, 1898. He had lived at his Manchester home until his passing. Burial followed in the Davis Family Cemetery. It was located in Bedford County, the burial ground of his wife’s parents and family.
Scott Harp, 01.11.2025
Dr. I. N. Jones, older, and wise educator.
Source: Photo taken of drawing that is presently kept in Burritt Museum, Spencer, Tenn.
Obituary for Isaac Newton Jones
Brother Isaac Newton Jones is dead. He was born July 11, 1822; obeyed the gospel at the age of fourteen years; was married to Mary A. Davis, August 12, 1852; and died, at his home in Manchester, Tenn., Sunday, August 21, 1898. He was in poor health for a whole year, but he bore his suffering with that patience and fortitude that characterized his whole life. His one great desire was to live in order to help the struggling few to fight the innovations so damaging to the church in modern times. On one occasion, when he had so expressed himself, he said: “But I ought not to be begging the good Lord for more time, for he has already given me six years more than my threescore, years and ten.” I have known Brother Jones long and well, and I think I can truly say I never knew a more conscientious and truly honest man. He was an eccentric man, but his eccentricities were his own and honestly held, and did no one any harm. It was not In him to harm any one. He was as true to his convictions as any man I ever knew. If I ever knew a man who would have laid his head upon the chopping block for his faith in Christ, I. N. Jones was one who would have given his head or gone to the stake for his faith. This trait was a precious inheritance to him; for his father, Rees Jones, was made of the same kind of material. The father and son wanted the pure, uncontaminated word of God to prevail in everything. But our dear brother is gone. He leaves, a wife, a son, and three daughters surviving him, and one daughter crossed over the river before him. They and we shall see him no more in the flesh, but we will, we hope, meet in the sweet by and by.
T. W. Brents, Gospel Advocate, Thursday, September 9, 1898, p.628.
Obituary For Mary Ann Jones
On August 9, 1909, at the home of her daughter, Rebecca Moss, of Calhoun, Tenn., Sister Mary Ann Jones, widow of Dr. I. N. Jones, died, full of years and good works. She was born in Liberty Valley, Bedford County, Tenn., on November 9, 1827, being the seventh of nine children of Zachariah and Rebecca Davis. In her girlhood she obeyed the gospel and in a long life exemplified its principles. While a young woman she became the wife of I. N. Jones, a man who was remarkable as a teacher and critical scholar in his day. They reared four children—three daughters and one son—all of whom are living. After the death of her husband in 1898, at Manchester, Tenn., she made her home with her daughter, Mrs. John H. Smith, at Ferris, Texas. While on a visit to her daughter at Calhoun, Tenn., she was taken sick, was kindly ministered to by loved ones, but gently passed away. She was buried in Liberty Valley, in sight of the home where she was born. She stood closely related to the pioneers who pleaded for primitive Christianity in this region, her father being one of the first to embrace the faith in that region; while her husband was the son of Rees Jones, a man renowned as a strong, logical preacher of the primitive gospel. After a long, faithful life as a Christian, wife, mother, and neighbor, she has gone to reap the glad harvest of her sowing here.
J. D. Floyd, Gospel Advocate, April 7, 1910, page 438.
Advertisement In The Gospel Advocate For I. N. Jones' Tract
"Bible Geology, or Modern Geology Rebuked by Bible Revelations"
Gospel Advocate, May 18, 1893, page 312.
Gospel Advocate, August 30, 1877, page 542.
Nashville Banner, Nashville, Tennessee
Tuesday, March 1,
1881, p.3
Nashville Banner, Nashville, Tennessee
Saturday, December 3, 1887, p.2
The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee,
Friday, September 9,
1884, p. 8
Source: Ancestry.com
Directions To Davis Cemetery
The Davis Cemetery an abandoned cemetery, in a very remote, thick forest. Wisdom would suggest that such a venture to visit the cemetery would be to do so in the winter.
On I-24 take Exit 32 in southern Tennessee at the Lewisburg exit. Head east on Hwy. 373. Head into the middle of town. The road will become Commerce St. Finally you will intersect with Hwy. 431. Continue on Hwy 431 about five miles toward Belfast and turn left on Liberty Valley Rd. Go 3.2 miles and turn left Pickle Rd. Then turn right on Coffee Rd. In about a mile you will pull over to the left. This is where it gets a little tricky. You will need to trapse across a field. When I was there the field was fallow. It may have a crop on when you try and cross. May have to go around, but then you'll have to cross a creek and head into an opening where hunters have set up their stands. (You may not want to go during hunting season!) Travel to the distant side of the field. Up in the forest is the the small cemetery. The cemetery is in complete disarray. Many trees down. Photos below will illustrate this. Several markers have fallen over or been knocked down. However, when I was there in March of 2024,
GPS Location
35°24'34.5"N 86°37'27.7"W
or D.d. 35.409595, -86.624353
Remote And Unkept Access To Davis Family Cemetery
Martha Lucinda Ophelia Jones
Born
December 20, 1856
Died
April 26, 1882
3rd child of I. N. & M. A. Jones
Mary Newton Jones
Born
October 21, 1861
Died
June 25, 1863
5th child of I. N. & M. A. Jones
Eliza Ann Jones
Born
08.28.1865
Died
August 13, 1868
Youngest child of I. N. & M. A. Jones
C. Wayne Kilpatrick was a great help in locating and photographing the Jones Family Plot
The first three you see are daughters of I. N. and Mary Ann Jones. The final two are their parents.
Mary Ann
wife of
I. N. Jones
November 9, 1827.
August 7, 1909.
Isaac Newton Jones
Born
July 11, 1822
Died
August 21, 1898
Photos Taken 03.14.2024
Webpage produced on 01.09.2025
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: Many thanks to C. Wayne Kilpatrick for assisting in the location of the grave of I. N. Jones and his family. The cemetery was very remote and involved much effort to trapse across difficult terrain.