John P. Jones

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Miramar, Jones' famous Santa Monica home, in 1890. The site is now the home of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel.

John Percival Jones (January 27, 1829 - November 12, 1912) was an American politician who served for 30 years as a Republican United States Senator from Nevada.

Jones was born in Herefordshire, England. Shortly after his birth he and his parents immigrated to the United States. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio where John Jones spent his childhood and attended public schools.

In 1849 Jones moved to California, like many young men, to participate in the Gold rush. He settled in Trinity County, California where he did mining and farming and eventually served as county sheriff. He was a member of the California state senate from 1863 to 1867.

In 1868 Jones moved to Gold Hill, Nevada where he continued mining. In 1873 he was elected by the state legislature to the United States Senate, in which he served five terms and was involved with the Twenty-cent piece business.

Jones was a member of the United States Senate from 1873 to 1903. He served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Auditing the Contingent Expenses from 1877 to 1881 and from 1883 to 1893, and as chairman of the committee on epidemic diseases from 1893 to 1903. Like many Republicans from the western United States, Jones left the party in 1896 over the issue of bimetalism and joined the Silver Republican Party. He later rejoined the main Republican Party. He decided not to run for reelection to the Senate in 1902.

Jones continued to oversee his businesses. He retired to his home, Miramar, in Santa Monica, California and died in Los Angeles, California. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco, California.