Male

September 28, 1781

December 7, 1808

Brecon, Wales

Philadelphia, PA
Vincennes, Northwest Territory
Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory

Rice Jones was the eldest child of John Rice Jones and his first wife Eliza Powell Jones. He was born at Brecon, Wales on September 28, 1781. In 1784, Jones traveled with his parents to Philadelphia to make arrangements to bring the entire family to America. A few years later, the family moved to Vincennes, then located in the Northwest Territory (in the present day state of Indiana).

As a young man Jones attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He then studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, but soon after beginning the practice of medicine formed a dislike for the profession and decided to pursue the study of law. He began his legal studies at the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, and after completing his studies moved to the town of Kaskaski ...in the Indiana Territory (located in present day Illinois). It was there that he opened a law office and began a political career with the Anti-Harrison political faction.

In 1808, Jones was nominated a Randolph County candidate for the Indiana Territory General Assembly. As a member of the Anti-Harrison camp and a Divisionist he supported slavery and breaking the Territory up into smaller territories or states. This proved successful the following year with the creation of two separate Territories - Indiana and Illinois.

In August of 1808, in a volatile era of politics, Rice Jones was challenged to a duel by a member of the Pro-Harrison camp, the Hon. Shadrach Bond (an ex-representative in the Territorial legislature, afterward a delegate in congress representing the Illinois Territory, and the first Governor of the State of Illinois). Upon being challenged, Jones accepted. He named pistols as the weapons and at the appointed time Jones and Bond, along with their seconds, met on an island in the Mississippi River between Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve to commence their duel.

At the time of the duel Jones's gun fired into the ground near his own feet, and Jones and Bond settled the issue between themselves with no harm. Following the duel a series of letters were published in an area newspaper, the Vincennes Western Sun, by Dr. James Dunlap (Bond's second in the duel), Rice Jones, and other individuals in their political circles. These letters indicate a disagreement upon the events leading up to the duel and also show the animosity that existed between the two opposing political factions at the time. As the year progressed, tensions between Dr. Dunlap and Jones grew and on December 7, 1808 James Dunlap shot Rice Jones on the street in Kaskaskia, causing Jones's death. Dr. Dunlap was indicted for murder, but was never tried as he had left the Indiana Territory before the time of the trial.

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The historical record on the Bond-Jones duel and the circumstances surrounding Rice Jones's death are varied. Early written histories suggest that Jones accidentally fired his gun at the time of the duel, thus allowing for the peaceful resolution of the duel without Bond taking his shot at Jones. These histories hold that Bond's second, Dr. James Dunlap, was insistent that Jones had purposefully fired his weapon and that Bond should have been allowed to take a shot at Jones. These theories claim that the incident led to ill feelings between the two men and Dr. Dunlap murdered Rice Jones in Kaskaskia, avoiding trial by fleeing the territory before a trial could take place and abandoning his wife and son.

New research suggests that these early histories may be biased by political leanings ...and support the theory that Jones may have indeed fired his pistol purposefully at the time of the duel. This research concludes Dr. Dunlap shot Rice Jones in self-defense in Kaskaskia after being threatened with a dagger. This theory supports the argument that while Dr. Dunlap left the Territory and avoided trial for murder he did not abandon his wife and child, but was instead forced to leave them behind to preserve his innocence and avoid a wrongful conviction.
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1807

Attended both Transylvania College and then earned a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Lawyer; Political Office

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, 1849.

Reynolds, John. The Pioneer History of Illinois, Containing the Discovery, in 1673, and the History of the Country to the Year Eighteen Hundred Eighteen When the States Government was Originated. Belleville: N.A. Randall, 1852.

Mason, Edward G., Ed. Early Chicago and Illinois. Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1890.

History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties, Illinois. Philadelphia: J.L. McDonough & Co., 1883.

Jones, Burt W.A. "Rice Jones, A Brief Memoir to the Last Representative of Randolph County in the Indiana Territory General Assembly, and the Victim of a Historical Tragedy of Early Illinois." Chicago Historical Society Collections 4 (1890), pp. 274-278.

Ostewig, Kinnie A. "Life of Shadrach Bond." Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society ...36 (1929), pp. 200.

Rees, James D. "The Bond-Jones Duel and the Shooting of Rice Jones by Dr. James Dunlap: What Really Happened in Kaskaskia, Indiana Territory on 8 August and 7 December 1880?" Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society Vol. 97, No. 4 (Winter, 2004/2005), pp. 272-285.

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