 Jones served as Clerk of Court for Hampshire County , Virginia ( now West Virginia ) for a tenure lasting 25 years ( 1757 – 1782 ) and represented Frederick , Hampshire , and Augusta counties as a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia . In addition , Jones also served as the King 's Attorney for Augusta County and as the coroner for Frederick County . He was elected to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress but did not attend , and was elected to represent Rockingham County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention . Jones was an uncle of American pioneer John Gabriel Jones ( 1752 – 1776 ) , and he was a friend of both George Washington and Thomas Fairfax , 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron . 
