JONES, Samuel Porter, clergyman, born in Chambers county, Alabama, 16 October. 1847. He went with his father to live in Cartersville, Georgia, in 1859, and after the civil war studied under various tutors, but was unable to take a collegiate course on account of feeble health. He was admitted to the bar in 1869, and married one month afterward, but his private and professional life was a failure on account of his passion for drink. After his father's death in 1872 he made a profession of religion, and in one week from that time preached his first sermon, entering the North Georgia annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, in the same year. From the first his success as a revivalist was remarkable. He was frequently called to other places, preaching during the first eight years of his ministry about 400 sermons a year. In 1881 he was appointed agent of the Decatur orphans' home, and since that time has given his services to revival work in the large cities of the United States. Several collections of his sermons, made up from the notes of shorthand reporters, have been published. They include "Sam Jones's Sermons" (Nashville, 1885); "The Music Hall Series" (Cincinnati, 1886); and "Quit Your Meanness" (1886); revised edition, entitled "Sam Jones's Own Book" (1887).