Augustus Jones
| Augustus Jones | |
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| Born | ca. 1757 Hudson River Valley, New York |
| Died | November 16, 1836 Near Paris, Ontario |
| Occupation | Surveyor, Farmer |
| Known for | Deputy Surveyor General for the Nassau District (Home District) of Upper Canada, 1789 - 1799 |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Tekarihogen (Methodist ceremony) Tuhbenahneequay (Ojibwa ceremony) |
| Children |
John Peter Catherine Rachel Mary Henry Joseph Sally Lucretia Augustus Jr. |
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Augustus Jones (c. 1757 – November 16, 1836) was an American-born Upper Canadian farmer, land speculator, magistrate, militia captain and surveyor. Jones trained as a surveyor in New York City, and fled as a United Empire Loyalist to Upper Canada. In Upper Canada, he worked as a crown surveyor in the Nassau District, where he quickly rose to the position of Deputy Surveyor General, the highest position in a district of Upper Canada. He occupied that position from 1789 informally, and 1791 formally, until his retirement in 1799. During that time he laid down many of the township boundaries in the Niagara Peninsula and on the north shore of Lake Ontario. He led various teams that cut many of the first sideroads and concession roads into these areas, facilitating their settlement by European and American immigrants. Jones also surveyed the routes for Dundas Street and Yonge Street, and supervised their construction. After his retirement, Jones farmed first in Saltfleet Township, later moving to Brantford and finally an estate outside Paris named Cold Springs, where he died in 1836.
Augustus Jones was born around 1757 in the Hudson River Valley of the Province of New York, the son of Ebenezer Jones, a Welsh immigrant. He trained as a land surveyor in New York City in his youth. After his training, he worked for some time in New York, and his name appears in paperwork for land transfers in Newburgh, New York in 1783 and 1784. Sometime in the 1780s, Jones fled the United States with his family as loyalists during the American Revolution. Jones was sent ahead of the rest of his family, and obtained 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land in Saltfleet Township. Soon after this Jones' father Ebenezer, his brother Stephen and Stephen's family, and his sisters, Mary Jones Gage, widow of James Gage and Susannah Gage, wife of William Gage followed. The fields around his sister's farmhouses would later be the scene of the Battle of Stoney Creek.
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