Samuel Porter Jones

Samuel Porter Jones
Born	October 16, 1847 Oak Bowery, Alabama, U.S.
Died	October 15, 1906 Perry, Arkansas, U.S.
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery
Residence	Roselawn
Occupation	Revivalist
Spouse(s)	Laura McElwain
Children	7
Parent(s)	John Jones Queenie Jones

Samuel Porter Jones (October 16, 1847 – October 15, 1906) was an American lawyer and businessman from Georgia who became a prominent Methodist revivalist preacher across the Southern United States. In his sermons, he preached that alcohol and idleness were sinful. He was known for his admonition, "Quit Your Meanness."

Samuel Porter Jones was born on October 16, 1847 in Oak Bowery, Alabama. His father, John Jones, was a lawyer and real estate entrepreneur. His mother, Queenie Jones, was a homemaker. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Gamble Jones, was a Methodist preacher. His great-grandfather was also a Methodist preacher. Additionally, four of his uncles were Methodists. In 1855, when he was twelve years old, his mother died, and he moved with his father to Cartersville, Georgia.

During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Jones joined up with union troops traveling to Kentucky. Upon his return, Jones studied the Law, and he was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1868. And became known locally as a brilliant lawyer, however, Jones was a notorious alcoholic. After his father died, Sam Jones had a great and miraculous experience of conviction and quit his drinking, and focused on his Methodist faith.

Jones was ordained as a Methodist preacher by the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He preached in the Van Wert circuit, a group of five churches spread over four counties.

He became the South’s most famous evangelist and preacher in the late nineteenth century. He aimed his messages especially at men, often regarded as the most difficult demographic group to reach. In 1885, he headlined a revival in Nashville, Tennessee, where he converted Thomas Green Ryman, who, along with Jones built the Union Gospel Tabernacle, later named the Ryman Auditorium (home to the Grand Ole Opry) after Ryman's death. In 1886, at his own expense, he had a large open-air structure called "The Tabernacle" built for inter-faith meetings. Until his death in 1906, he held services here each September, bringing to his hometown the co-workers who assisted him in the great revivals he held throughout the country.

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