East New Market

Notable People and Families

Dr. George P. Jones

George Perry Jones was born on 19 October 1838 in Somerset County, Maryland.  He was the son of Samuel B. and Eglantine Jones.

In 1865, Dr. Jones graduated with a medical degree from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. 

On 27 November 1867, Dr. George P. Jones married Wilhelmina Anner Austin.

In the 1870 Census George P. Jones, age 32, is listed as a Physician in East New Market, Maryland.  He was living with his wife Willie, age 25, and his son Samuel, age 6 months.

During the 1880 Census George P. Jones, age 41, is again listed as a Physician in East New Market, Maryland.  In 1880 he was living with his wife Willie A., age 35, sons Samuel A., age 10, Bruce G., age 8, and Edward L., age 4, and his daughter Maria, age 1.  A farmhand named William B. Dixon, age 50, also lived with the family.

Dr. George P. Jones, M.D. was a practicing physician in the East New Market community.  Dr. Jones was active in many groups including the local Masonic lodge and served as first mayor of the town.  His greatest accomplishment though was in the establishment of the public general and teaching hospital in Cambridge, Md. and known as Cambridge hospital (predecessor to present day Dorchester General Hospital).  This marks it as the earliest known hospital on the Maryland portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. 

According to Dr. W. B. Johnson, who was the Health Officer for Dorchester County in 1950, Dr. George P. Jones served as Dorchester County's first part-time health officer from 1893 to 1900.

In the 1900 Census, George P. Jones, age 61, is listed as a Physician.  He was living with his wife Willie, age 56, sons Samuel E, age 29, and Edward L., age 24, and his daughters, Mariah A., age 20, Georgie A., age 17, and Mary A., age 13.  A servant named Lizzie Jackson, age 24, also lived with the family. 

Dr. Jones died on 02 April 1901 and is buried at East New Market Cemetery.  An article in the Denton Journal from 6 April 1901 reads as follows:  "Dr. George Perry Jones, a physician of East New Market, Dorchester county, died suddenly Monday afternoon it is, supposed from apoplexy.  He was found dead in a chair in his office about 1:30 o'clock. He was about 55 years old and leaves a widow and five children.  He was prominently identified in politics as a Democrat having served many years as a member of the State Central Committee. He was a candidate for the short term in Congress at the time the late John B. Brown was nominated by the Easton Convention."

His Last Will and Testament is as follows:

2 JWP 263 - 15 March 1900 / 6 April 1901 - Will of Dr. George P. Jones
In the name of God, Amen: I being of sound mind, memory, but knowing the uncertainty of human life, do now write and publish this, my last will and testament, that is to say I bequeath unto my daughters, Maria A. Jones, Georgia G. Jones, and Mary H. Jones, after all my debts are paid, all my possessions, that I may have at my death.
George P. Jones.  Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Geo. P. Jones.