Wheeling Intelligencer
Prof. Jones Accepts
The Proffer of the Presidency of the State Colored Institute, and was installed
Yesterday.
September 22, 1898
Last week the Intelligencer stated that Prof. J. McHenry Jones, principal of Lincoln school, in this city, and one of the foremost colored men in the state, had been offered the presidency of the State Colored Institute, at Fern, near Chlareston [sic].
A special dispatch received last night stated that Prof. Jones was on Wednesday morning introduced to the teachers and pup[i]ls at the institute as their president. Formerly the head of the institution was the principal, and the higher office of president has been created for Prof. Jones. Prof. Jones left for Wheeling Wednesday morning, in order to attend the Emancipation Celebration, and to make his preparations to leave Wheeling for Fern permanently.
This community, without regard to color or creed, will learn with the most sincere regret that Prof. Jones has decided to leave Wheeling. He has been a power for good in his social, scholastic and religious connections, and truly a man whom it will be difficult to replace. As principal of the Lincoln school, Prof. Jones has made an enviable record, and the task that devolves upon the board of education in replacing him is not an easy one.