22 June 1890–21 Sept. 1943
William Branch Jones, lawyer, was born in Raleigh, the son of Armistead and Nancy Haywood Branch Jones. Descended from the Armistead, Blount, Boyd, Branch, Haywood, and Hawkins families of North Carolina and Virginia, he was educated at the Raleigh Male Academy, North Carolina State College, and The University of North Carolina. He was admitted to the bar in 1901. Jones immediately began the practice of law with his father in Raleigh and followed his profession until the year of his death. After his father's death, he practiced alone until 1931 when he formed a partnership with Leon S. Brassfield. His nephew, Armistead Jones Maupin, became associated with the firm in 1939.
William Branch Jones (or "Buck," as he was widely known) became a trial lawyer of note and appeared in many important cases. A conservative Democrat, he was deeply interested in politics. He was president of various bar associations, and for a while he was president of the North Carolina Railroad. Jones was a lifelong member of Christ Episcopal Church.
On 22 Apr. 1903 he married Mary Seaton Hay, the daughter of Thomas T. Hay of Raleigh. They had one child, Isabelle Hay, who married William Carl Ethridge. Jones died in Duke Hospital, Durham, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.