William Arthur Jones was born in Wales, Great Britain, but moved with his parents, John and Phoebe Jones, to a Wisconsin farm in 1851. Jones attended common schools and received a degree in 1872 from Platteville Normal School. After teaching for several years and acting as principal of Mineral Point High School, Jones was elected superintendent of Iowa County schools in 1877 and served in that position for four years. At some time in his early career he also studied law; however, he never went into practice.
In 1881, Jones left teaching for banking and in 1884, he and several others formed the First National Bank of Mineral Point where he served as cashier and later as vice president. Jones and his brothers bought the stock of the Mineral Point Zinc Company in 1883, and with reorganization in 1884, Jones became secretary and treasurer of the company. The zinc company merged with a nationwide corporation, the New Jersey Zinc Company, in 1897 to become one of the largest zinc producers in the United States.
In 1897, Jones resigned his positions in both the bank and the zinc company when appointed United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President William McKinley. He had been involved in politics, serving in the Wisconsin Assembly from 1894 to 1897, and had helped in McKinley's election campaign. After serving under McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Jones resigned on January 1, 1905. He then returned to Mineral Point as president of the Mineral Point and Northern Railroad and as western manager of the New Jersey Zinc Company, until his death in September 1912.
