Jonas, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1834-1911

Benjamin Franklin Jonas (July 19, 1834 – December 21, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate for one term from 1879 to 1885. The third Jewish man to serve in the Senate, he was the first to practice the religion. Jonas was the last Jewish Senator from the Deep South until Jon Ossoff won his seat in Georgia in 2021.

Born in Grant County, Kentucky, he moved with his parents to Quincy, Illinois as a child. Jonas attended the public schools in Quincy; in 1853, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana where he studied law at the Universityof Louisiana (now Tulane University). In 1855, he graduated, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in New Orleans. Despite his family's strong Republican connections, Benjamin Jonas cast his lot with the South in the Civil War. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate States Army. He was a member of Fenner's Battery, and Adjutant of a Battalion of Artillery in Hood's Corps in the Army of Tennessee. He served until the end of the war, rising to the rank of major. After the war, he returned to New Orleans and became active in state politics as a Democrat. In 1865, he was elected to the state House of Representatives, and served until 1868.

...