Thomas A. Jones was born around May 1845 in Westfield, New York, to Robert and Mary Jones. His father was an English immigrant and a laborer who owned $500 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Ripley, New York, in the 1850s, and Jones grew up and attended school there.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 27, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 49th New York Infantry three days later. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with brown hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the siege of Yorktown, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He was wounded on May 5, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He mustered out on July 27, 1865.
He settled in Ripley, New York, after the war, and he married a woman named Maria around 1865. They had at least five children: Frances, born around 1866; Frederick, born around 1868; Addie, born around 1871; Belle, born around 1873; and Rosa, born around 1874. He worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $1,000 of real estate and $300 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in August 1886 and eventually secured one. He died in Ripley on August 13, 1911.