Abraham Jones was a justice of the peace and politician who lived near the village of Mattamuskeet in Hyde County on the Pamlico Sound. He represented Hyde at the Fifth Provincial Congress in 1776 and also served in the Hyde County Court. In August 1777 when he heard that his former teacher James Rawlings was a co-conspirator in the Gourd Patch Conspiracy and now on the run, Jones resolved to capture him. Spotting Rawlings and his family in a small sailboat, Jones and four others pursued him, capturing him and bringing him to New Bern to face charges. He later served in the North Carolina General Assembly (1778-1779, 1782, 1784-1787) and as a Colonel in the Hyde County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia (1779-1783).