In the Mentor Magazine of October 16, 1916, the following paragraphs, in connection with John Paul Jones occur:
"One day in the early part of the year 1775, Willie Jones, a planter of North Carolina, came into the little town of Halifax from his estate, and found a young man sitting on a bench in front of a tavern, who seemed to be in the deepest throes of melancholy.
'What is your name?' he asked him.'I have none', was the answer.'Where is your home?' he asked. "I have none", was the reply.
"He then talked with him a little further, and invited him to share his home. The dejected stranger was none other than John Paul, who latter took the name of Jones with the permission of Willie Jones; and from that time on he used the name of John Paul Jones. Latter he dropped his first nam and used simply Paul Jones on his visiting cards."
At the "Grove," it is supposed, John Paul Jones sojourned for a year or more, and was treated with the greatest courtesy. It was here that he became acquainted with Joseph Hewes, who was a delegate from North Carolina to the Continental Congress, and served on what is now called the Naval Committee. The two became immediately became intimate friends, and Hewes used his influence in having John Paul Jones commissioned in the Continental Navy as a officer. Later, by the same influence, he became Captain of the United States Gunboat Ranger.