He founded All Souls Unitarian Church in Chicago, Illinois, as well as its community outreach organization, the Abraham Lincoln Centre.

A radical modernist, he joined the "Unity Men" and stressed a creedless "ethical basis" as the common element for churches.

[1] He tried to move Unitarianism away from a Christian focus and became a prominent pacifist at the time of World War I.

[2] Jenkin Lloyd Jones was born near Llandysul, a farming town in Cardiganshire, Wales.

He was the seventh of ten children born to Richard Lloyd Jones and Mary Thomas James.

In 1844, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Ixonia, Wisconsin, supported by Richard's brother, also named Jenkin.

His military service included the battles of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Atlanta.

He suffered a broken foot at Missionary Ridge that required him to walk with a cane for the rest of his life.

[3] They married after Jones graduation in 1870 and spent their honeymoon in Cleveland, Ohio at the annual meeting of the Western Unitarian Conference (WUC).

His work in this position included helping to find ministers to fill vacant pulpits and attending conferences, installations, ordinations and dedications.

After they returned to Chicago, he met with a dozen members of the nearly defunct Fourth Unitarian Church.

The Chicago Peace Society did not speak out against the war, angering Jones to the point of withdrawing his membership.

[3] In 1915, Jones married Mrs. Edith Lackersteen, a long-time co-worker at the Abraham Lincoln Centre.