Items pertaining to Frances Jones Mills, a native of Gray in Knox County, Kentucky, were donated to the Knox Historical Museum on December 11, 2017.

Mrs. Mills was a state official in Kentucky for a large portion of the 1970s and 1980s. According to Wikipedia, "she was the first woman and first Democrat in the 20th century to win the office of State Representative for the Knox County, Kentucky district. She was also the first woman to serve three (non-successive) terms as Kentucky State Treasurer."

The donation was made by Barbara Nash of Bourbon County, Kentucky. Mrs. Nash was the power of attorney for Mrs. Mills and served her as a personal assistant from 1988-1992. The items included a large oil painting of Mrs. Mills by James Wright of Lexington, Ky.; a gavel used by Mrs. Mills as president of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks association in 1974-75; and a portrait of Frances at age four in 1924.

According to the Knox Historical Museum's Knox County, Kentucky: History and Families, Frances was the daughter of Dr. William H. Jones and Bertie Steely Jones. She was educated in the Knox County schools and then attended Union College, Eastern Kentucky State College and Cumberland College in Williamsburg from which she graduated. She taught for eight years in Knox County schools. In 1949 she married Gene Mills.

Frances Jones Mills died in 1996 and is interred in Williamsburg, Kentucky.