Jones was one of eight children born in Webster Parish to John Jackson Jones (1867–1957) and the former Stella I. Boucher (1872–1946). His siblings were Casey, Clyde, Lena, Louie, Delta Jones Botzong (1891–1979), A. Melvin Jones (1893-1985), and Loy Jones (1903–1907), who died at the age of three when Herman was barely a year old.<ref name=ancestry>{{cite web|url=http://google.com/search?q=cache:n3rN1Shxg5QJ:wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi%3Fop%3DREG%26db%3Djackiewiley%26id%3DI00792+Drayton+R.+Boucher&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us|title=Wiley Family of Shongaloo, Louisiana|publisher=Rootsweb ancestry|accessdate=June 23, 2009}}</ref>
Melvin Jones and his wife, the former Lillian David (1895–1972), had three children, who were a niece and nephews of Herman Jones: Melba Jones Lowery (1921–2009), James Thomas Jones (1916–1986), and Augustus L. "Loye" Jones (1931–2011), who opened Loye's Pharmacy in Minden in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14818&Itemid=33|title=Obituary of Melba Jones Lowery|publisher=''Minden Press-Herald''|accessdate=July 3, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.press-herald.com/index.php/obituaries/1277-augustus-l-loye-jones|title=Augustus L. "Loye" Jones|publisher=''Minden Press-Herald''|accessdate=September 15, 2011; no longer on-line}}</ref> Melba Lowery was the wife of Dennis Lowery (1922-2012), a native of Yellow Pine in Sabine County in east [[Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetowntalk/obituary.aspx?n=dennis-lowery&pid=161045147|title=Dennis Lowery obituary|publisher=''The Alexandria Town Talk''|accessdate=November 14, 2012}}</ref>
Herman Jones graduated in 1924 from [[Minden (Louisiana) High School]], having played on champion football teams in 1921, 1923, and 1924.<ref name=mph/> He operated [[restaurant]]s in Minden and later [[Bossier City]] known as Jones' Kitchen and the Southern Kitchen, respectively. Jones' Kitchen was sold in 1951. It was renamed in 1958 as the "Southern Kitchen" under new owners Harold Martin "Happy" Turner (1911–1988) and [[John T. David]], the Minden fire chief and municipal mayor from 1946 to 1955. While residing in Bossier City, Jones was a member of the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church there. He also served on the Bossier City Planning Commission and filled an unexpired term on the city council for Bossier City.<ref>''Minden Press,'' January 9, 1956, p. 8.</ref>