Jones, George Senior
Maker
Mahan, R
Production date
Post 1881
See full details
Object detail
Maker
Description
George Jones Snr. (North Otago Early Settlers' Association, 1993). Settled in Oamaru in 1881. Died in Oamaru 16 December, 1897, aged 81 years. In 1864 he came to Christchurch where he set up a business. In 1877 he moved to Timaru where he went into partnership with his brother. Jones was a councillor for the Oamaru Borough Council, was on the Oamaru Cemetery Trustees and was a deacon in the Emmanuel Church. he was heavily involved with music, as were most of his family. He was the father of George Jones, MLC, founding editor of The Oamaru Mail.
Photo has added hand drawn details
Photo has added hand drawn details
Production date
Post 1881
Level of Current Record
Item
Collection type
Media/materials
photograph on board
Measurements
H 401mm x L 500mm
Accession number
2017/002.37
System ID
104480
Current Rights
No known copyright restrictions
Organisation Credit Line
Collection of the Waitaki Archive. Id 104480
Public comments
Born Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England ~1817, Died Oamaru 1897 (Obituary 17 Dec 1897, Oamaru Mail). Bootmaker, shopkeeper, violinist, follower of the Emmanuel Wesleyan faith. He married Ann Eliza Adams in London, England on 1 April 1839, and they travelled to Wellington, NZ in 1841 on the 'Arab'. He settled in Petone as a bootmaker. After an altercation with the Maori he left for the only place that did not have a 'native problem', Hobart. Then a move to Melbourne, though later his land was required for the main railway station, so he moved to Geelong in 1850. Gold was discovered at Ballarat that year, and Geelong was the preferred port for the gold-diggers. Because they did not go into the town, he relocated to the beginning of the track to the gold, close to a hotel, gaining foot traffic for his shop, and also got to observe the effects of alcohol at the time of the worst abuse of alcohol in the southern hemisphere. This set the scene for him and his family to become staunch prohibitionists. He stayed too long in Geelong, as it became a ghost town after shops were opened in Ballarat. As the easy gold ran out, many goldminers returned empty-handed. He campaigned for land reform, to help settle these people on small farms, against the interests of the squatters. About 1862 he took his family to a likely future gold area, Rockhampton, Queensland. It turned out to be a bad move as his youngest daughter, less than two, died of the croup. Within weeks he left with his remaining seven children to the land of his first choice, New Zealand. After building a successful business in Christchurch, his sister and brother arrived in NZ, with his brother assisting with importing boots from England. Later he started a further bootshop business in Timaru, close to a hotel in the north of the town. The business district spread south, so he moved adjacent to a hotel and across the road from another at the south edge of town. His eldest son George Junior had in the meantime moved in 1877 to Oamaru to run his newspaper, the Oamaru Mail, and several members of the family followed him, working for the newspaper. To be close to the family, George Senior retired in 1881 with his wife to Humber Street, Oamaru. He became involved in the church, prohibition, land reform and musical areas of interest, became active as a Borough Councillor, as well as remotely handling his business interests in Christchurch.
- George Llewellyn Jones posted 6 months ago.