John JONES [46] ¹⁰⁵

   Another name for John was George HOWELLS.

  General Notes:

Also known as George or possibly John HOWELLS. According to John's death certificate he had lived in Victoria for 55 years and NSW for 1 year. If that information is correct it would make his arrival in Australia approximately 1842 and his date of birth approximately 1823. It also says that John was born in Saltash, Cornwall, England. On his son's death certificate John's name is given as John George Jones.

After much searching I was unable to find the entry into of Australia of John Jones. I put this down to the fact that there were so many John Jones's and I could not pick which one he may have been. John's occupation was recorded as brick maker on his marriage certificate in 1859, in 1885 and 1895 his occupation was recorded as woodcutter. His marriage certificate stated that his parents were Elisha JONES a sergeant in the Army and his mother Mary GLANVILLE. I decided to research this information in England and hired a researcher in 1994. He was unable to find any Elijah JONES in the regiment stated on his sons marriage certificate, or in fact any soldier by that name.

Many years ago I had been told a story by Lorna GIBSON (Nee JONES). She told me that her father, George, had told her (more than once) that the family name was not JONES at all, that was as she remembered it, OWL and that the family was Welsh.

My research commenced in the 1980's pre Internet and so all research had to be undertaken by researchers in various countries who made contact via snail mail. Back in the early 1990's I was using a researcher in England to assist in the search for information. When the researcher drew a blank looking for JONES, this story came back to me and I contacted him again suggesting he look for the marriage of Mary GLANVILLE to a soldier whose surname was something like HOWELL.

This he did and amazingly, he found what we were after. He found the marriage of Elisha HOWELLS to Mary GLANVILLE at Stoke Damerel, England on 6 November 1820. John was born c. 1826 and Elisha died on 17 April 1827 and was buried on 20 April 1827 and had been living at Bache Mill. Elisha was 39 years of age when he died and was a retired Army Officer. It is assumed therefore, that John was his son. The English researcher then set forth to find John's birth, but alas, he turned up no births to Mary GLANVILLE and Elisha HOWELLS, but found one baptism, that was George HOWELLS who was baptized on 11 September 1825, son of Elisha and Mary HOWELLS, Diddlebury, Labourer.

In April 2013 I was going through some old research information and discovered that John's son, John Elijah (Elijah John) named one of his daughter's Harriet Howell Jones, and another one Olive Charity Glanville Jones. It would appear that the story that was passed down over the years is in fact true, and that John Elijah knew this as he used Howell (His father's REAL surname and his grandfather's surname) as the second name for one child and Glanville (his grandmother's surname) as a third name for another child. This would seem to confirm my hypothesis of earlier years.

It is assumed that George HOWELLS and John JONES are in fact the same person, although this will probably never be confirmed. The reason he felt it necessary to change his name at all will probably also remain a mystery. We are perhaps fortunate that he passed on the fact that he had changed his name to his sons and grandchildren or we would never have got past the assumed name, John Jones at all.

Research ceased in England due to the difficulties in finding any further information in the mid 1990's. But assuming that Elisha and Mary HOWELLS are the correct parents I have obtained their marriage certificate and also Elisha's army records.

I was in contact via E-mail from 1997-2000 with Richard Howells, of Sandbach, Cheshire, England who is a relative of Elisha Howells and Mary Glanville. He has also tried to find a connection, but has been unable to do so but agrees with me regarding the relationship.

John and Mary were married at the residence of the of the Congregational or Independent Church Minister in Melbourne, Thomas O'Dell. The witnesses to the marriage are almost indecipherable, but may be John Witing and May Kovacs.

In view of the death certificate that indicates that John had lived in Victoria for approximately 55 years at the time of his death, I have searched for a George Howell/s arriving in Australia and have found a George Howell who was tried for larceny in Lancaster on 2 March 1841 and was sentenced to 7 years transportation. He arrived in Van Diemen's land on the Ship Barrosa. By 1849 George is listed as "free" and this is a possibility. These details were found on Findmypast.com.au.

There is also a George Howell who arrived as an unassisted passenger in Geelong on 24 Dec 1849 on the ship the Andromache which sailed from Plymouth. Unfortunately there is no age or any other details which might help identify this as the correct person.

Mary's death certificate in 1899 states that John and Mary had 2 deceased male children and 1 deceased female child. Of these children, only Mary is known, though birth or death records have not been found. The 2 male children have not been traced to date.

John married Mary CRONAN [45] [MRIN: 30], daughter of Timothy CRONAN [71] and Margaret CONNELL [70], on 5 Oct 1854 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.⁹⁹ (Mary CRONAN [45] was born about 1810 in , Cratter, Ireland, died on 28 Jan 1899 in Balranald, NSW, Australia ¹⁰⁰ and was buried on 31 Jan 1899 in Balranald, NSW, Australia.)