Jones family history

History Notes

Another busy week at the museum. The Annual Meeting was a success apart from the fact we would have liked to see a few of the less familiar faces. We finished the year in 'the black' in spite of all the upheaval during the year. Office bearers are the same, those who have not rejoined as yet need to do so. The museum is open on Friday mornings for enquiries and Saturday mornings to look through the exhibits.

The market day on Saturday was a success with a new plant stal,l and most of the usual ones, present. We also launched our Christmas raffle - a big box of 'Goodies" - tickets are available from members.

During the markets on Saturday, a Bingara couple approached members seeking to donate three lovely photos to the museum. The photos, in beautiful frames, were of the Jones family from Cobbadah, of Eliza Hayes, and a photo of John Edwards with Clifton's Garage staff- he worked there from 1952 to 1956 and then went to Mackenzie's for three months.

A big thank you to John and Irene for their donation - how could anyone put such history in a skip-bin?

The Jones family had a long association with this area from the 1850's. The original couple - William Jones and Mary Ann Sullivan were married at Parramatta in 1822 and the first child, James, was born at Richmond. The rest of the family were born in and around Singleton and moved north as they matured, married and began their own families in the Barraba, Bingara and lnverell areas. It is thought that at least some of them were following the gold mines.

William Jones, fourth child of the original William and Mary Ann, married Jane Miller and one of their younger children, William Springham Jones married Sarah Jurd, and lived at Woods Reef. Most of their children were born in and around Woods Reef with Ivy, Bertie and Roy Jones listed as attending school at Crow Mountain. Bertie's name was actually William and his brother, Roy, married Amy Driscoll.

Another branch of the family - William A. Jones married Catherine Hayes and this is actually the branch concerned with the photos. There were eight or nine children, most born at Cobbadah and some living there in their old age. Personally, I remember family members talking about old Jack and Bill Jones living there when I was growing up. Claude, an older brother was killed in February, 1942 at the Second World War.

This is just a portion of a very large family which needs organization.