Jones (Mayor) John
| Type of person | Individual |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1818 |
| Place of birth | Bolton, England |
| Date of arrival | 1848 |
| Principal occupation | Blacksmith |
| Date of death | 1904 |
| Place of death | Church Hill |
John Jones was born in 1818 at Little Hulton, near Bolton, England, to John Jones (Snr) – a blacksmith and wheelwright. In June 1839 he married Parnel Pendlebury in Lancashire, England. The couple and extended Jones family set out for Adelaide in 1840 from Liverpool, but were waylaid because of a mistake on the part of their agent, and ended up travelling to Sydney, where they settled at Windsor on the Hawkesbury River in NSW. John Junior eventually journeyed overland to South Australia seven years later, taking 10 weeks via horse teams, encountering many interesting sights along the way.
Soon after his arrival in Adelaide, John proceeded to Gawler and began work with James Martin on November 14, 1848, and after a short period, began his own blacksmith and wheelwright business, which he remained in until his retirement in 1899.
In 1867 Mr. Jones entered the Municipal Council, elected to North Ward from 1867 to 1868 and 1870 to 1873. Then in 1875 he was elected Mayor of Gawler and served his first two-year term. Remaining actively involved in the community, he then served his second stint as Mayor from 1889 to 1890, giving him the unique distinction, with James Martin, as the only two Gawler mayors to serve in that capacity in three different decades of the 19th century.
Mr. Jones founded the Methodist Church in Gawler. Soon after his arrival in the town, and noticing a number of people standing around on the corner of Tod and Murray Streets, he gathered them in and informed the group he was a preacher of the Methodist faith, and was happy to conduct services if a suitable building could be found. James Martin offered his wheelwright’s shop, and so the Methodist faith had its start in the town. The first church was built in 1850, with John helping to dig the foundations.
John Jones was also connected with the Salvation Army, and attained the rank of Staff-Officer, and laid one of the foundation stones of that organisation’s first buildings in 1884. A Justice of the Peace for 30 years, Mr. Jones died at the ripe old age of 86 on June 17, 1904 at his residence, “Hillside” on Church Hill, giving him one of the longest tenures in the town at the time; 56 years. He was father of one son and six daughters, including Eliza Pendlebury Jones (who married Mayor William Dawkins).
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