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Migration Museum of Dunedin: Welsh Gravestone

Jones Family

 

Researcher: Julia Hardie

Three early settlers of Welsh origin rest eternally together in block 33, plot 12, situated at the southern end of the Southern Cemetery. Sarah Jones, who met her end in 1870 at the age of 30, is the first inscription on the single stone. Beneath her name, inscribed in cursive, is a verse from the book of Corinthians (ch 15, v55) which reads ‘O death, where is they sting’. This passage means that the pious need not fear death, suggesting devout faith in these settlers, who were possibly of Welsh Methodists.

Sarah left behind a widower, Thomas Jones. His origin of Montgomeryshire in North Wales is proudly memorialised below his name. The specific region of their origin, Penstrowed, is mentioned with the inscription dedicated to Thomas’s sister, Jane Jones. Migrating to New Zealand in the late 1860s, Thomas’ occupation was a draper. He lived forty years in Dunedin with his sister on Sheen Street until his death at the age of 82. With the early death of his wife, he fathered no children, and Jane was an occupied spinster. The headstone is encircled by a small steel fence, and appears to have no connection with graves situated close by. The commonality of the name makes it difficult to find specific records of the trio.  

 

 

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