John Jessop 1834 - 1906
John Jessop was born on 22 April 1834, in Cratfield, Suffolk, the seveth child and fifth son of John Jessop and Lucy Mouser.
When John was 2 his mother died and about a year later his father remarried. In late 1837 John Snr decided to emigrate to Australia and the family departed London aboard the Orontes on 23 November 1837 as part of the 220 passengers assisted or 'bounty' emigrants (54 men, 58 women and 108 children under 14) on board, there were sevens births and 14 deaths during the journey, including 3 of Johns siblings. The Orontes finally arrived in Sydney on 18 May 1838 after 176 days at sea. John had just turned 4, and was now the baby of the family.
The family initially settled in Cabramatta and then moved to South Creek and the Narellan area where John Snr worked as a fencer and carpenter for local farmers, before moving on to Goulbourn during the 1860s.
In the 1860s he purchased the leasehold on a 40 acre block of land at Cox's River in the Burragorang Valley, near the mouth of Green Wattle Creek, and it was here that the growing family were raised. 1870 leasehold papers identify the property as Black Creek and in 1878 papers, it is noted that he held a freehold on a property near that of his brother Jonas at Wollongdilly River in Burragorang.
John worked the small property whilst also taking on carpentary work building fences, sheds and houses for local farmers. Most of the money was made from pigs, which consistently got a very good price at the Sydney Markets, all of the farmers in the area would get together to drive the pigs to market.
In the early 1890's John and Sarah Ann decided to leave the farm to their two sons Oliver Hall and Charles to work and moved to Ermington in the Parramatta area where John continued to work as a carpenter until his retirement.
Related Documentation
Attachments
Attachments |
---|