JOHN JENKINS'S MARRIAGE TO MARIA RAY

John Jenkins returned to the Campbelltown area for a short time where he married Maria RAY (pictured on the right).

After their marriage, John and Maria Jenkins travelled to their properties near Narrandera, NSW where they survived the drought and depression of the 1840s.

They made a fortune running sheep and cattle to feed the growing population on the Victorian goldfields during the 1850s.
 

JOHN AND MARIA JENKINS'S CHILDREN

John and Maria had ten children: John Francis (Jnr.), (my husband's great, grandfather), (pictured on the right); Charlotte; William Herbert; Maria; Sarah Ann; Fank Thomas; Eliza; Elizabeth; Mary Jane and Ridley Walter..

JOHN JENKINS (Snr.) PURCHASES NANGUS STATION

In 1854 John Jenkins (Snr.) and his brother, Frank, purchased Nangus Station (72,000 acres) near Gundagai, on the north bank of the Murrumbidgee River. The property had belonged to James and William Macarthur, sons of John and Elizabeth Macarthur of Camden, NSW. The brothers paid 16,000 pounds ($32,000) complete with stock, for the property.

After John purchased the property, he built an imposing house of Georgian design (pictured on the right) for his family and Frank remained in control of Buckinbong. Apart from his pastoral activities, John became involved in flour milling, the steamer trade and wine-making.

Maria meanwhile established a fine garden and organized the education of her children, several of whom had outstanding musical ability. At a time when all clothes were generally hand-made, Maria was proud to be the owner of the first sewing machine on "the River" (The Murrumbidgee River).
 

DEATH OF JOHN JENKINS

John was financially ruined by the failure of the Australian Joint Stock bank in the 1890s and the family retired to Buckingbong where John died..  He was buried in the Narrandera Cemetery.

DEATH OF MARIA JENKINS

Maria later went to live with her daughter, Mary Jane, (Mrs Andrew Steel Beveridge), in her new Sydney home Blairgowrie at Epping. Maria died quietly in her sleep on the Beveridge's property Mullah Station at Trangie (north west of Dubbo).

NANGUS STATION SUB-DIVIDED

Following the death of John Jenkins, the land of Nangus Station was sub-divided. After World War II, the remaining area of Nangus Station was taken over for Soldier Settlement.

Copyright © 2005, Carol McNeill, , c/- PO, Morayfield, Qld, Australia, 4506. Original content in these pages is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be produced by any process, or other exclusive right exercised without written permission of the copyright holder.