Jessie McIntosh (Jones) Robinson (1877 - 1961)

Born 1877 in Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Died 25 Dec 1961 at about age 84 in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Jessie McIntosh Jones was born in 1877 in Victoria, Australia,^[1] probably in the Porepunkah area where her parents resided. She was the daughter of John Jones and Margaret (Simpson/Manfield) Jones. The registration number for the registration of her birth is consecutive with that of her brother Morgan John Jones, suggesting that they were twins.

Her twin died soon after birth. The information on the registration of death for her mother is not easily readable but it appears to include Jessie, age 10 at the time (although this daughter would have been only nine) so it appears Jessie was still alive at that time.

Jessie Jones, daughter of John Jones and Margaret Simsons (or similar, not clearly legible), married Daniel Robinson in Moyhu, Victoria, on 21 January 1895.^[2] At the time, Jessie stated that she was 21 years old. Both her parents were deceased at the time so that it was probably easier to state she was 21 rather than state her real age which would have required permission from her legal guardian (identity not known). Her husband stated that he was 28 years old but was actually older. So it seems that the younger bride declared herself to be older than her real age while the much older groom understated his age. As Jessie was still a child when her mother died, and was the child of the second marriage when half-siblings were known by her her mother's first married name, it should not be surprising the her mother's maiden name might not have been familiar or precisely accurate. At the time of marriage, the bride stated her place of birth to have been Bright, Victoria, which was the right general area. The names of the parents, even allowing for the illegible maternal surname, the location of the bride's birth and the location of the marriage, strongly support the view that Jessie McIntosh Jones was the woman who married Daniel Robinson.

The Wangaratta Land Board made a grant of 96 acres in Moyhu to Daniel Robinson for the purpose of making his home there.^[3]

Jessie and Daniel were parents of :

• John Robinson (1895-unknown)^[4]
• Walter Robinson (c1897-1974)^[5]
• Daniel Robinson (1898-1983)^[6][7]
• George William Robinson (1900-1988)^[8][9]
• Edward Robinson (1904-1971)^[10][11]
• Charles James Robinson (1906-unknown)^[12]
• Margaret May Robinson (1909-unknown)^[13]
• Violet Eliza Robinson (1912-unknown)^[14]
• Doreen Robinson (1915-unknown)^[15]

When her eldest son enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1915, he named his father as next-of-kin and his father's address as Bobinawarrah, Victoria, a locality north-east of Moyhu.^[16]

A local newspaper reported that her son "Mr. Daniel Robinson, aged 19 years, of Meadow Creek" was reported injured in a fall from a horse when returning from a social function in the early hours one morning in 1918.^[17] Meadow Creek is a locality just east of Moyhu.

Jessie's husband, Daniel, died at Meadow Creek in September 1932 and was buried in Milawa Cemetery.^[18] His age at death was reported to have been 72 years, indicating he would have been about 35 at the time of his marriage. The registration of death names his widow, children and the place of marriage, so there can be no doubt it is the same person.

Jessie Robinson died on 25 December 1961 in the Hospital for Mental Hygiene, Beechworth, Victoria. The registration of death contains limited information but her age was reported to have been 86 years which would be consistent with the age stated at the time of her marriage and states that she had been married to Daniel Robinson. The old lady who died in the Beechworth hospital was reported to have been born in Bright. While the registration of death does not contain any information about the deceased woman's parents or children, there is sufficient to be satisfied that this was Jessie McIntosh Jones who had been born in 1877. She was buried in Milawa Cemetery, the place where Daniel had been buried almost thirty years earlier. Find A Grave has a photograph of a headstone marking the shared burial plot for Daniel and Jessie.^[19]

The lack of information about children in the registration of her death, even though she had been the mother of eight, suggests she may not have received visitors in the last years of her life. The cause of death was determined by an inquest held about ten weeks after her death. The cause of death was reported to have been bronchopneumonia. The Beechworth Hospital for Mental Hygiene provided care for many elderly confused and disoriented people so it seems probable that Jessie suffered some form of dementia in her old age.

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria birth registration 4087/1877
2. ↑ Victoria marriage registration 630/1895
3. ↑ Wangaratta, Benalla Standard, Fri 23 Aug 1907, Page 4 accessed at Trove, National Library of Australia
4. ↑ Victoria birth registration 31478/1895
5. ↑ Victoria death registration 16569/1974
6. ↑ Victoria birth registration 14932/1898
7. ↑ Victoria death registration 15908/1983
8. ↑ Victoria birth registration 22864/1900
9. ↑ Victoria death registration 22306/1988
10. ↑ Victoria birth registration 4863/1904
11. ↑ Victoria death registration 20957/1971
12. ↑ Victoria birth registration 21184/1906
13. ↑ Victoria birth registration 15152/1909
14. ↑ Victoria birth registration 7854/1912
15. ↑ Victoria birth registration 26159/1915
16. ↑ Australian Imperial Force, Service Record, NAA: B2455, ROBINSON, J, item ID 1905087 accessed at National Archives of Australia
17. ↑ Hansen South, Benalla Standard, Fri 4 Oct 1918, Page 3 accessed at Trove, National Library of Australia
18. ↑ Victoria death registration 1932/10713
19. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/168613215/jessie_mcintosh-robinson: accessed February 11, 2024), memorial page for Jessie McIntosh Jones Robinson (–), Find a Grave Memorial ID 168613215, citing Milawa Cemetery, Milawa, Wangaratta Rural City, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by R and J (contributor 48362636).