Capt. Matthew Jenkins Jones

First-hand information as remembered by Rhys Jones

Matthew grew up in Brookend, a street close to Mill Lane where his cousin James Jones lived. In 1853 at the age of 13 Matthew sailed to New Zealand on the ship True Briton with his uncle Henry who was serving with the British Army. He settled in the Waitara area of Taranaki where his cousin James and his family also settled after arriving separately in 1853. Matthew served as an officer in the militia during the Land Wars and later founded a timber company. He married his first wife (Betsy) in 1865 and they had three children. After Betsy's early death he married Emma Longstaff in 1857 and they had seven children.

Marriage Notice August 1877 - Taranaki Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 2608, 31 August 1877, Page 2
JONES— LONGSTAFF.— On the 29th August, by the Rev. J. Standrin, in the house of the bride's father, Mr. MATTHEW JENKINS Jones, to Miss EMMA LONGSTAFF, of Hua District.

Note that the Hua District (also known as Bell) was later renamed Bell Block