Joshua Jeays
| Joshua Jeays | |
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Joshua Jeays
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| Born | 1812 Leicestershire, England |
| Died | 11 March 1881 Brisbane, Queensland |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Builder; Politician |
Joshua Jeays (1812–1881) was a Leicester-born carpenter who became a successful developer, an alderman and mayor of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Joshua Jeays was born in 1812 in Leicestershire, England., and died in Brisbane in 1881, at the age of 69.
He married Sarah Edwyn in 1838 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England with whom he had a number of children including:
There may have been other children who died in infancy.
Joshua and Sarah and the three children above immigrated to Moreton Bay in 1853. Jeays purchased land and built 'Roma Villa' on the corner of Upper Roma and Skew Streets, Petrie Terrace (an area then known as 'the Green Hills'), where he lived with his wife and family. His daughter Sarah Jane married in 1858 at Brisbane to Sir Charles Lilley, who went on to become Premier of Queensland.
In 1862, Jeays paid £78 for 16 hectares (39 acres) of land along Simpsons Road, from the corner of Cooper's Camp Road, towards Ithaca Creek and abutting what is now Bowman Park (the latter area then known as the 'Cobbler's Flats', because of the abundance of the weed 'cobblers pegs'), west of the area then known as Upper Paddington. His wife believed that living on this land would be healthier for her than their home on the 'Green Hills'. Accordingly, Jeays built a grand English-style home, using rough stone and decorated with gables and casement windows, naming it 'Bardon' after Bardon Hill in his native Leicestershire. The suburb was subsequently named 'Bardon' after this house, in 1926. However, by the time the house was completed his wife had died and Joshua was too broken-hearted to live in the house that he had built for his wife, and it was then occupied by his son Charles and later by Edwyn Lilley (son of his daughter Sarah Jane and Charles Lilley). The house was purchased by the Brisbane Diocese of the Catholic Church in 1925 and now stands in the grounds of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, The Drive, Bardon.
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