The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Jones, John
Jones, John, the third son of Thomas Jones, one of the early settlers in New South Wales, was born in Sydney in March 1809. Early in life he entered into commercial ventures, and was part owner of several whaling vessels, which made New Zealand their headquarters. In 1839 he bought an extensive property from the natives at Waikouaiti, in what was afterwards the province of Otago, and in the following year induced some thirteen families to proceed from New South Wales and settle in the new colony. Mr. Jones was thus the original settler in Otago, and had done much to colonise it long before Captain Cargill and his fellows arrived in 1848. He continued to live in Dunedin, as the capital of the new settlement was called, until his death on March 16th, 1869. Mr. Jones was married in 1830, at Sydney, to Miss Sarah Sizemore, who died in 1864. He founded the Harbour Steam Navigation Company, which was the precursor of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, which still has its headquarters at Dunedin.