J Ford

Biography contributed by Jacqui Beets

Jessie Saranke Bunn Eade was born 28 September 1863 in Bethnal Green, London, the daughter of cabinetmaker John William Saranke Bunn Eade and nurse Eliza Lamb. Jessie and her siblings worked in the boot trade. The Eade family was involved in Rev. William Booth’s East London Christian Mission (later the Salvation Army), with Jessie assisting her mother Eliza’s missionary work in the slums of St. George’s Yard, Whitechapel.

In August 1883 Jessie sailed to New Zealand aboard the Westland with her widowed mother and four silblings, to join her brothers Alfred and John William Eade, who had settled in Feilding. Alfred recorded the family’s reunion in his diary, recognising Jessie as 'the same dear dry or rather matter of fact old girl.'

Eliza Eade took up work as a Bible nurse with the Wellington Ladies’ Christian Association, becoming one of New Zealand’s first district nurses, and Jessie accompanied her on her visits. After Eliza’s death in 1885 Jessie lived with a family named Ford. She married John Hodder Ford, a bootmaker, on 11 February 1888 at Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales. In 1892 John and Jessie returned to New Zealand and settled in Palmerston North, where Jessie signed the Petition. Her sister-in-law Ellen J. Eade of Feilding (Alfred’s wife) also signed.

The Fords had three children in Australia and three more in New Zealand. Their daughter May died of illness at the age of twelve. They moved to Wanganui, where Jessie ran a ladies’ convalescent home from her residence at 87 Wicksteed Street, offering treatments including hydropathy and massage. Obituaries noted that she was well known for her kindness and help to the needy.

Jessie Ford passed away in August 1942 at Hawera, aged 78. She is buried with her husband and daughter May at the Old Wanganui Cemetery.

Sources

Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.com.au

A Brief Outline of the Life and Family of Alfred Sarancke Bunn Eade. Compiled January 1962, by Malcolm John (Paddy) Eade from notes originally supplied by Alfred Eade and also from diaries and letters of A. Eade, E. and C. E. Eade. Re-compiled by Tracie Margaret Rolfe-Collins. Thursday 28 April 2016.

Death Notice: May Ford. Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12662, 7 January 1909, p. 4.

“Feilding News.” Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 234, 2 September 1942, p.2.

Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com

“Golden Wedding: Mr and Mrs J. H. Ford.” Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20440, 5 March 1938, p. 17 (Supplement).

New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages online www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz.

Obituary: Mrs Jessie Ford. Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13742, 10 September 1942, p. 4.

Obituary: Mrs J. H. Ford of Wanganui. Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 209, 2 September 1942, p. 6.

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

“Service to the District: Late Mrs Jessie Ford.” Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 203, 29 August 1942, p. 4.

Image

From a photograph of the Eade family c. 1883 (image enhanced).
Collection of Tracie Rolfe-Collins, Haughton-Turvey-Rolfe-Wheeler-Eade—The Kiwi Connection Family Tree (www.ancestry.com).