Biography

John Morgan Smith (1860 – 1902)

John Smith was born on 20th April 1860 in Glasgow, County Lanark, and was christened as a Catholic at Parish St George, Glasgow.

Along with his sister Margaret Jane Smith and maternal grandmother Jane Marr, John arrived in Dunedin aboard the barque Bella Vista on the 29th of October 1863. This barque had travelled to Port Chalmers via Hobart, Tasmania, from Glasgow in Scotland. In addition to the nine passengers, the Bella Vista carried 102 bags of oats, 36 bundles of hay, 378 bags of potatoes, fifteen pigs, five crates of fowls, and three goats as well as half a ton of onions. His address prior to emigrating was 445 Argyle Street, Glasgow, Scotland. John was three and his sister Margaret only five years old. Why these little children travelled half-way around the world to start a new life accompanied only by their maternal grandmother is still a mystery. The family link with Scotland was obviously kept, as records show that money was sent regularly for the children from their grandfather.

John Smith became a bootmaker, living in 86 Albany Street, Dunedin after his marriage to Margaret Gollar.

John died aged 42, two years after the death of his wife, of tubercular enteritis, although other notes state that he also had copper poisoning. They left a young family of four children. His mother in law, Anne Gollar and his sister-in-law Elizabeth (“Aunt Lizzie”) then brought up the children.

Others buried here: John’s wife Margaret.

See also:

1. John’s sister Margaret, and three stillborn children of John (1894, 1896 and 1899) (at Block 94 Plot 18).

2. John’s daughter Ida May (at Block 56A Plot 4).

3. John’s grandmother Jane Marr (at Block 94 Plot 17).

Children, Ida, Ethel and John Junior with John Smith their father.
Source: Deniece Gresham