| George William Jacobs |
| From Helena Jackson's book - This Family of Ours |
| George William, was born on the 17th May 1852 at Newington, in Surrey, England. At the time of his birth his parents lived at No 2 George Street. Like his father, George William was a musician and from an early age was one of the strolling players. He appears to have played the three string Bass Fiddle, the Violin, the Cornet and later in life the Euphonium, this instrument he played in the Nelson Garrison Band. George was also a member of the Nelson Harmonic Society's orchestra, where he possibly played the three stringed Bass. As George's children and step children grew older, they all played instruments and sang, George had a complete orchestra in his own home. The orchestra formed the nucleus for the resident orchestra which accompanied, when called upon, all the touring companies which visited Nelson in that era. Some of these performances where the Opera, Gilbert and Sullivan, Vaude ville and local shows. My father, George's son spoke of "Maritana", Iolantha". "The Gondeliers, "H.M.S Pinafore", "Carmen" and the song "The last Rose of Summer". A reconstruction of this orchestra would be as follows - George Euphonium, Cello or Bass Len (son) Cornet or Oboe Annie (daughter) Pianist Isabel (daughter) Cello Hilda (daughter) Violin William Simpson (stepson) Cello All the children attended Nelson School of Music from its beginning, and were apt pupils who did regular practice on their chosen instrument. We know Len and Isabel won music school prizes, so possibly Annie, Hilda and William did also. All sang, Annie and Isabel being sopranos, Len a boy soprano while Hilda was a contralto. One of the greatest thrill's of George's life was to sit through a performance of "Handel's Messiah", (a christmas Oratorio) in which two of this daughters played the leading parts. Annie singing soprano and Hilda contralto. |
| His Trade |
| George was a successful business man, being a Painter and House Decorator. He porbably learnt this trade in England, for remember he was twenty years of age when he was on the "Forfarshore" when the family left to come to New Zealand. His shop was n Trafalgar Square, opposite the Nelson Anglican Catherdral and it was from here he conducted his paint and paper hanging business. That he was a craftsman at this trade, there is no doubt, for it was told to me by and elderly gentleman, whom I met in the street in Nelson, who had known George, that he had seen him in later life, when suffering from Parkinson's Disease and shaking all the time, bevel a mirror, as straight and as perfect as only a craftsman could. He was a member of the :"Ancient Order of the Foresters", in the Court of Sir George Grey, registered pursuant to the Act of the Gerneral Assembly of New Zealand of 1856. His number was 3118. A very stubborn determined man, who gave his children a very strict upbringin and expected them to obey him in all things. |
| His Marriages |
| On 28th February, 1877 he married a widow, Sarah Ann Simpson (nee Thompson) who had had six children, four of whom were still living. They were married in Sarah's home in Collingwood Street, Nelson. The year 1884 was not a good year for George for on the 5th October, little Margaret (Maggie) Simpson aged nine years died, then six weeks later, on the 21st November Sarah Ann died in childbirth. Luckily for George, Kitty Simpson was now just sixteen years old and it fell to her to act as mother to the six Simpson and Jacobs children, the youngest of whom was two years old. Two years later on 16th October 1886, George is now 34 years old, married a second time, this time to Mary Ann Wigzell (known as Polly) and so the children had a real mother again. At the beginning of 1889, George's fourth and last child Hilda was born. Polly having died in 1910, George and Hilda lived together above the shop in Trafalgar Street, Hilda gradually taking over the business as George grew older. Towards the end of his life, George was blind and would either sit in the park opposite, or be in the room above the shop, while Hilda was serving the customers below, if he wanted her he would bang on the floor with his walking stick impatiently to call her. After his death these marks were to be seen, dents in the floor, from constant bumping. George died on the 25th August, 1936, while sitting over the road, in the domain, around the Catherdral Grounds. He was 84. The service for him was conducted by Mr. James Hay, a Presbyterian Minster. He was buried on the 27th August, 1936. The funeral departing from his residence in Trafalgar Square, he lies buried in Block 5 plot 61 with his second wife Polly, in the Prebyterian section at Wakapauka Cemetery, Nelson. |
| George... As seen through the eyes of children |
| When Rose Green met her Uncle George and Aunt Sarah in Nelson, then again in later years she visited Nelson again, she stayed with Uncle George and Aunty Polly. She described George as having dark hair and a black moustache. She told me this when 94 years of age. From Jean Findley... Grandad had growing in the backyard a huge Loquat Tree. He also used to buy oysters by the sack and sit on a chair under the tree and open oysters and eat them straight from the shell. It was from him, Jean had her first oyster, grandad said "Not to bite them, but to swallow them whole". This took some doing at first, but I soon loved them. Melville tells us that Grandad wore a clean white shirt every day. It was starched and had frills down the front. He remembers him playing the Big Bass Fiddle, and when the family were accompanying a "show" he and his brothers and sister were taken to see it. It appears that Isabel and the children were at the shop all the time, for they lived in a house behind the shop and although there was a little lane to traverse, the family came through a hole in the fence into the back yard. Mel also mentions the big tree, with the fruit on the ground under it, wher they were always being stung by the bees. "Grandad was abrupt and cranky" says Mel. Isabel appears to have prepared the evening meal when Polly was very ill, but they did not eat there. Mel also remembers his grandfather making a door of little coloured pieces of glass, and when grown up asked his mother about this, and it appeared it was usual to have half glass doors to divide the hall from the kitchen. This particular door George was making was for a Funeral Parlour. |
 |
|
|