John Borton (1826 - 1916)

Born 30 Nov 1826 in Cottenham Farm, Great Tew near Banbury, Oxfordshire, England

Husband of Mary Eliza (Every) Borton — married 1 May 1858 in New Zealand

Descendants

Died 19 Mar 1916 at age 89 in Oamaru, Southland, New Zealand

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John Borton migrated from England to New Zealand.

Biography

John Borton was born in 1826 at Cottenham Farm, Great Tew, a village and country estate in the Cotswold Hills near Banbury and Chipping Norton. (6) At the age of 22, he emigrated to New Zealand arriving at Port Chalmers in 1849 on board the "Cornwall" with 130 other passengers. Initially he lived in or about Dunedin, but in 1852 spent a year at the goldfields in Victoria, Australia. After returning to Dunedin in 1853, he progressively took up land and started a long association with farming in the North Otago. In 1863, he was made a Justice of the Peace. (see biography, reference 5)

He married Mary Eliza Every, daughter of Frederick Simon Every and Mary Brutton, on 1 May 1858.

A sister, Mary Anne Eliza Borton married Lewis Adolphus Bernays (Bernays-22) in 1851. They moved to Sydney, then lived in Brisbane until their deaths.

Another sister married Cheltenham Strode who was for many years Resident Magistrate in Dunedin.

Sources

(1) Birth certificate for child

(2) http://thepeerage.com/p23535.htm#i235342

(3) Obituary, Mr John Borton. Oamaru Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 12801, 20 March 1916

(4) Mason, Freeman C. History of the Borton and Mason Families in Europe and America. Hillsdale, Michigan. 1908. Google reproductions available online.

(5) THE CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW ZEALAND [OTAGO & SOUTHLAND PROVINCIAL DISTRICTS] MR. JOHN BORTON.

"MR. JOHN BORTON Is an old and prominent settler in North Otago. He was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1826, and was brought up as a surveyor and civil engineer. In the year 1849 he landed at New Plymouth by the ship “Cornwall,” and afterwards visited Nelson and Wellington before landing at Port Chalmers. In 1852 Mr. Borton went to Australia, but returned in the following year to New Zealand. He made three trips to England in 1853, and ultimately settled at Halfway Bush, Dunedin, where he built a house, which is still (1904) standing. With Mr. Julian Jeffreys he took up the Maerewhenua run of 15,000 acres, and the partners afterwards took up additional land, amounting, in all, to a quarter of a million acres. For many years Mr. Borton was interested in this property, and when the policy of the Provincial Government required that a portion of the run should be converted into freehold, about 30,000 acres were bought by the firm. Under Mr. Borton's direction this property was brought fully into cultivation; Mr. Jeffreys retired from the firm in the early stages of the estate's development. Mr. Borton was afterwards joined in partnership by the late Mr. A. McMaster, under the style of Borton and McMaster, the firm existed for many years, and was long one of the best known and most prominent pastoral partnerships in New Zealand; apart from its success as a private business, it rendered valuable service to the colony by importing and breeding stock of the best quality, especially Merino sheep. Ultimately the estate was divided, when Mr. McMaster took the Tokarahi portion, and Mr. Borton retained the Maerewhenua part. In 1895 Mr. Borton's property was acquired for closer settlement by the Government of New Zealand. A railway station on the Kurow branch line is named after Mr. Borton."

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc04Cycl-t1-body1-d4-d28-d2.html

(6) "Great Tew" in Wikipedia, accessed 06 January 2021.

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