Irrespective of lean years of business, Jonny, as he was called, made a start in the once busy town. In 1878, with the help of his mate Conny Lange, a local stonemason from Balaklava, they built a 3-roomed cottage on lot 45 Hundred of Stow. The design and layout of the house was dictated by Jonny's financial situation at the time. The house was set back nearly 50 metres from Bowman Street (named after the pastoralist Edmund Bowman) so that his blacksmith shop (constructed in 1878) could sit almost directly beside the road.