Agnes Telfer

DISPUTED (logged 2026-09-13). No birth register entry, no baptism, no census entry, and no mention in any of the three family books (1986, 1989, 2008) has been found for an Agnes Telfer in this family. The vault's only source for her is the vault. She is retained here as an open lead, not as an established daughter.

Born: ~1848, Roxburghshire, Scotland — unverified, and contradicted by the family books
Died: Not known
Father: James Telfer (1796–1863) — unproven
Mother: Elizabeth Beattie (1802–1891) — unproven

Why this is disputed

The three family books are the gold sources for this family. None of them contains an Agnes in this household.

1. A Brief Account of the Telfer Family (1986) — Barbara J. Lodge

Lodge reconstructs the children "from facts known and verified concerning the sons and daughter who came to South Australia, and comparisons with the Scottish records", and lists eight children, with no Agnes:

Child	Born
James	1829
Ellen	1831
Elizabeth	1832
Margaret (twin)	1832
Bellie	1836
Robert	1837
John	1840
Adam (Francis)	1842

She also records her difficulty explicitly: "It has been difficult to obtain reliable information concerning their family, as the children, with the exception of the youngest son, Adam, were apparently not baptised."

2. The Jedburgh Census of 1851 (quoted in full in the 1986 book)

Taken when an 1848-born child would have been about three years old — and she is not in the household:

Name	Relation	Status	Age	Occupation	Born
James Telfer	Head	Married	52	Ag. Labourer	Roxburghshire
Betty Telfer	Wife	Married	48	—	Newcastleton
Ellen Telfer	Daughter	Unmarried	19	Servant	Newcastleton
Bellie Telfer	Daughter	Unmarried	14	Servant	Newcastleton
John Telfer	Son	Unmarried	13	Scholar	Jedburgh
Adam Telfer	Son	Unmarried	9	Scholar	—
Robert Beattie	Visitor	Widower	—	—	—
Robert Beattie	Nephew	Unmarried	—	—	—

Only two daughters are in the house — aged 19 and 14. No Agnes of any age, and no child of about three.

3. The 2008 Supplement — a different Agnes, in a different family

The only well-evidenced Agnes in the Telfer books is Agnes Lily Telfer (1866–1937), daughter of James Telfer (1829–1913) and Janet Welsh of Koppio, South Australia — granddaughter, not daughter, of James Telfer (1796–1863). She married Edwin James Barraud on 31 August 1904 and is fully documented, with her own page. She is not this person.

⚠️ Do not conflate the two. The 1848 birth year attaches to the Scottish household; the evidenced Agnes belongs to the South Australian one.

Note on the age of James Telfer (1796–1863)

The 1851 census gives his age as 52 → born about 1798/99, which does not sit cleanly with the 1796 used throughout the books and the vault. He may have rounded his age down, or the 1796 birth may need review. Flagged, not corrected — this page is not the place to settle it.

Sources

Source	Detail	Year
Vault records	Records Agnes as a child of James Telfer (1796–1863). This is the only source, and it is the vault citing itself — circular, and therefore not evidence.	vault
A Brief Account of the Telfer Family (Lodge, 1986), Part 2	Reconstructed children list of James Telfer & Elizabeth Beattie — eight children, no Agnes.	1986
A Brief Account of the Telfer Family (Lodge, 1986), Part 2	Jedburgh Census 1851 household of James Telfer — two daughters only (19, 14); no Agnes.	1986
A Telfer Family Tree — Supplement (2008)	Agnes Lily Telfer (1866–1937), daughter of James Telfer (1829–1914) & Janet Welsh — a different Agnes in a different household.	2008

Status: ⚠️ DISPUTED — parentage unproven. Not struck from the vault, and not promoted as fact. She stays as an open lead pending a sighting of an actual register entry: an 1848–1852 birth or baptism at Castleton / Newcastleton / Jedburgh, or an Agnes Telfer in the 1861 census. If no such entry exists, this page should be retired as a transcription ghost — that call is not this note's to make.

Research result — 13 September 2026

A dedicated records search was run. It is recorded here in full so the question does not have to be
re-opened. The finding is: unsupported, but NOT disproven.

Every source that would show her, checked

Source	What it shows	Agnes present?
1841 census, Shaw, Jedburgh	James Telford (40), Elizabeth (30), Margaret (12), James (11), Betty (9), Robert (7), Isabella (4), John (1)	No
1851 census, Jedburgh	James (52, ag. labourer), Betty (48), Ellen (19), Bellie (14), John (13), Adam (9), + Robert Beattie (77, widower) and Robert Beattie (11, nephew)	No
A Brief Account of the Telfer Family (1986)	Eight children, named	No
From the Borders to the Bush (1989), lines 16328–16349	Eight children, named	No
A Telfer Family Tree — Supplement 2008, lines 183–193	Eight children, named	No
Southdean Churchyard headstone (memorial 179710779)	Names the couple only	No
Any Scottish baptism for this family	None exists — see below	—

⚠️ A false citation has been corrected

The "the headstone lists seven children, omitting Agnes" argument — which appears on
cards `tk-682dd321c491` and `tk-bd1584c25847` — rests on a claim that is not true. The
Southdean stone names no children. All 27 Southdean Churchyard Telfer memorials were checked.
The error has been corrected on James Telfer (1796–1863). This argument is retired.

The two real Agneses in the wider kin group are NOT her

Both were checked and both belong to different families with different fathers:

Agnes Telfer (b. 19 April 1850), later Agnes ELLIOT — died at Newcastleton 12 February

1880 aged 29. Ettleton Cemetery, Row J stone 88, wife of Andrew Elliot. Parents:
William Telfer and Violet Scott.

Agnes Telfer (b. ~1855, ABERDOUR, FIFE), later Agnes JAMIESON — died 12 December 1890

at Carron, Larbert, Stirlingshire, aged ~34, of enteric fever. Married John Rennie Jamieson
at Stenhousemuir on 18 November 1880. Statutory death certificate: *daughter of William
Telfer, gamekeeper/land steward (deceased), and Cecilia m.s. MATHER.* The 1861 census finds
her at Aberdour, Fife (Reg. 401 ED 4 Pg 26 Sched 143) with father William (48, overseer for
Carron Co., born Jedburgh) and mother Cecillia (38, born Southdean) — **born in Fife, not
Roxburghshire. Her father is the William Telfer who married Cecilia Mather at Southdean
on 19 March 1847, son of Agnes Sinton and Robert Telfer* — a different* William Telfer
from this family's William (1811–?).

Why she cannot be closed either way

This family has no baptism records. A Brief Account of the Telfer Family (1986) says so
plainly: *"It has been difficult to obtain reliable information concerning their family, as the
children, with the exception of the youngest son, Adam, were apparently not baptised."*

**A child born and lost between 1848 and 1851 would therefore leave no register entry, no
baptism, and no census line.** She fits the known shape of this family — two daughters died in
infancy or childhood and are unaccounted for, and the 1851 household is missing any child
between Bellie (14) and John (13).

Conclusion: retained as an OPEN LEAD, not as an established daughter. She is not promoted,
not deleted, and not merged with either of the two Agneses above. **Do not cite this page as
evidence that Agnes Telfer was a daughter of James Telfer and Elizabeth Beattie.**