James Edgerston Telfer

Role: Son of Adam Francis Telfer and Margaret Dougal Telfer

Born: 11 June 1877, District Grey, South Australia
Died: 2 June 1959, Tantanoola, South Australia — aged 81

Father: Adam Francis Telfer (1842–1925)
Mother: Margaret Dougal Telfer (1849–1936)

Family

Life Summary

James Edgerston Telfer — known in the family as Ted, and on some records as J. B. — was born on 11 June 1877 in the District of Grey, South Australia, and died at Tantanoola on 2 June 1959, aged 81. Son of Adam Francis Telfer and Margaret (Mc)Dougal Telfer, he took the stockman's path and made his life at Bool Lagoon.

His birth year was recorded as 1878 in the family book — that is an error. The birth registration gives 11 June 1877. The book's year is a year out; FindAGrave's 1877 was correct. The death record corroborates: he died 2 June 1959 aged 81, and since his birthday fell on 11 June — after his death date that year — he had not yet turned 82.

Note on his mother's name: the registration index records her as "Margaret McDougal Telfer", while the family book and this tree use "Margaret Dougal Telfer". These are the same woman; the "Mc" is an index spelling variation, not a second person.

Sources:

• Birth (VERIFIED — primary registration): Genealogy SA, Birth Registrations index — TELFER, James Edgerston, b. 11-Jun-1877, M, father Adam Francis TELFER, mother Margaret McDougal TELFER, Birth Residence "Hd of Hindmarsh", District Grey, Book/Page 184/401.
• Death (VERIFIED — two sources agree): Genealogy SA, Death Registrations index — TELFER, James Egerston, d. 02-Jun-1959, aged 81, M, District Grey, Book/Page 891/3429. Corroborated by Tantanoola Cemetery burial record (Oz Burials, transcribed from headstone photographs): "TELFER, James Edgerston. 2 June 1959. Aged 81 years."
• Birth year 1878 — INCORRECT, superseded by the registration above: From the Borders to the Bush (1989), p. 268.
• Birth year 1877: FindAGrave memorial 215167931 (sibling list on Francis Adam Telfer's memorial) — since confirmed correct by the birth registration.
• Parents: Genealogy SA birth registration 184/401; From the Borders to the Bush (1989).

Family Stories

🖊️ Anecdote — as told in From the Borders to the Bush (book pp. 268): Then there was Ted — James Edgerston they put on the record, but Ted to the family, and some knew him as J.B. He took the stockman's path and made his life at Bool Lagoon, that flat wet country where the cattle stood thick and the seasons decided everything. He carried the Edgerston name from the old place out to the lagoon country, a quieter son among a loud, bright family. When they laid him to rest at Tantanoola in 1959, aged eighty-one, he'd outlived most of his brothers — the last of the old Edgerston boys to go.

(Anecdote only — family colour, told as the elders tell it. Does not establish any relationship, date or place.)