Jean Telfer
Biography
Third daughter of Francis Telfer (1809–1895) and Jean Murray. After her mother's death, she was step-raised by Dinah Flavel (her father's second wife).
Vital Information
- Born: 7 August 1840
- Birth name: Jean Telfer (marriage certificate gives name as "Jane")
- Died: 15 July 1892, Queens Own Town (Finniss Point), South Australia — heart disease
- Buried: Strathalbyn Cemetery, South Australia
Marriage (1): Richard Paynter (1838–1869)
- Marriage date/location: Solemnized by John Kither (Officiating Minister) at Chain of Ponds Parsonage. Witnessed by her father Francis Telfer and Henry Whiting of Chain of Ponds. Jean was several months pregnant at the time.
- Richard Paynter: Son of Richard Paynter (from Calstock, Cornwall, died Jan 1856 aged 39 after "protracted affliction")
- Richard's occupation: Initially a shepherd at Koppio (working for Jean's uncle James Telfer), later a school teacher at Saint Kitts (between Kapunda and Truro) — change due to poor health
- Richard died: 7 February 1869, St. Kitts Creek, of pleurisy, aged 30. Newspaper: "Mr Paynter, the Schoolmaster at St. Kitts Creek, died somewhat suddenly on Sunday last, by which a widow and five children have been left unprovided for."
Children of Richard Paynter and Jean Telfer
#### 1. THOMAS PAYNTER
- Born: 22 December 1859, Ward Farm, near Kersbrook
- Married: Elizabeth Liebich, 1 December 1881, at Tarcowie
- Occupation: Leased/worked farmland at Arden Vale (near Quorn, SA). Later worked properties around Peterborough.
- Accident: Slipped under a train, had a leg amputated in 1946
- Died: Shortly after amputation in 1946, aged 86. Buried Peterborough Cemetery.
- Children (9): Richard, Lilian, Gustav, Ethel, Dinah, Agnes, Rose, Thomas, Helena
- Born 27 Apr 1882, Mannanarie. Bought own farm at Arden Vale at age 18. Married Lucy Arabella Hill. Died 23 Jul 1960.
- Born 1885, Arden Vale. Worked on stations. Married (1) Henry Alcock (railway worker, Quorn), (2) Herbert Mayer (station hand), (3) Alfred Hatchard (Iron Knob). Died 1 Mar 1954, Iron Knob.
- Born 1888. Married (1) Sarah Jane Barbour, (2) Lily Olive Rowe. Worked for railways. Died 1 Jul 1946, aged 58.
- Born 1891, Arden Vale. Married (1) Frank Smith (railway worker — d. 1932), (2) David George Flavel (railway ganger). Died 19 May 1932, Peterborough.
- Born 27 Sep 1894, Arden Vale. Married William Mundy (railway employee). Died 27 May 1963.
- Born 1896, Arden Vale. Married George Hucks (railway worker). Died 28 May 1952, buried Loxton.
- Born 8 Aug 1900, Quorn nursing home. Married John Hunter Rankin (of Koolunga, son of Scottish migrants Angus and Jane Rankin) in 1918. Died 8 Jul 1988, Port Augusta.
- Born 31 Dec 1903, Arden Vale. Married Florence Catherine Donovan. Died 16 Sep 1940, aged 36.
- Born 19 Aug 1906, Arden Vale. Married Harry Richmond Hill (northern station hand). Lived in Terowie, later Gawler.
- Born: 30 June 1861, Koppio (near Port Lincoln)
- Married: John Watson, 1 March 1882. Ceremony by Rev. H. Chapman (first Wesleyan Minister of Hawker), witnessed by Mrs Anne Mapleton and John Telfer (Mary's uncle).
- John Watson: Grandfather Charles Watson was a convict on "Asia II" (1827, Tasmania). John was a "lime burner" of Arkaba.
- Lived: Willow Plains (share-farmed land owned by John Telfer). Moved to Olinda, Victoria in 1910.
- John died: 10 September 1929
- Mary Jane died: 14 July 1945, Preston, Victoria, aged 84. Buried Fawkner Cemetery.
- Children (10): Joseph, Florence Beatrice, Lancelot Hobart, John Francis Percival, Blanche Olive May, Cecil Charles, Clifford, Vera Merle, Royal Ernest, Arthur
- Born: 27 October 1862, Koppio
- Born: 31 December 1864, Chain of Ponds area
- Born: July 1869 (five months after Richard's death)
Marriage (2): Frederick Parker
- Marriage date/location: Christmas Day, 25 December 1871, at Kapunda
- Frederick Parker: Son of George Parker. Occupation: itinerant farm labourer / bullock driver
- Lived: Hawker, Oraparinna area (far north SA), later Finniss Point
- Frederick died: 12 August 1928, Berrima Hospital, NSW. Buried Bowral Cemetery, NSW. In later years he lived with his daughter Margaret and son-in-law Edward Liebich at Wildes Meadow, NSW.
- At Frederick's death, only 3 of his children survived him: Margaret, Frederick (known as George), and Joanna
Children of Frederick Parker and Jean Telfer
#### 1. MARGARET ELIZA PARKER
- Born: 26 July 1872, Finniss Point
- Married: Edward Liebich (26yo farmer of Arden Vale, son of Gustav Liebich), 22 February 1893, at Wesleyan Parsonage, Quorn
- Lived: Moved to Handen, NSW (c.1911), then Robertson and Moss Vale districts
- Died: 27 March 1938, Moss Vale. Buried Moss Vale Cemetery.
- Children (8): Jean, Alice Mary, Martha Elizabeth, Emily Margaret, Edward Harold, Frederick Walter, Ruth Temperance, Ella
- Born: 5 April 1874, Oraparinna (father was bullock driver)
- Occupation: Living at Wantiool at time of death
- Never married
- Died: 16 December 1946, Junee Hospital, NSW. Buried Church of England Cemetery, Junee, NSW.
- Born: 18 November 1875, Oraparinna
- Died: 6 November 1895, Adelaide
- Born: January 1878 (estimated from school records — no birth certificate found)
- School: Queens Own Town School, attended 1886–1892
- Born: 6 February 1880, Arkaba
- Still living at father's death in 1928
- Born: 4 June 1881, Hawker
- School: Until 1895
Family Stories
Left a Widow at 29
When Jean's first husband Richard Paynter died of pleurisy in February 1869 at just 30, he left her with five children and no provision. The local paper put it bluntly — "a widow and five children have been left unprovided for." Jean was pregnant with her fifth child Dinah Flavel Paynter, born five months after Richard died. A schoolteacher who'd been in poor health for some time, Richard's passing left the family scrambling.
(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.76-79)
A Christmas Day Wedding
On Christmas Day 1871, Jean — now going by Jane — married Frederick Parker at Kapunda. Frederick was a bullock driver and itinerant farm labourer, and the marriage took Jean and her children from the relative comfort of Finniss Point to the far north of South Australia around Hawker and Oraparinna. Life in the north was hard and isolated.
(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.77-79)
The Roof-Top Refuge
Jean's eldest son Thomas Paynter built a stone house with a thatched roof at Arden Vale near Quorn. When he and his wife Elizabeth had to walk five miles into town for supplies, they'd put the children on the roof of the house — safe from the dingoes and wild dogs that roamed the area. Years later, Thomas lost a leg slipping under a train and died shortly after at 86. The ruins of that stone house still stand among the peppertrees planted in those early days.
(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.79-81)
The Convict Who Built Lighthouses
Jean's daughter Mary Jane Paynter married John Watson, whose grandfather Charles Watson arrived in Tasmania as a convict on the Asia II in 1827. Charles was an engineer assigned to Public Works, became Engineer in Charge of building lighthouses around Tasmania — Bruny Island, Swan Island, Goose Island, and Tow Head — and even built the causeway at Bridgewater. He got an unconditional pardon in 1834 after serving just 7 of his 14-year sentence. John himself ran away to sea at 12, served on whaling ships, and was a "lime burner" of Arkaba when he married Mary Jane.
(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.78-84)
End of the Line at Finniss
Jean died of heart disease in 1892 at Queens Own Town (Finniss Point), aged just 51, and was buried at Strathalbyn Cemetery. Her husband Frederick outlived her by 36 years, spending his final days living with his daughter Margaret and son-in-law at Wildes Meadow, New South Wales. He was buried at Bowral in 1928.
(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.78-84)|