John Boswell Dillon

Lifespan: 1859–1926

Branch: Dillon line of Elizabeth Beattie Telfer — Tea Tree Gully / Houghton, South Australia

Relationships

Life Summary

John Boswell Dillon was born on 3 August 1859 at Lake Albert, South Australia, the son of John Charles Dillon (1827–1906) and Elizabeth Beattie Telfer (1832–1896). He was the second of their nine children, and the first son.

He married Emily Jane Goodwin on 18 November 1882 at Glanville, South Australia. The couple's early married life was spent at Millbrook, where their first two children were born — John in 1882, who died in infancy, and Beatrice Maud in 1884.

The family later moved to the Houghton district, where John bought and worked an orchard property near Glen Ewin, at Lower Hermitage, five kilometres up the same road from the family's old Millbrook land. He ran the property in partnership with his son-in-law Harry Patten, who had married his daughter Beatrice in 1908.

Their third child, Leslie Frank Dillon (~1892–1915), was born at Hilton in 1893 and was killed in action at Gallipoli in April 1915 — the family's WWI loss.

John Boswell Dillon died on 28 April 1926, aged 66, and was buried at Payneham Cemetery, Section SE, Path 5, Site 135 S. He shares one family headstone with his wife Emily and their son Leslie Frank.

Children

Timeline

Sources

• A Telfer Family Tree (Supplement 2008), pp. 195–196 — numbered descendant chart under "Elizabeth Beattie TELFER (1832–1896) m. John Charles DILLON (1827–1906)" — gold book source
• FamilySearch: John Boswell Dillon (1859–1926), KFG7-GMN — names parents and children
• FindAGrave: John Boswell Dillon (memorial 241206859) — d. 28 Apr 1926, Payneham Cemetery
• Payneham Cemetery headstone index — family stone "DILLON, John & Emily & L F DILLON"
• Trove: The Chronicle (Adelaide), 15 May 1926, "OBITUARY. — MR. JOHN DILLON" (article 166323844) — age 66, property near Glen Ewin, Houghton, worked with son-in-law Harry Patten
• Trove: The Chronicle (Adelaide), 21 Aug 1915 (articles 89146324 / 89146344) — refers to him as "Mr. John Dillon, of Constantia, Houghton, and formerly of Millbrook"

Open Item

⚠️ Place of death unresolved. The 1926 obituary states John died at "his residence at Gaza". FamilySearch and FindAGrave both record Klemzig, SA. "Gaza" has not been found as a documented South Australian locality — it may be a farm or house name used by the family, a vanished place name, or an OCR fault in Trove. Not written as a place of death. Flagged for a future check of the printed newspaper page or an SA death registration.