John Telfer

Born 1 March 1877 at Kersbrook, South Australia. Son of John Telfer (1847–1929) and Caroline Amelia Masters (1842–1929) of Willow Plains. Died 20 September 1877 at Kersbrook aged 14 months per family records (6 months per death certificate). A poem by his mother Caroline is included in the book From the Borders to the Bush: "ON THE DEATH OF MY LITTLE JOHN ERNEST who died at Kersbrook at the age of 14 months." Buried at Kersbrook.

Source: From the Borders to the Bush — pages 229, 231

Family Stories

🖊️ Anecdote — as told in From the Borders to the Bush (book pp. 110–118): The second boy of the family arrived in the spring of 1877, but he never saw his second winter — pneumonia took him when he was only six months old. All that's left of him now is a name in the family's pages and a few lines of verse a man named Carr wrote to mark him. Folks said afterwards that the couple buried part of their heart with that baby — it taught them that in this hard country you count every child who grows, because the ground is quick to claim the ones who don't.

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