Thomas Telfer

Role: Head of a second Castleton parish Telfer household — at Broadlee, in the Liddesdale valley
Flourished: 1774–1775 (both children's baptisms)
Spouse: Agnes Mair
Residence: Broadlee, Castleton parish, Roxburghshire
Children: Elisabeth Telfer (bap. 10 Feb, year recorded 1774 in the index / 1776 on the register page), Adam Telfer (bap. 23 Nov 1775)

⚠️ Not proven to be connected to the main line. Thomas Telfer of Broadlee and his family are a separate Castleton Telfer household from James Telfer (of Sorbietrees) (~1740–?) (m. Margaret Armstrong) and from the family of John Telfer (of Castleton) (1731–?) & Elspeth Young (1722–?). No record yet links them.

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The household

Two baptisms in the Castleton Old Parish Register (volume 10) name Thomas Telfer and Agnes Mair as parents — recorded with the surname spelt Telfer and the mother variously Agnes, Agnus, and Mair:

Child	Date	Reference
Elisabeth	10 Feb (index year 1774; register page reads 1776)	`784/10/8`
Adam	23 Nov 1775	`784/10/9`

Brother and sister, baptised 18 months apart, same parents, same parish.

The register page itself (`784/10/8`)

The image was purchased from ScotlandsPeople, read, and saved to the vault on 11 Sep 2026. It is not a clean chronological register — the minister entered families out of date order, by household, with reference letters in the margin:

Date	Parents	Child	Abode
Sept 13 1760	Gideon Croser, Hellen Armstrong	William	Brighouse (margin: "for A")
Nov 6 1770	Gideon Croser, Hellen Armstrong	Hellen	Brighouse (margin: "for B")
Mar 30 1773	Jno. Oliver, Margaret Armstrong	Janet	Schoolhill
Sep 26 1773	Jno. Douglass, Christian Nichol	James	Broadlee
Feb 1 1774	Jno. Douglass, Christian Nichol	Janet	Broadlee (margin: "C")
Dec 7 1774	Jno. Douglass, Christian Nichol	Isable	Hermelaw
Feb 10	Thomas Telfer, Agnes Mair	Elisabeth	Broadlee
June 11 1775	Adam Robson, Helen Hume	Helen	Boyhall
June 11 1775	Jno. Scott, Elizabeth Scott	Janet	Dymons
June 18 1775	George Robson, Margaret Oliver	Margaret	Daylong
Jan 20 1780	Wm. Douglass, Christian Nichol	Christian	Laidlaw
Sep 27 1781	Jno. Douglass, Christian Nichol	Margaret	Millburn
May 16 1783	James Douglass, Christian Scott	Hellen	Haggyhall
July 29 1783	Jno. Douglass, Christian Nichol	Robert	Millburn

⚠️ The date discrepancy on the Elisabeth entry is recorded honestly and not resolved. The ScotlandsPeople index gives `10/02/1774`; the register page itself reads `Feb. 10` in a sequence running 1774 → 1775, which reads as 1776 against the index. The marginal reference letters ("for A", "for B", "C") show the minister was making retrospective corrections on this page, so a year mismatch between the day-book and the fair copy is plausible. Both readings are on the record; neither is asserted as correct.

The abode column is the useful find: the Telfers lived at BROADLEE. The same page shows the Douglass family occupying Broadlee, then Hermelaw, Millburn and Laidlaw — a cluster of Liddesdale farmsteads within a few miles of Blackburnfoot, where Francis Telfer (1809–1895) was born.

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The household surviving into 1851

A widow `ELIZABETH TELFER`, aged 77, born Castleton, was recorded at Newcastleton in the 1851 census (`784/10/13`) as mother of the household head, `WILLIAM TELFER, 37, Woollen Weaver`.

Her age and birthplace fit the Elisabeth baptised to Thomas Telfer & Agnes Mair on this page. Born 1774 → 77 in 1851, born in Castleton parish. A precise match on both age and birthplace.

⚠️ But the identification is NOT certain — and this is why

The vault's own record for this woman is Elizabeth Hutton Telfer (1774–1853) — born 1774, died 4 April 1853 aged 79, and wife of James Telfer (1761–1845). She fits the 1851 widow equally well on age and birthplace, and there is a third independent agreement for her: her son William's statutory death entry records his mother's maiden surname as Hutton, not Mair.

Candidate	Born	Age 1851	Fit
Elisabeth, dau. of Thomas Telfer & Agnes Mair (bap. `784/10/8`)	1774	77	age ✅ birthplace ✅
Elizabeth Hutton Telfer (1774–1853) (m. James Telfer)	1774	77	age ✅ birthplace ✅ + death record names "Hutton"

Two different women, both born 1774 in Castleton parish, both aged 77 in 1851. The widow at `784/10/13` is identified as Betty Hutton in the vault, on the strength of the death record — but the census image alone cannot distinguish them.

Status: OPEN QUESTION — a lead, not a fact. Recorded here so the ambiguity is visible rather than buried.

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Sources

• ScotlandsPeople — Castleton OPR baptisms, vol 10, page 8, ref `784/10/8` (Thomas Telfer / Agnes Mair → Elisabeth). Image purchased and read 11 Sep 2026. Vault: `Family History/Records/Telfer_Elisabeth_bap_1774-02-10_Castleton_784-10-8.png` (1,600 × 2,481, 3.60 MB, sha256 `e9c4853fd739311da08013f40ababf73a4b2081b09ebece39d8249bc97284774`). Google Drive: `Photos/Elisabeth Telfer/`.
• ScotlandsPeople — Castleton OPR index, `784/10/9` (Thomas Telfer / Agnus Mair → Adam, 23 Nov 1775).
• ScotlandsPeople — 1851 census, ref `784/10/13`, Castleton. Image purchased and read 11 Sep 2026. Vault: `Family History/Records/Telfer_Adam_census_1851-03-30_Castleton_784-10-13.png`. Google Drive: `Photos/Elizabeth Hutton Telfer/`.