Telford Family of Ellinbank
Telfords in Australia - William Telford
Beechworth is a thriving town in northeast Victoria. Its wide main street, Ford St, is where the firm of J.H. Gray had its stock yards and auction rooms.
According to the book "Beechworth, A Titan's Field" by Carole Woods(1985) :
"Two companies which generated a great air of business in Beechworth during the 1860s were those of J.H. Gray and H.A. Crawford. William Telford, from Stirling, Scotland, acquired a major share in the auctioneering and brokerage firm of J.H. Gray after the untimely death of its founder in 1861. By 1870 the company managed a vast cattle trade between the Murray and Goulburn and had dealings in numerous branches of trade and industry. Telford, a Presbyterian and a Mason, married the widow of J.H. Gray, became a borough and later shire councillor and promoter of local mining."
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In July 1859 the Ovens and Murray Advertiser reported that "our old townsman W. Telford Esq. took his seat for the first time on the bench" i.e. as a J.P. and magistrate in the Indigo Police Court.
William Telford was the eldest son of John Telford, banker of Stirling and later of New Zealand, and Jane Wright. William was born in 1826 and came out to Australia in the early 1850s presumably after first joining his father in Wellington, NZ. He was the progenitor of the "Telfords of Ellinbank" and their cousins.
There are many historic buildings and other sites in Beechworth that attest to its beginnings as a gold rush town, gold having been discovered at Spring Creek which runs through present day Beechworth, in 1852. At that time the area was known as May Day Hills.
As seen in the above quote, William Telford was a leading member of the community and earned his living running a successful trading business.
However he is best remembered in the town for his more speculative activities, namely as a shareholder and eventually chairman of the Rocky Mountain Extended Gold Sluicing Company which built an 800 metre long tunnel through the granite rock under the town to take away the water from gold sluicing operations and thereby allow for mining to a greater depth at Spring Creek. This tunnel is now on the tourist agenda.
The tunnelling began in June 1876 and completed in December 1879. The company was launched with a capital of 26,000 pounds ( at 1 pound per share ). On his death in 1875 William Telford's will shows that he then had 915 shares worth 8 shillings and sixpence each ( 389 pounds in total).
Ultimately the Rocky Mountain Co. mining operation yielded 48,000 ounces of gold by the time it closed in 1921 (this amount of gold would be worth 60 million dollars today) and paid 63,000 pounds in dividends but it seems likely that William Telford received only a small proportion of this; his total assets at his death were valued at 1,575 pounds.
Beechworth historic buildings:
Post Office and Court House
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Tunnel entrance, right, now surrounded by Chinese gardens and
Spring Creek below where the tunnel exits.
As with many of the places where gold or tin was found in Australia and could be mined by manual labour the initial rush to Beechworth of British or European fortune seekers was followed by an influx of Chinese miners. By 1863 it is estimated that there were 7,000 Chinese among the total population of around 35,000 in the area of the Ovens goldfields. There is a Chinese museum in Beechworth but the most obvious reminder of their presence is at the cemetery where there are two large burning towers (at right) and numerous Chinese gravestones.
William came from a family background of business entrepreneurs - grandfather Thomas Wright as a trader in Stirling, the Littlejohns accumulated substantial assets through investment, grandfather William Telford was a banker and great grandfather James a chapman/trader, father John operated a store in New Zealand and would appear to have done something similar in London before emigrating. So it was probably inevitable that once settled in Beechworth he would engage in some kind of business enterprise.
According to the documents left by William's daughter-in-law Lottie Telford, William worked as private secretary to financier John Heugh, his grandmother Cecilia's cousin prior to leaving Stirling. Lottie puts his arrival in Melbourne as "about 1852".
There is an entry in "Pioneers of the Ovens and Townspeople of Beechworth" by M. Roslyn Shennan with the following information on William Telford:
TELFORD arrived in Melbourne in 1852 where he remained for two years, working as a salesman. In 1855 he moved to Beechworth where he ran a general store and acted as agent for the firm of Amshel and Company. The following year he moved to Chiltern where he kept a wine and spirit store for two years, returning to Beechworth where he joined the firm of J H GRAY, auctioneers. After GRAY's death in June 1861, he purchased a share in the company and was joined by Mr J G ORR in the 1870s
The Ovens Directory of 1857 lists: Wm. Telford, General Merchant, Ford St, Beechworth.
From reports in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser he opened a general store in Beechworth in 1856 as a branch of the Melbourne firm of M. Amschel & Co. with stock owned by Amschell but operating under the name of William Telford. This arrangement fell apart when Amschell became insolvent in December 1857.
It would appear that he moved to Chiltern about 1858 / 9 - he is recorded as living in Chiltern in December 1859 when he was a signatory to a legal document. It was in 1858 that gold was discovered near Chiltern at the "Indigo Lead" and for a few years Chiltern prospered at the expense of Beechworth and then the main route north from Melbourne was rerouted through Chiltern ( now the Hume Highway). However when the gold was gone Chiltern stagnated while Beechworth continued to grow as a major commercial centre.
In June 1861 John Henry Gray, the founder and major shareholder of J H Gray auctioneers, was killed at Chiltern in an accident involving a horse and cart which he was breaking in. He was 31 years of age having come initially to the Fryer's Creek goldfield ( Castlemaine) in 1852 from Canada.
In July 1861, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser reported that "Messrs J.H. Gray and Co., have made arrangements with Mr Telford to represent them in Chiltern." As mentioned above William became a major shareholder in the firm and presumably this was his main occupation, as auctioneer / manager until his death in October 1895 at the age of 69. The other major shareholder was his brother-in-law-to-be James Orr. WilliamTelford and J. G. Orr, Auctioneers, are shown as joint owners of property in Ford Street described as Store, House, Stables, Auction Mart and Livery Stables, both in 1876 and 1884.
John Gray left a widow, Jeannie and 3 young children - Henry born 1857, Maria 1859 and Fred 1860. 3 years later, in 1864, William Telford married Jeannie Gray. (both pictured at right)
Jeannie was the eldest daughter of William Orr, a farmer from Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland and of Jean Hunter daughter of Thomas Hunter and Jean Kaye of New Cumnock, Ayrshire.
The Orr family which included Jeannie’s brothers William, James, John and Thomas, and sisters Jessie, Maggie and Juliana, also arrived in Australia in 1852. George was born later at Prahran, Victoria. Jeannie’s brother William also worked with J.H.Gray at their Wangaratta branch and was later a Victorian MLC and mayor of Wangaratta. William senior ( Jeannie’s father) moved to Queensland where he ran a cattle property at Rockhampton which he called “Ayrshire Park”.
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William Telford died 7th October 1895 of cancer of the pylorus and is buried with Jeannie in the Beechworth cemetery. She died 27th July 1871 at the young age of 37. They had 7 years together.
His funeral notice in The Argus described him as "one of the earliest settlers ... died after a few months' illness..., for many years principal partner of J.H.Gray and Co., auctioneers and cattle salesmen. He will be buried with Masonic honours".
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For further information on the Orr familyclick here:
John Dempster Telford and William Heugh Telford
children of William Telford and Jeannie Orr of Beechworth
John Dempster Telford was born 14th June 1867 at Beechworth to William Telford, auctioneer and Jean Hunter Orr. He was known as Jack. His second name of Dempster was probably given in honour of William Telford’s friend Dr.John C. Dempster, deputy coroner and prison surgeon in Beechworth at the time; John Dempster witnessed William and Jeannie’s marriage certificate.
John Telford’s older brother Wiliam Heugh was born June 1865 - note the carrying through of the name Heugh which was William H’s great grandmother's maiden name. The Hugh name is still perpetuated in some present day New Zealand relatives.
The family also included 3 children from Jeannie's previous marriage to John Gray -. Henry born 1857, Maria 1859 and Fred 1860. HIs mother Jeannie died when Jack was 4 years old and the other children aged 14, 12, 11 and 6.
It is thought likely that Jeannie's sisters and Juliana in particular played a role in the bringing up the children, together with William Telford. Juliana was 21 at the time of Jeannie's death in 1871 and was married in Beeechworth in 1877 to Henry Newsam Stewart. The Stewart and Telford families maintained close contact well after Jack's death and on to the next generation.
Jeannie's brother, James Galt Orr also settled in Beechworth from 1864 according to his obituary notice. The rest of the Orr family had moved to Queensland.
Jack was educated at Geelong Grammar, as a boarder, through his teenage years.
He married Charlotte Elizabeth Gordon Docker ( Lottie) on 18th August 1896 at Bontharambo. On the certificate he is described as a farmer of Gooramadda. Lottie was living with her widowed father in "Helena's Cottage" on the Docker's Bontharambo pastoral property near Wangaratta. He was 8 years her senior.
This photo of John Dempster Telford was taken in 1903 when he was 36; the one of Lottie probably about the time of her marriage when she was 21.
Jack and Lottie farmed at Gooramadda for 3 years before moving to Table Cape, Wynyard, Tasmania. The 2 adverts below in the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express of February 1899 and March 1899 describes the location and nature of the property in some detail. Note that it described as Mrs. J.D. Telford's property.
The day before their marriage a Deed of Settlement was signed between J D Telford and C E G Docker which states “it was agreed that the Equity of Redemption belonging to the said John Dempster Telford of and in Allotments one two four seven and eight of Section B’ Parish of Gooramadda and Allotment six Section A’ and eleven Section B’ ... comprising four hundred and eighty eight acres three roods two perches more or less, also the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds and five hundred and fifty shares in the Rocky Tunnel Gold Mining Company Beechworth together with certain cattle, goods chattels and effects ... should be settled by the said John Dempster Telford upon the trust ....” ( and after much legalise) “.... the said trustees shall stand possessed of the said Equity of Redemption, one hundred and fifty pounds, mining shares etc “
The trustees are named as Alexander Henry Smith of Laceby and Thomas George Clarke of Springhurst. The document is 5 handwritten pages long. I don’t fully understand the meaning of this document but is clearly intended that his equity in the property should after the marriage be jointly owned by John and Lottie but almost certainly the property was subject to a mortgage.
In January 1899, J.D. Telford filed for insolvency with liabilities of 600 pounds and assets of just 25 pounds. Why ? Could he not keep up with the mortgage repayments ? Then how was it that Mrs J D Telford was able to put the property up for sale in March of that year ?
From the adverts below it sounds like a valuable property with good agricultural land and river frontage, 488 acres in total on the Murray River just near Howlong. with pigs, poultry and about 30 milking cows.
The property which they took on at Table Cape was much smaller, about 45 acres, but of some of the best agricultural land in Australia.
The farm is now owned by the Latimer family and used principally for beef cattle. It was bought in 1920 by Maddox brothers, returned soldiers. It is located between Murdering Gully Road and Tollymore Road and clearly identifiable on the Tasmania 1:25,000 series (yellow) map no. 3848 with Telford Creek originating in Murdering Gully and the original farm buildings marked "Telford" as an acknowledgement that Telford was the first private owner after subdivision of the area. (at left)
The photos above are current and shows the property below on Telford Creek above, the Table Cape lighthouse with a poppy crop ( for alkaloid production) in the foreground.
From the Sydney Morning Herald travel section of February 2004: -Table Cape, an intensely beautiful headland with views back to Wynyard, was originally named by Bass and Flinders who sailed along the coast in 1798. When Captain Henry Hellyer, a surveyor for the Van Diemens Land Company, explored the coastline in 1827 he named the Inglis River. It wasn't until 1841 that John King looked at the heavily wooded coast (a notion which is difficult to grasp these days) and decided to settle on land which now includes the Wynyard golf course.
The first town in the area developed north of Table Cape bridge when Joseph Alexander built a hotel at a place known as Alexandria. It was not successful. By the 1850s paling splitters (they were selling their timber to Victoria) had named another settlement Wynyard after Lieutenant-General Edward Buckle Wynyard of the New South Wales Corps.
The town grew rapidly. A store, a wharf and a timber mill were built in quick succession. They were followed by a hotel, a blacksmith's store and a tramway. The goldrush in Victoria saw demand for local timber boom.
For the next 50 years Wynyard was the most important port on Tasmania's north-west coast. The area was cleared of timber. Dairy and potato farmers (later onion farmers) quickly realised the richness and fertility of the soils. In 1892 Wynyard saw the opening of Tasmania's first butter factory. By 1900 the town had a population of 800.
However, although the area around Wynyard was a fairly well developed community by 1899, the Telford farm at Table Cape was apparently still largely covered with trees and the road past the property was unmade. John Telford cleared the land and turned it into a productive farm growing peas, potatoes and pigs, supplying the local bacon factory which he was in the forefront of having set up in 1905.
At the farewell for the Telford family in February 1920 it was stated that "Mr Telford purchased the property 21 years ago, and during that period has transformed it into one of the most desirable properties in the district.". At the clearing sale the livestock included 149 ewes, Shropshire rams, horses (draught mares, gelding, draught filly and poppy mare), and a couple of Jersey cows for home use.
We must assume that Lottie supported Jack in this venture but she must have felt like a real pioneer with a significant challenge to maintain the standard of comfort to which she had been accustomed. She had lived with her parents Matthew Betham Docker and Helen Wemyss McArthur in "Helena's Cottage" ( or as it was sometimes called "The Cottage") in the grounds of Bontharambo Homestead where her father's cousin and family lived. She had 5 children to look after and in 1905 she advertised for a "Capable general or mother's help. Apply Mrs. Telford, 'Glendearg' Table Cape".
However she would also have had some support from her aunt Elizabeth ( Bessie) McArthur / Binns (pictured at right) who moved to Tasmania at the same time and apparently found separate accommodation in Wynyard township.
Lottie and Jack had 5 children:
William McArthur (Will), born 1897 at Gooramadda
Helen Jean Betham (Jean), born 1898 at Gooramadda
Raymond Gordon ( Ray ), born 1901 at Table Cape
Basil, born 1902 at Table Cape
Douglas John ( Doug), born 1906 at Table Cape
There is sign on the fence immediately to the west of the former Telford property stating:
IN THE ADJACENT PADDOCK, THE LIGHTHOUSE STATE SCHOOL WAS BUILT IN 1902 WITH AN AVERAGE ENROLMENT OF 14 PUPILS. IN 1944 THE SCHOOL WAS CLOSED ... MOVED .. AND IS NOW THE (WYNYARD) COMMUNITY CENTRE
This gives some idea of how relatively isolated they were despite being only 4 Km from Wynyard township - remembering that it was an unmade road and only transport by horseback, horse-drawn or on foot. 2 Km to the northeast was the Table Cape lighthouse which was built in 1888 and still stands ( photo above) It was here that the school took place before 1902.
However that didn’t stop them traveling when they needed or wanted to; the photo below left shows John Telford and his 4 eldest children, Will, Jean, Ray and Basil, at the seaside at Boat Harbour.
Lottie’s brother Gordon Docker came from northern Victoria to settle in Tasmania in about 1903 and bought land at Boat Harbour about 10 km from Table Cape.
The other photo, also at Boat Harbour beach, shows the Telfords and Dockers enjoying a picnic together.
When the Telfords left Table Cape they spent about 4 years farming at Cressy in Tasmania's midlands, probably mostly sheep, before moving to Ellinbank in West Gippsland, Victoria. It is likely that John and Lottie sold up with the intent of moving to the mainland but needed to sell before they could seriously look for a new property to buy. They were almost certainly leasing the property at Cressy which was part of the Eastfield Estate.
During the latter years in Tasmania there are newspaper reports of Basil passing his exams and studying for his law degree in Hobart. He was admitted by the State Full Court of Victoria to practise as a barrister and solicitor, in August 1924 (aged 22) and in 1930 purchased the firm of Hamilton and Trumble, solicitors, located in Drouin, West Gippsland and renamed it Hamilton and Telford. He married Henrietta ( "Auntie Nett") Logan in December 1936 at the Warragul Presbyterian church. They had no children and Basil died young, aged 57, of a heart attack. Basil was a keen member of the Lawn Bowls fraternity in Drouin and beyond.
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Doug married Irene Creeper of Adelaide in 1928. In January 1942 he enlisted as a Sapper in the army. He was serving with the 2/1 Field Company at the time of his discharge. Information online suggests that 2/1 Company was principally in New Guinea during the latter part of the war. Irene died in Adelaide in July 1944 while Doug was still away at the war. He married a second time to Isobel Mitchell and came to farm at Ellinbank where their 5 children were born - John, Alison, Jeanette, Judith and Leigh. Doug, like brother Basil, died at an early age of a heart attack in 1964 aged 58.
Jean did not marry but lived with her mother after Jack's death in 1931. They moved from Gippsland to Frankston in 1937 where Jean purchased the property at 10 Plummer Avenue, Frankston and found a job working as a nurse at the Mount Eliza orthopedic hospital. She named the property "Romana", taking the name from her great grandmother’s ( Elizabeth McArthur) school in St Kilda but ultimately from the ancestral home of the Kennedy’s at Rommano Bridge, Scotland. The house was a 5 minute walk to the beach and from the front verandah you could look out over the nearby houses to watch the yachts in Port Phillip Bay. The house has now been replaced by a modern building. Jean died at Warragul in 1957 having suffered from Parkinson's Disease for many years.
William studied engineering at the London Polytechnic and at the University of Melbourne . He made a successful career as an engineer. He enlisted in the army as a Sapper during WW1, in June 1916, and served on the Western front. Will married Alice Hodges at Clermont, Queensland where their children were born - Valerie in 1933, Gordon in1937 and Kenneth in 1939.
Subsequently they moved to Perth, Western Australia where Will died in 1975. There are numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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Ray studied at Hawkesbury Agricultural College and spent most of his working life dairy farming. He married Grace Gilbert in July 1931 at Ellinbank, West Gippsland and they had 4 children - June, Barbara, John and Alan.
The story of Ray Telford and family is told in detail under the heading of “Ellinbank” elsewhere - click the button below.
William Heugh Telford ( Jack's brother) is listed on the April 1930 USA census living at 100 Ninth Avenue, San Francisco ( corner of Lake St). He was a lodger with the Abbott family - William and Anne and son George - occupation BOOKKEEPER, age 63, single. Year of immigration to USA: 1900. ( but see date below)
At the 1910 census he was already lodging with the Abbotts but at McAllister St and occupation Manager of a Dance Hall. He died aged 69 on 16th March 1935 at the Abbott residence and his ashes are interred in the Abbott niche at the Olivet Memorial Park Columbarium. The funeral was arranged by William Abbott and the $366 cost paid by George Abbott. William Telford had no family to mourn his passing, his brother John having died in Australia 4 years earlier.
The photograph of him ( right ) was with the memorabilia that Lottie Telford left behind and which is now in the possession of Valerie Kammann. Tucked into the back of the photo Val found a letter written by William to brother Jack in May 1898.
It mentions a couple of items of interest:
(1) "I have volunteered to go to war and may be called out to go to the islands at any date. I cannot stand a hum-drum life and must have excitement ..." Did he go to war ?? - this would have to be the Spanish-American war, largely fought over Cuba; this suggest William was in the States as early as 1898.
(2) in reference to a letter from Jack, "I am thoroughly aware that your nature does not relish the idea of insolvency .... besides which it does not appear to me that it is a just demand that is being made on you ..." see above, JDT declared insolvent in 1899.
(3) he mentions shares ( in the Rocky Mountain Extended Sluicing Company) which are held in trust and by the terms of William Telford's 1894 will were to be sold no sooner than 1904, dividends only in the meantime to go to William H - in this letter he suggests they could be sold to help out Jack's current difficulties.
Presumably William snr. wanted to see his sons benefit from the expected recovery in the shares over that period.
San Francisco in the early 1900s was a city of about 350,000 people having grown rapidly during and after the gold rush of 1849. William would have experienced the devastating earthquake of 1906 which resulted in a huge fire which destroyed most of the buildings around the city.
He would have observed the building of the impressive greek-themed Palace of Fine Arts ( at left ) for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition; he was living within about 2 Km of this building. He would however have missed seeing the spanning of the Bay by the two great bridges of San Francisco which were opened to traffic shortly after William Telford's death - the Bay Bridge in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge a year later in 1937.
Peter Wright Telford - brother of William and uncle of J.D. and W. H. Telford
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Peter travelled initially to New Zealand to join his father and brothers but lived out his retirement in Melbourne; in between he moved around between the 2 countries with a number of visits back to Scotland. There are a few references to “Uncle Peter” in Lottie Telford’s notes and in Widow of Thorndon Quay but much of what follows has been gleaned from newspaper archives via the Trove website: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper and paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
This photo of Peter Telford was retrieved from Lottie’s records by Val Kammann.
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At the 1851 census he was a 15 year-old student boarding at Corberry House, Dumfries while his mother and sisters were living in Glasgow. HIs father had of course left for New Zealand some 12 years earlier when he was just 3 years old and his brother William had similarly departed, probably about 1850 ( he does not appear in the 1851 Scotland census).
In 1856 his mother died and by 1858 he had seen his 2 sisters married to 2 brothers, Eliza to Rev. John McLaren in 1856 and Jane to Rev. William McLaren in 1858. It is thought that Peter made the journey to New Zealand shortly after this - according to a note made by his nephew John Dempster Telford, at the time of Peter’s death; Peter Wright Telford came to New Zealand about 1860.
The first record we have of P W Telford in either New Zealand or Australia is a letter published in the Melbourne Argus of 27 February 1867 in which the passengers complained of the food on the steamer Otago during its 6 day 2500 km voyage across the Tasman Sea; P W Telford was one of 30 signatories. He was perhaps fortunate because on a later voyage, in December 1876, the Otago ran aground and had to be abandoned at Chaslands Mistake, a promontory on the South Island near Waipato Bay.
( pictured at right)
4 months later after Peter’s journey from Wellington, on 14th June 1867 at Beechworth, Victoria, John Dempster Telford was born to William Telford and his wife Jeannie Galt Orr - this is Peter’s nephew. No doubt on arrival in Melbourne Peter would have headed to Beechworth to join his brother.
Between 1868 and 1870 there are records of Peter W Telford buying land and acting as a sharebroker and commission agent at Bright, not far from Beechworth.
Between 1880 and 1896 Peter Wright Telford appears on the NZ electoral roll in the areas of Wellington and Wanganui and described variously as clerk and settler.In 1882 he married Phoebe Bannister but sadly she died a few months later on 15th May 1883 at the home of her father, John Bannister of Johnsonville on the northern outskirts of Wellington. Peter did not remarry.
By 1903 he appears on the electoral roll in Melbourne, eventually settling at 26 Mercer Rd, Malvern where he died in August 1926 and is buried at Brighton cemetery.
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According to Widow of Thorndon Quay he made and lost several fortunes during his life through investments. At the time of his death he owned numerous shares in a number of well-known Australian companies with total his assets worth 57,000 pounds ( equivalent to about 5 million dollars today); he left it equally to his 12 nephews and nieces each receiving 4749 pounds ( approximately $440,000 in today’s money). He but apparently owned no real estate at the time of his death.
The assets were distributed in late 1929 and it was about this time that John Dempster Telford, one of the beneficiaries, and his wife Lottie, bought a property “Torwood Lea” at Bright in northern Victoria for their retirement. As mentioned above Peter W Telford had lived at Bright for a while but more importantly it is close to where J D T had grown up, at Beechworth, so returning to familiar territory.
Autumn colours at Bright