
John Henry Whitford
John Henry Whitford was was born 23 August 1805 in Newlyn East, Cornwall, England. He died on 6 Aug 1889 at his residence in Little Para, South Australia and was buried in Little Para Wesleyan Cemetery (Hillbank). The cause of death was Asthmatic bronchitis, cardiac disease.
Henry was a miner at Silverwell, Cornwall. Perhaps the mining boom in South Australia drew Henry and his family to emigrate. He had married Ann Curra on 1 January 1829. They were amongst 320 passengers who sailed aboard the Duke of Bedford, a three mast ship rigged barque of 720 tons, with R. Thornhall as master. The ship's port of origin was London, it docked at Plymouth, where the Whitfords would have embarked. The ship arrived in Port Adelaide on the 5th December, 1848. One newspaper account of the day lists some passengers, among them Mr H Whitford, wife and six children. The South Australian Maritime Museum lists the Whitford passengers aboard as John Henry, Farmer; Ann; John Henry (their son, who would have been aged 19 on arrival); Maria; Margaret and William. Children, Elizabeth (Ann); Mary Jane and Henry are not mentioned on that list.
On Henry's arrival and the family most likely made their way to Burra. Henry started work as a teamster transporting ore from the Burra Mines in the Mid-North to Port Adelaide. Henry's daughter, Maria married a miner, James Pearce at Kooringa in 1850. By 1864 Maria and James had moved to Kadina.
Many of Henry's family settled on the foothills of the Little Para in the Hundred of Munno Para. Much of the land Henry later owned was granted in 1853 to the inventor, John Ridley. Ridley made speculative purchases in the area. Ridley leased sections 3096 and 3097 from 1853 to Henry at a yearly rental of £30. The terms of the lease were to maintain and improve the arable land under tillage ... with all erections, buildings and fences thereon .... and to keep in good repair ... together with all landlord's fixtures ... The landlord had the right to enter the premises and examine the state and condition thereof. No timber on the land could be cut down for sale, except with the permission of John Ridley. The five year lease gave Henry the right of purchase. John Ridley made an application to bring the land under the Real Property Act (Torrens Title) in February, 1870 after he sold the land to Henry. The Application mentions together with all erections, buildings and fences thereon.
In 1854, Henry's son, John married Ann Matthew/s. William, Henry's second son, married Emily Treleaven in 1855 at North Adelaide. An Eliza Ann Whitford (possibly Henry's daughter, Elizabeth Ann) married Christopher Williams in 1861 and had eight children, including a son, John Henry. Two years after Eliza's death in 1886, Christopher married Henry's grand-daughter, Polly Whitford.
At a meeting of the District Council, Munno Para East held on Monday June 19th 1854, Mr Umpherstone reported that Mr Whitford was anxious to have the ground at once selected for the intended road, as he was about to fence. This relates to a conveyance recording the sale of approximately two acres of the northern angle of Section 3086 by Henry Whitford to the District Council of Munno Para East on 19th July 1855.
Henry was one of the original trustees of Little Para chapel. According to the chapel's Cemetery Lease Book, his sons John and William were curators of the Little Para cemetery. Researcher, James Potter has shared the following information: John Henry Whitford's first mention in relation to the church was in a report which appeared in the Adelaide Observer of Saturday, 16 July 1853. The report stated that arrangements were being made for the erection of a Wesleyan Chapel at Little Para. Mr Whitford had subscribed £5 and had promised timber and limestone. However, the project did not take off for another three and a half years. In December, 1856, a group of Wesleyans eventually came together and purchased half an acre of section 3092, Hundred of Munno Para, from Thomas Williams for the sum of £20. The piece of land was situated north of the Little Para River on Blacktop Road adjacent to what is now Williams Road. The first trustees of the property were listed as: John Barton Hack, John Cotton, James Swann, Samuel Richard Gault, Henry Whitford, Nicholas Goodman, Thomas Mankey, John Woods and Thomas James Mitchell with W. Butters and William Hill, ministers.
A Whitford house was still standing until recently opposite Blamey and Blackburn Roads. When Henry bought Sections 3096 and 3097, he held other land close-by, e.g. Sections 3130, 3131, 3132, 3086, 3087, 3088, 3089, part 3273 and part 3121. Sections 3086, 3089, 3179 and 3180 are closest to the point where the old route of Adams Road crosses the creek.
William was accidentally killed in 1875, aged 42 years and his land was then held by his widow, Emily. His death certificate notes that it was caused by a fall on the head. William was 42 when he died following a fall from a horse. He had been to Mr Heaslips sale at Penfield, he started for home with Willie Williams of Little Para. Both were on horseback and William wanted to try the horses speed. He lost his balance and fell off his horse. Help was called for but William died the following day without regaining consciousness.
At 75 years of age, Henry's wife, Ann died on 5th January, 1879 and was buried at the western side of the chapel, near her son. William's headstone read: In Affectanate (sic) Remembrance of William Whitford Who Departed this Life February 17 1875 aged 42 years. The Lord Gave and the Lord Taketh Away Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.
Incredibly, aged 74, Henry married secondly, 26 year old Elizabeth (nee Black) in 1879. Henry adopted four year old Margaret Fountain, Elizabeth's daughter by John James Fountain. Henry's son, Henry Lilley Whitford was born to the couple in 1880, then Eliza Ann Whitford in 1886, in Henry's 81st year. His new lease on life must have proved too much for him and he died in 1889 and was also buried at the Little Para Cemetery.
Henry Lilley served as a Councillor for the District Council of Munno Para East in 1866 (1 year). He resided at Adams Road, Hillbank. Farmer. Sections 3086, 3089, 3087, 3088, 3096, 3097. Also Sections 3130, 3131, 3132, Pt. 3121 now part of Elizabeth East. Belonged to the Salisbury Branch of the I.O.O.F. Member of the local branch of the Liberal Union. Trustee of the Little Para Wesleyan Chapel, Blacktop Road, Hillbank.The only remaining headstones, those of the Whitford family, were removed and resited in the Methodist Cemetery in James Street, Salisbury. The cemetery was then purchased by the Munno Para Council to remain as a reserve. The white marble headstones of Henry and Ann and their son, William, were relocated to the old Primitive Methodist Church cemetery next to Salisbury Council Chambers.








