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 John Billingsley John Billingsley  John Billingsley John and Elizabeth Biollingsley, with 2 of their children JOHN BILLINGSLEY Mr. John Billingsley arrived in South Australia by sailing ship about 1860, after working his passage out on the promise of a section of land. He was told that the land would be located at Cudlee Creek, but the promise was never fulfilled. Nothing daunted, however, he secured work in the district, and later married Miss Elizabeth Crook. Subsequently he took up land at Mount Pleasant, but eventually returned to Gumeracha, where he rented from his cousin, Mr. Lang, a property on which is now the fine orchard of Mr. J. J. Stephenson. In Mr. Billingsley's time wheat was sown broadcast, harvested by sickle, and a flail used for threshing out the grain. It was necessary for this pioneer to augment his resources by working for others, and a splendid worker he was. Over six feet in height, and powerfully built, he could "cut and tie" an acre of crop daily. As stated elsewhere, he was a master at building haystacks, and when crops were cut and ready for carting, he built and thatched many a stack for other farmers less efficient in the extremely difficult task of building stacks true to shape. Later Mr. Billingsley leased one of the South Australian Company's farms which is now portion of Mr. J. H. Hynes' property. There he grew fine crops of wheat, and kept a dairy of between 30 and 40 cows, in which he had the services of a fine wife and family. In those days, of course, the milk was "set" in pans for the cream to rise, after which it was skimmed, and churned into butter. The writer well remembers Mrs. Billingsley's dairy and others around Gumeracha with their spotlessly clean shelves carrying tier upon tier of pans. There was quite a lot of healthy competition amongst the farmers' wives in those now far-off days, to make the best butter and thus secure the highest prices, and Mrs. Billingsley was one of the most successful. She also had a great reputation as a cook, and during harvest operations often had to provide for as many as twelve men with no better equipment than the old camp oven so familiar in those times. In this work she had the assistance of several daughters, who thus obtained a splendid training to fit them later for the efficient management of their own homes. When the South Australian Company's farms were made available for purchase, Mr. Billingsley secured the farm on the road to Blumberg (now Birdwood) which was then occupied by Mr. George Clarke, and it was there that this accomplished man of the land died in 1913, followed by his widow a few years later. They had a family of four sons and four daughters, the surviving members being Messrs. George and Tom Billingsley, and Mesdames W. Moore, H. V. Cornish, A. Hanna, and H. W. Nickels. All are residing in the district with the exception of Tom, who has a property on the River Murray near Mannum. Immigrated (± 1860)
Married/ Related to: Children: 1.
 Mary Agnes BillingsleyBorn Jun 1867 KENTON VALLEY WELFARE. 92nd Birthday of Member. The Kay Vee Welfare meeting was held at the home of Mrs K.B. Symonds. It was decided to present a white flower stand for use at the Gumeracha Town Hall. The main feature of the afternoon was the 92nd birthday of Mrs Moore, mother of Mrs K.B. Symonds and Mrs Colin Sandercock. A very pleasant afternoon was enjoyed. Afternoon tea, which included a birthday cake, made by Mrs Colin Sandercock, was served. Greetings were extended to Mrs Moore from near and far. [17/6/1959 6d.] 2.
George Billingsley 3.
Tom Billingsley | |||
Citation for: Family Page
"Family Page: John Billingsley & Elizabeth Crook." HuMo-genealogy - Colin Sandercock's Family Tree (http://family.sandercock.net/index.php?page=family&tree_id=2&id=F2051&main_person=I2874 : accessed 10 May 2024) John Billingsley #I2872
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