Thomas Trounson Teague (1825-1903)

From information from “The Descendants of Thomas Teague” by Karen Hall, 1993

Thomas was born on the 7th January 1825 in a town called Phillack in Cornwall, which in 13kms from Redruth. His parents were Martin and Ann. In Cornwall, Thomas was employed in Milling and farming (his own father was a miller). On August 13th 1846, when he was 21, he married 22 year old Christiana Jewell, at the registry office in Redruth. Christiana was the daughter of Isaac and Sarah Jewell, and at the time of her marriage, was from Camborne which is 4kms away from Redruth. However the Jewell family itself was from Crowan – which is a town further south. Almost immediately after the marriage, the young couple set sail for Australia on the “Abberton”, a barque of 525 tons with Thomas Pain as master. They arrived in Port Adelaide on Sunday December 13th 1846.

A biographical account of his life was written in 1889 in the book “Aldines History of South Australia”. The book stated that he lived in Adelaide first, where he was employed, but ill health forced him to give up after a few months. They moved out to the country, Thomas taking up employment at the newly operational copper mine called ‘Kitticoola’ which was 15 miles from the township of Palmer. This mine was set in a beautiful set of rolling hills in a valley next to Reedy Creek.

Mining
When the gold rush began in California, Thomas traveled there on the ship “Robert Henderson” which departed 15th February 1850. Thomas was one of those who struck it lucky, but according to what he told Aldine’s history, ill health meant he had to return and & he went back to mining at Kiticoola. Australia soon had its own gold rush in Victoria and again Thomas got the bug. It is recorded in the book “The Cornish Miner in Australia” by Phillip Payton, that Thomas set off to Victoria in January 1852 with a John Dunstan. He went to Forest Creek. He arrived back in Adelaide on 9th September 1852 on the brig ‘Punch’. Thomas only stayed in Adelaide a couple of months, and returned to Forest Creek in December. There he stayed until April 1853, when through a ‘Fair Share’ type agreement, he had success. The Reedy Creek mine was not producing enough copper at this time, so the family moved away to Adelaide for a year where Thomas was involved in carting.

In 1854 the young family moved out north of Adelaide to the Salisbury area. They first leased section 3134. On 3rd April 1856, the family moved west of Salisbury and took up section 3242 and then section 4027. This area was known as Peachy Belt. Christiana died in 1863 and her death was recorded in the Register newspaper. Thomas buried his wife at Zoar Methodist Cemetery at Penfield.

10 months later Thomas remarried to Elizabeth Turner (nee Rowe) at Gawler River. Elizabeth would go on to have 5 children for Thomas, 3 being sons who survived. Christiana had produced 9 daughters and two sons who had died. This apparently made Elizabeth highly favoured, and it is generally known that Thomas treated the girls of his first marriage rather cruelly as a result.

Napperby
On 2nd November 1875, Thomas took up land on 129w & 130 in the hundred of Napperby. He may not have lived there for some time however, as his name can not be located in local history documents for the area of the time. He was definitely known to have been there in 1884 when he is found in the Electoral enrolments.

In 1881 however, he was still living at Salisbury when his second wife Elizabeth died, her death also being recorded in the Register newspaper. Thomas buried her with his first wife at Zoar Methodist Cemetery. In 1884, Thomas married for a third time, this time to 70 year old widow Agnes Stevens (nee Lawrence). After their marriage, Thomas and Agnes lived on the farm at Napperby for some years where the Aldine History said Thomas was busy in Agriculture Society Shows, acting as one of the judges for Draught Stock. By then, he had 45 grandchildren, with more to come (68 in the finish) – his children generally having married people from Salisbury or Port Pirie areas.

Mile End
On 11th August 1890, Thomas bought a home on lot 145 Roebuck Street, Mile End. Thomas and Agnes called their home “Edith Villa”. In Ivory Burrows’s notes, a granddaughter remembered her grandfather as he was then – snowy white hair, rosy cheeks, green eyes, mid height, very fair skin.

In May 1903, Agnes died at the age of 89, and an old style funeral was held for her. Thomas himself was unable to attend, and when they returned to his place after the funeral, it was to find him also deceased, lying in his chair with a rug over his feet.

In Thomas’s original will, his son Thomas by his second marriage was to inherit all his father’s property. The girls of the first marriage were not happy about this and contested the will, which they won about 3 years later.

Children

 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of PARENTS NAMES
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of PARENTS NAMES