Australian
Scottish
Heritage
Scottish
Heritage
These stories are readers contributions sent to me.They have kindly allowed me to share them with you.
John Bryden Balfour-Shetland to Sydney 1859
My Balfour family were from a croft called "Houbansetter" in South Delting,Shetland where my
great grandfather was born in 1828.He had a younger brother,John Bryden Balfour,christened
04 October 1835 who went to Australia and settled there.
Like his brothers before and after him John became a seaman.He served 1854 with Walter on
the "Victor" (Hay and Co.'s Whaling ledger).He next appears in a list of crew serving on the 535
ton vessel "Wellington" arriving in Sydney,NSW,Australia 19 April 1859.There is an interesting
family story that may relate to this Sydney visit.It seems that one of the Houbansetter Balfours
was in Sydney where a local man came to the docks and asked if there were any Shetlanders
and specifically Balfours in port.This Balfour lad met with the man who invited him to visit his
farm somewhere outside of Sydney.John Bryden Balfour talked it over with his ship mates who
counselled him not to go as there were reports of sailors being lured off ships until their ship had
sailed.The Balfour lad thus decided not to go.When he returned to Shetland he related the incident to his mother who enquired whether the man had a scar on his left cheek.When he confirmed this
she said that the Sydney man had been her brother.
It would be of interest to see if there were indeed an Anderson from Shetland farming near Sydney
in the 1850's.
John Bryden Balfourmust have been impressed with what he saw of Australia because he later
returned,settled and married there.What was possibly a second marriage for him-to Christina
Ingram Wallace -took place at Sydney in 1867.She is said to have been born at sea in 1850
(private correspondence from Graham Cotterell,a descendant) and arrived in NSW with her
parents aboard the "Emily" 09 September 1850.Her parents were probably William and Janet
Wallace from Dunfermline,Scotland.John and Christina's union produced eight children,all born
in Young, New South Wales,a gold-mining town 375km west of Sydney;John W (b1867),
Alexander (b1869),Robina (b1871),Christina (b1873),James Walker (b1876),Margaret Janet
(b17 January 1878),Robert (b1880), and Ethel M (b1887). Looking at these names it is tempting
to assume that John was following Shetland tradition,when his first-born son and second-born
daughter would be named for his parents (i.e.John and Christina) and his first-born daughter
and second-bon son after his wife's parents.If that were indeed so then Christina Ingram Wallace
would have been a daughter of Alexander and Robina which contradicts that above.
John was an engineer and may have been one of the founding members of the Mechanics
Institute in Young.After his wife Christina died John moved 500km further west to Broken Hill
where ore deposits were more secure.He died at Broken Hill 31 August 1900 of Bright's
disease and was buried in the General Cemetery there.At the time of his death he was an engine driver at a dam site.
Kindly Contributed by Walter J.Balfour of Victoria,BC,Canada
My Balfour family were from a croft called "Houbansetter" in South Delting,Shetland where my
great grandfather was born in 1828.He had a younger brother,John Bryden Balfour,christened
04 October 1835 who went to Australia and settled there.
Like his brothers before and after him John became a seaman.He served 1854 with Walter on
the "Victor" (Hay and Co.'s Whaling ledger).He next appears in a list of crew serving on the 535
ton vessel "Wellington" arriving in Sydney,NSW,Australia 19 April 1859.There is an interesting
family story that may relate to this Sydney visit.It seems that one of the Houbansetter Balfours
was in Sydney where a local man came to the docks and asked if there were any Shetlanders
and specifically Balfours in port.This Balfour lad met with the man who invited him to visit his
farm somewhere outside of Sydney.John Bryden Balfour talked it over with his ship mates who
counselled him not to go as there were reports of sailors being lured off ships until their ship had
sailed.The Balfour lad thus decided not to go.When he returned to Shetland he related the incident to his mother who enquired whether the man had a scar on his left cheek.When he confirmed this
she said that the Sydney man had been her brother.
It would be of interest to see if there were indeed an Anderson from Shetland farming near Sydney
in the 1850's.
John Bryden Balfourmust have been impressed with what he saw of Australia because he later
returned,settled and married there.What was possibly a second marriage for him-to Christina
Ingram Wallace -took place at Sydney in 1867.She is said to have been born at sea in 1850
(private correspondence from Graham Cotterell,a descendant) and arrived in NSW with her
parents aboard the "Emily" 09 September 1850.Her parents were probably William and Janet
Wallace from Dunfermline,Scotland.John and Christina's union produced eight children,all born
in Young, New South Wales,a gold-mining town 375km west of Sydney;John W (b1867),
Alexander (b1869),Robina (b1871),Christina (b1873),James Walker (b1876),Margaret Janet
(b17 January 1878),Robert (b1880), and Ethel M (b1887). Looking at these names it is tempting
to assume that John was following Shetland tradition,when his first-born son and second-born
daughter would be named for his parents (i.e.John and Christina) and his first-born daughter
and second-bon son after his wife's parents.If that were indeed so then Christina Ingram Wallace
would have been a daughter of Alexander and Robina which contradicts that above.
John was an engineer and may have been one of the founding members of the Mechanics
Institute in Young.After his wife Christina died John moved 500km further west to Broken Hill
where ore deposits were more secure.He died at Broken Hill 31 August 1900 of Bright's
disease and was buried in the General Cemetery there.At the time of his death he was an engine driver at a dam site.
Kindly Contributed by Walter J.Balfour of Victoria,BC,Canada