Shep's Place Family Tree

EMIGRATION from Harpenden of Oscar, aged 22, to South Australia, by the "Shah", 161 tons, Capt. R.H. Leese which left Gravesend on 8 Nov 1837 and reached "Port Misery" ‎(Port Adelaide)‎ on 4 May 1837, a voyage of 4 months. The Gazetted licence of the "Turf Hotel" at Franklin Street, Adelaide is dated 18 Dec1837 in partnership with Clement Crispe until 29 Nov 1838, then Oscar alone until Feburary 1839. It is presumed that it was at this period he met the then 18 year old Allen Wilson with whom he remained in life long friendship.

Marriage: On 3 May 1838 at Holy Trinity, Adelaide to Bella Sladden ‎(baptised on 30 Jul 1815 as Isabella at Herne Bay, Kent)‎. The Colonial Chaplin C.B. Howard officiated. Bella had been a passenger on the first official ship the "Buffalo" with the Governor, Capt. later Sir John Hindmarsh, and landed on 28 Dec 1836. She was the ninth in a family of 12 her parents being John Sladden and his first wife Susannah Daniels of Herne. Seven members of the family came out on the "Buffalo", including Bella's father and Jane his second wife. The Sladden family, originally Sloden has been traced back to when Henry Sloden born C.1390, paid tithes at Lyminge, Kent and was a juror at the Manor Court and mentioned in Burke's Landed Gentry. Father John Sladden died at Black Forest, S.A. aged 88 on 16 Dec1852. Bella's mother Susannah had died at London C. 1836.

Deaths: Bella Lines died aged 39 years at her residence "Paster's Farm", Reedbeds on 24 Feb 1854 and was interred at the West Terrace Cemetery with an infant daughter who died in 1851. Oscar John Lines died aged 58 years on 4 Jul 1872 at his residence which had by then been renamed "St. Albans" Findon, and was interred at the Hindmarsh Cemetery with an infant son of the second marriage, who had died the previous year.

The second wife, Sarah Anne ‎(nee Green)‎ Lines died aged 49 years on 3 Jul 1881 at "St. Albans" and was also interred at the Hindmarsh Cemetery but apart from Oscar.

Bella and most of her family had been residing at Paddington, London at the time of their departure. Some of her brothers travelled by the "Cygnet". Bella was personal maid to the mother of George Stevenson, appointed Colonial Secretary to Governor Hindmarsh but remained with that family only a short time in S.A. living at North Adelaide, then married, to the great annoyance of the Stevensons. Mrs. George Stevenson even wrote a poem about "scampering" and "marrying" servants. Oscar went from the "Turf" to the "Coach and Horses" on the Port Road and was the proprietor from 1841 to 1846 when he sold to E.J. Grey. It was a solid 8 roomed stone building on an acre of land. and closed as a hostelry in 1859. hut remained in use for other purposes for many years.

During this time Oscar branched out as a gentleman farmer beginning in a small way with 7 acres of section 387 on the opposite side of the Port Road which became part of the suburb of West Croydon with a beautiful view of hay fields up to the Mt. Lofty Range. The first Census, 1841 had Mr. and Mrs. Lines, both under 35, with one daughter and one son.

By 1858, hotel keeping left behind, Oscar was well established as farmer and gardener.

"Paster's Farm" much enlarged by the time it became "St. Albans" faced Findon Road, was on 75 acres of Section 427. It was a stone house of six large rooms attached to the original stone cottage ‎(all still extant and in use)‎ with stabling and garden. Oscar also owned 134 acres on Section 428 and 431, later adding a further 80 acres of adjoining sections. He leased out several lots to tenant farmers and another 100 acre farm on the western side of the Port Road. In January 1850 an arsonist set fire to his standing crop and to Oscar's great annoyance the fire brigade did not arrive until the following morning and 40 acres of barley were lost.

Oscar became one of the original Trustees of St. Margaret's C. of E. Woodville. an early member of the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies and Chairman of the Hindmarsh District Council. He had a fine voice and was noted for his rendering of "The Gypsy King". In 1872 he suffered from an attack of "English Cholera", but the symptoms indicate a burst appendix from which he died. His somewhat fulsome obituary described him as a genial and hospitable character and generally respected.

The house "St. Albans", is still on three allotments in 9 St. Albans, Findon. Reedbeds was gracefully faded out. The Lines had vacated by 1885 and other owners followed up to the present. There were 14 children of Oscar's two marriages.

The second marriage was in 1854 ‎(shortly after Bella died of heart trouble and dropsy)‎ to the children's governess Sarah Ann Green who with, her sister Elizabeth Jane, also a governess, arrived by the "Bolivar" on 30 Jan 1850. Elizabeth became the second wife of Capt. William Davidson as is mentioned in the Allen Frederick Wilson section. Oscar and Sara were not married in S.A. and it is likely that a hurried trip was made in Capt. Davidson's ship to Western Australia for the event which could not be delayed as Sarah' first child was born six months after Bella died.