James Lyddon was born in 1816 at Brompton Ralph, Somerset, England. On the 15 December 1854 James with his wife, Harriet (nee Smith) and four children, William, Sarah, James and Mary Ann left England on the Lady Macdonald and arrived in Adelaide on the 7 April 1855.  Their fifth child Thomas was born in 1858 near Mt Pleasant.

James worked as a farm labourer and then as a farmer. He died in 1868 (aged 52) as a result of injuries sustained when his trap capsized on the road between Mt Pleasant and Springton. A local youth took the trap horse for a joy ride a week later and the horse stumbled and the youth fell to his death at the same place that James Lyddon had his fatal accident. His wife, Harriet died on the 20 June 1892 ( having been widowed for 24 years). She  is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.

William Lyddon, eldest son of James and Harriet Lyddon, married Betsy Chalmers/Sinclair on 27 February 1863. She was a widow six years older than him with three children from her first marriage.  They had another seven children together. William had a farm at South Rhine, sections 120 and 127 adjacent to the Miller’s farm. Part of his land had the South Rhine cricket ground on it. William died on the 24 September 1924 and Betsy died on the 22 May 1929 both buried in the South Rhine cemetery.

The family was significant in the South Rhine Church across their life with a memorial stain glass window installed in the 1930s, dedicated to William and Betsy and their family.

Children of James and Harriet

1. William married Betsy Chalmers/Sinclair on 27 February 1863. They lived and farmed at South Rhine and had seven children.  William died in 1924  aged 85 years and Betsy in 1929 aged 97. Both are buried in the South Rhine cemetery.
2. Sarah married Henry Bywaters  on 14 August 1861 at Mount Pleasant and they had four children before Sarah was widowed in the early 1870s. She then married George Gower on 7 October 1874 and they had another five children. Sarah died at Sherlock in the south east of SA in 1929 aged 87. George outlived her, dying in 1945 aged 96.
3. James married Elizabeth Gosden on the 10 March 1870 and they had nine children.  The family lived at Gumbowie near Peterborough. Elizabeth died in 1902 aged 53 years.  James remarried a widow, Emma Coon in 1908. He died at Prospect in 1919 aged 72. 
4. Mary Ann married Robert Alfred Richards on the 2 March 1874. They lived at Eden Valley next to the Lutheran Church where Robert was the shoemaker. They had three daughters.  Robert died in 1918 aged 65 and Mary Ann in 1942 aged 89. They are both buried in the South Rhine cemetery. 
5. Thomas was the only child to be born in Australia (in 1858) after the family arrived from England in 1855.  In 1981, at the age of 33, Thomas married Mary Ann Crane  and they had five children, three sons and two daughters . They lived around the South Rhine Eden Valley district in their early lives then moved to Angaston. Mary Ann died  in 1928 aged 63 and Thomas died in 1931 aged 73. They are both buried in the  Angaston cemetery along with their sons and daughters-in-law.   

Children of William and Betsy

1. Isabella (1863-1906) married Alexander Spavin in 1900 when she was 37 and moved to the Jamestown area. They had four children, a boy and three girls, the last two being twins. Tragically Isabella died three weeks after their birth and one twin lived for only five weeks. Her two surviving daughters lived to 78 and 89 but neither had children, one remaining unmarried and the other marrying later in life aged 41.
2. Betsy (1865-1897) lived at Eden Valley and did not marry. She died in 1897 aged 32 years and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.
3. William (1867-1943) married Mary Preece in 1899, and they had six children, five daughters and one son. Their second daughter, Bessie May died in1904 at 18 months and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery. The family lived at Cambrai. William died in 1943 aged 75 and Mary in 1950 aged 74.
4. John (1869-1958) did not marry and lived all his life at Springton (South Rhine) He was the last Clerk at the District Council of Springton (formerly South Rhine) before its amalgamation into the Mount Pleasant District Council in 1935. He died in 1958 aged 88 and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.
5. Janet (1872-1936) married John Vigar in 1901, and they had six children, three boys and three girls. Initially the family lived at Cambrai but moved to the Lameroo area about 1909. Janet died in 1936 at Lameroo aged 64 years. John died in 1946 aged 75.
   (Note: in her birth registration Janet’s name is spelt Jeannet. But for all subsequent listings including marriage, children’s births and her death the spelling is Janet)
6. Peter (1874-1940) did not marry and lived all his life at Springton (South Rhine) He died in 1940 aged 66 and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.
7. Harriet (1876-1878) the youngest of the family, lived for only two years and died in 1878. She is buried in the South Rhine cemetery