James Prior

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration. James Prior is a native of the County of Cornwall, England, and was born in 1826 and educated in his native place. On leaving school he was engaged in mining pursuits, until the year 1847, in which year he sailed for South Australia, and landed in Port Adelaide. he then found employment on a farm near Adelaide, where he remained for a short time only. He then went to the Burra, and followed a mining occupation for four years, and then went back to the Victorian Gold Fields, and stayed there for about twelve months. After this he came back to this colony and made a start at farming, at Allandale near Kapunda. Here he took up 617 acres of land, which he makes use of for grazing and agricultural purposes; of this area he has 400 acres under cultivation, and the remainder is kept for pasturage for his horses and cattle. He is a member of the District council of Kapunda. He was married in 1849, his wife also being a native of the County of Cornwall., England. His wife died in 1871 and he was married again in 1883 to his present wife, she, too being a native of England.

James immigrated on 29 Oct 1847 to Adelaide via Duchess of Northumberland.

• Obituary. Advertiser Wednesday 12 September 1906 p10
Death of a Pioneer
Kapunda September 11 - The small roll of pioneers of the Kapunda district has lost another name by the death of Mr. James Prior, who settled in the district about 1849. For two years previously he was employed in the Burra mine and, conjointly with farming, he followed the same calling at Kapunda for years. He was one of the earliest members of the Kapunda Agricultural Society, and for many years took an active interest in its welfare.
For some years he had been in feeble health, and of late had been almost blind. His experiences of the early days were very interesting. His first trip to the Burra in a bullock dray occupied 12 days, and it was a rough journey.

James married Mary Ellen Hamp, daughter of John Hamp and Sarah Emily Chipp, in 1883. (Mary Ellen Hamp was born on 19 Nov 1832 in Oxford, England and died on 6 May 1892 in Kapunda, South Australia.)