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Melville Hodge, son of John, father of David Melville Hodge came out on the Joseph Rowan to Adelaide on June 18th 1854 from Fife Scotland. It looks like he wasn't alone: Joseph Rowan Search. His occupation was described as Ploughman and Miner, and religion as Presbetyrian. He was 51 when he arrived in Australia, had a son when he was 57 and died later in the same year. Further research is interesting. (at Scots Origins) A Melvil Hodge (note the recorded spelling) has a birth registered on 23rd November 1803, son of a John Hodge and Elspeth Clark (married 29 March 1793). The parish, St. Andrews And St. Leonards, is strangely in the region where golf was invented! The east-coast of Scotland. This school, having similar name to the parish, has an intersting location map St Andrews & St Leonards Parish School and Parishes of Fife, Scotland. The Fife Family History Society provides an interesting perspective on the life and times of the shire, including industries etc. during Melvil's lifetime. John Hodge, born in the same parish, 28th March 1771 to a James Hodge and Mary Scot. No record found of a James Hodge birth in this parish (although there are many James Hodge's in the county of Fife within the range of years, and the only James Hodge in Kingsbarn is too young to be married in 1763), but there is a record of a birth of Mary Scot on 24th April 1753 in this parish to a Hary Scott and Mary Sivess. James Hodge married Mary Scot at Kingsbarn, Fife, Scotland on 23 November 1763. Kingsbarn parish is directly to the east of St Andrews. Janet Crombie born 1806, married Melville on 28 December 1828 at St. Andrews And St. Leonards, Fife, Scotland and evidently died at sea. On this voyage there is also a Thomas (born to Melvil and Janet on 23rd December 1834 in parish of Cameron, Fife, Scotland) described as a agricultural labourer and a Jessie described as a servant. (born 1836, died in 1854 at about 18 years of age in Scotland - therefore not on the voyage? There is no record of parentage in the database, so it could be a different person) So what drove Melvil Hodge to leave Fife in Scotland? 1854 is about the same time as the Crimean War, and by my calculations he was at least 45-50 when he left Scotland. A rather old age (in those times) to up and leave. Hodges in Fife, Scotland. If his daughter, Jessie died in 1854 as recorded, did they leave for other reasons? This story about Caroline Parish provides a perspective on the mid 19th century. Melvil remarried a Mary Milne (born 26th December 1830 in ForFar, Angus, Scotland) whose mother was a Jean Stewart and father James Milne which with my new info comes up in the family, which seem to have come out on the same boat. Melville himself died in 1860 and Mary remarried a James Couzins. David Melville Hodge left home at about 11 due to not getting on with his step father but he got married at his stepfather's home. David Melville Hodge, born 18 Oct 1860, Cockatoo Valley/North Rhine, South Australia. Died 6th September 1937. Married Julia Florence Pilgrim 2 October 1885, Clare, South Australia. (parents: John Pilgrim born Essex 13 Apr 1834 and Judith Brown, Naomi Frost born Essex 26 Apr 1831) David Melville was a miner of sorts. He went to Broken Hill and also went by boat up to the Kimberleys; the family has of a diary that he wrote about this trip. He also wrote poetry, and was a bit of a wanderlust. Family talk is that he had a fierce temper and would whip a bullock til it fell. After living in the Midnorth of South Australia, he then "retired' in Adelaide, and subequently purchased land over on the Lock-Elliston road with his sons. The last piece of farming land on Eyre Peninsula owned by this Hodge family was Section 36, Hundred of Cowan, District Council of Elliston. This property bordered the Bascombe Well Conservation Park on the western-side of the centre line (railway line) that splits Eyre Peninsula in two.