A letter from William

I've written about William Alford's skill with the plough before - you can read it here - but today I found another reference I want to share. In 1869 William was living at Laanacoorie in central Victoria, and wrote a letter to his father, Jacob, who was living in South Molton in Devon in England. The local paper published a section of the letter, in which William talks about the weather and crop yields.

North Devon Journal, 9 Dec 1869

And at the end of the article they add:

Alford was always particularly fond of ploughing, and has, during the past year, been awarded no less than 8 prizes for ploughing in Australia! This success speaks well for a Moltonian and one who is now renting 500 acres of land. 

Do you think the proud father might have contacted the newspaper office and boasted a little?

I found the article on the British Newspaper Archive website. You normally have to register and pay to view, but I have registered and view for free at the library of the Genealogical Society of Victoria. I wasn't expecting to find a reference to William Alford because my search terms were 'Jacob Alford' and 'South Molton'. The newspaper archive is like Australia's Trove - a fantastic and growing resource.