Thomas Davis aka William James Walker (abt 1820 - 1905)
Thomas Davis is the name used by my GGG Grandfather at the time of his death, and on the legal documents and the marriage and death records of his child. According to his death certificate he was born about 1820, in Sydney NSW, and married my GGG grandmother, Jane Bygrave in Geelong Victoria - supposedly in 1854 - and lived in Queensland for a period. The death certificate also notes his parents a Clement and Sarah and his father was a carpenter. Comprehensive search of records in both New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, failed to identify birth or marriage records for a Thomas Davis, or any of his children that aligned with the information provided on the Death Certificate.
Thanks to Jen Christianson - a fellow descendant of this line - we were finally - after 8 years - able to find some records that helped us identify some candidates for Thomas in September 2021. This discovery changed our thinking and furthered our research efforts.
What we had previously known is that Jane had married a Francis McDowell in 1853, but he died in early 1854 before the birth of his son - also Francis McDowell. Jen's discovery allowed us to discover that Jane subsequently married a Thomas Walker a cook and mariner in 1858, initially we thought this was our Thomas Davis, but Thomas Walker subsequently died in April 1861.
The first record that provides a potential candidate for Thomas Davis is the registration of the birth of a child Mary Jane Walker in Ashby - a suburb of Geelong located in the area of Geelong West - on 3 July 1862. This record identifies her mother as Jane Walker - with the notation "previously Walker, previously McDowell, previously Bygrave" - and her father as William James Walker. We now working on the assumption this this man is my GGG grandfather - who later assumes the name Thomas Davis.
William James Walker (also known as Thomas Davis) was born in Buffalo, USA in 1821. His parent are unknown, and it is not known when he arrived in Australia, but - on the premise this is the right guy - we do know that by June 1859 he was the publican at Preston Hotel - one of Geelongs first hotels. Newspaper clippings from the next few years we know that he moved around, first taking over licence for the Travellers Rest at Herne Hill from John Jackson in March 1861. He applied for a Publicans Licence for the Great Western Hotel in Newtown (which was built in 1854). This was gazetted on July 19 1861.
The owners of the Hotel - Holdsworth and Firth - had sought to sell the hotel in early April 1861 but were not successful until early 1864. An advertisement was carried in the Geelong Advertiser by Wood and Rix:
The “Great Western” Hotel, situate on the main road to Fyansford and the Diggings, one of the best roadside hotels in the colony.
William held the license for about 6 months prior to transferring it to Mr George Jenkyns, however it appears that he exited the pub around 20 November as the court granted Mr Jenkyns the right to operate under Williams license until the date of license transfer on 3 December 1861.
On the 3rd of December 1861 he becomes the Licensee of the Newmarket Hotel at Market Square.
Geelong Advertiser 18 Jun 1859 | Geelong Advertiser 13 June 1860 | Geelong Advertiser 6 March 1861 | Geelong Advertiser 13 April 1861 | Geelong Advertiser 22 November 1861 | Geelong Advertiser 4 December 1861 |
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Some time in the second half of 1861, in Geelong Victoria, he supposed married Jane Bygrave - who was likely pregnant at the time - although there is no record of the marriage. Jane was the illegitimate daughter of Richard Bygrave Esq and Sarah Thomas.
Based on Jane's death certificate, we know they had 3 children, only one of who appear to have made it onto BDM records
- Mary Jane Davis Born 1862 Died bef. 1877
- Louisa Jane Davis Born 1865 Married Patrick McDermott 1882 Died 1942
- ? Davis Born ? Died bef 1877
There is no further records of the family until they appear in Bryan's Gap (7km from Tenterfield) where they are living under the name Davis we know this, because it is here that Jane passes away in January 1877. Her death certificate provides limited details, but from Thomas death certificate we know that the family live for
- lived for a "few years" in Victoria
- moved to Toowoomba in Queensland for an "unknown period" of time (around 1864/65)
- settled around Tenterfield some time after 1865.
There is a notation in the Government Gazette under the heading of UNDEFINED PRE-EMPTIVE LEASE for a Thomas Davis Tenterfield - we are unable to confirm if this is our Thomas or not. Thomas again disappears off the radar until the 1890s when he appears in Government Gazettes.
In 1900 NSW introduced an Old Age Pension. Before being eligible for the pension, individuals had to satisfy that they:
- were over 60 (for women) and 65 (for men)
- were of good character (having led a sober and respectable life for the previous 5 years)
- had lived in the NSW for at least 25 years
- satisfied a strict means test
From 1902 until his death in 1905, Thomas is recorded as receiving the Old Age Pension - under the name Davis - in the amount of £26 per annum - which meant that he owned property worth less than £390. Only 39% of people over 65 were deemed eligible. It is hoped that it may be possible to access the Pension application register which may provide further information.
Thomas died of senile decay at Lismore Hospital on 2 December 1905 - he is noted as being 85 at the time. He was interred at North Lismore Cemetery
Thomas did leave a will, but we are yet to secure a copy of that.
Possible Scenarios
The only consistency in term of information about Thomas is that the information he provides changes, making it incredibly difficult to follow the line further back. Key questions to answer
- Was he really born in the USA, if so what bought him to Australia and when did he arrive - we would have expected a naturalisation certificate.
- Are William James Walker and William George Walker the same person
- Why and when did William James Walker start using the name Thomas Davis
- Are there other aliases
- When did Thomas and Jane leave Victoria
- Are the missing childrens bdm records under walker or some other name
- Who are the Clement and Sarah recorded on his death certificate are they actually his parents.