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, apparently in Sydney NSW, however we have been unable to find any record of his birth. All of our information about Thomas comes from his obituary and death certificate. His death certificate notes his parents as Clement and Sarah - Clement is recorded as a carpenter - but there are no record of a Clement Davis anywhere in the colony in that period.
On his death certificate he is noted as having married in Victoria in 1854 to Jane Bygrave. Jane was the illegitimate daughter of Dr Thomas Bygrave and Eliza Jane Ham.
This assertion does raise some questions. Jane arrived in the Port Phillip in September 1853. In August 1854 she is recorded on the birth certificate of her son - Francis - as having married Francis MacDowel in the Roman Catholic church in Melbourne - although her erstwhile husband - Francis - is noted as being deceased at the time of the childs birth and we have been unable to find a marriage certificate for Jane and Francis, or a death certificate for Francis. Their sole child was
- Francis MacDowell Born 18 Aug 1854 Geelong, VIC; Christened 2 Oct 1854 St Mary's RC Geelong; Died Mar 11 1899 Casino, NSW
We have been unable to identify marriage certificate for Thomas and Jane in either 1854 or 1855, however Jane's eldest son took on the Davis name and was known throughout his life (and his death certificate) as Francis MacDowell Davis.
There is no record of the family. The information we have is from Thomas death certificate which notes that they
, 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 more children, none only one of whom 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 are two children born to a Thomas and Jane Davis in Pleasant Creek Victoria - Mary 1856 and John 1858. The timing of these work, but there is no ability to confirm records at this point. If these are the two missing children, the seven year gap to Louisa's birth (supposedly in 1865 in Toowoomba is difficult to explain)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.
We do know that in 1876 the family were living in Bryan's Gap (7km from Tenterfield) as it is here that Jane passes away in January 1877.
Thomas 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 inability to find any record of Thomas is challenging, especially given that Australian record keeping - as a penal colony - in this period was very good. There are range of scenarios that could account for this, This leads us to think that some of Thomas claims may be less than authentic, and that there are a couple of different possible scenarios:
- Thomas is the son of Sarah Davis or Sarah Clement a convict, and was born at the Sydney Female Factory and raised in the Orphan Schools
- Thomas Davis and Francis MacDowall are in fact the same person and for some reason Thomas changed his name
- Thomas Davis was not born in Australia but was rather a convict OR a deserted ships crewman and for some reason lied about his origins
- Thomas Davis is an alias for an unknown individual
- Thomas is the son of Clement Davis and Sarah and was NOT born in Australia, but rather arrived in Victoria in the 1850s with his brother - See Thomas Davis of New Hampshire below
- Thomas is the son of a Clement and Sarah, but not Clement and Sarah DAVIS - there is no reference to DAVIS next to his parents name on his death certificate
Thomas Davis son of Sarah (a convict) born in Female Factory and raised in Orphan Schools - PROBABLE
Despite the fact that NSW was a penal colony and had excellent records on convicts and penal affairs, formal birth registrations were not started until 1855, so the availability of BDM documentation prior to date is dependent upon early Church Records.
Many children of convicts were never baptised, especially illegitimate children born to female convicts. From 1807 female convicts and other female prisoners were housed in Female Factories. The Church regularly refused to baptise the children of these women at birth. Most of the children were removed from their mothers to the Orphan Schools at the age of 3. In some cases the children ended up back with their mothers and were baptised as children years after their birth, but many lived their lives in the orphan schools until they were apprenticed at 14.
In addition to these illegitimate children of female born in Australia there were a significant number of children traveled with their mothers when they were transported and the only records of these children is in Ship Muster documents and or Colonial Secretary Papers
There are a number of Sarah Davis and Sarah Clements inside the timeframe, however it will be necessary to confirm Female Factory and Orphan School records to confirm this theory.
Thomas Davis and Francis MacDowall are the same person - UNLIKELY
The timing of events in 1853 and 1854 lends some weight to the potential that Thomas and Francis are the same person. Jane arrives in September 1853. In August 1854 (11 mths later) she gives birth to a son (with the father noted as Francis MacDowel (deceased) There are no marriage records for their marriage or of Francis Death, and based on Thomas's death records he marries Jane in 1854... this is all pretty quick work.
That said it was not unusual for a woman left alone with a child to seek a male protector, and on Francis MacDowell Davis's death certificate his father is recorded as Francis MacDowel, and it does not seem likely that the family would perpetuate the alias.
Thomas Davis was not born in Australia, but was a convict or deserted ships crewman - POSSIBLE
Thomas Davis is an alias for an unknown individual
Thomas Davis of New Hampshire - POSSIBLE
The only records of a Clement Davis and Sarah in this time frame are out of New Hampshire in the US (see below). There is a possibility that this could be his parents, except for the absence of a Thomas in their child listing.
Clement M DAVIS was born on 1 Sep 1795 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.. He was a Ship Carpenter, and was Known as Clancy.
He was married to Sarah J STEVENS on 12 Jul 1817 in New Hampshire, USA.. Married by Rev. John Osbourne, Lee, New Hampshire. Sarah J STEVENS was born on 5 Mar 1798.
The couple had 11 known children including a Henry Burley Davis who emigrated to Victoria about 1856 where he moved to Ballarat and became a gold miner in Pleasant Creek until 1870Possible 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.