One of the earliest families to settle in Norfolk County was the Davis family formerly of Orange County, North Carolina. Indeed, according to E.A. Owen’s Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement, John Davis came to Norfolk as emissary for other North Carolina families to ascertain the suitability of the area for settlement. Four members of the Davis family settled in Norfolk County, three brothers- John, Robert and Thomas, and their sister Edywick who married James Derrickson. The four were the children of Robert and Jane Davis who resided on a red soiled plantation located on the banks of Forresters’ Creek just north of Hillsborough the administrative seat of Orange County.
The earliest reference to Robert Davis, Sr.’s presence in Orange County is in a land petition dated January 29, 1752, the year of the county’s inception. On March 12, 1755, Robert Davis, planter, received a grant of 385 acres of land lying on both sides of Forresters’ Creek. Robert’s obligations under the terms of the agreement required him to remit to the Earl of Grenville the sum of 15 shillings, five pence “Yearly, and every Year, for ever” in return for which Robert received title to the property “together with the Privilege of Hunting, Hawking, and Fowling, and of taking, catching and making Use of all Sorts of Game in and upon the Premises”. In the event of default in payment or failure to clear and cultivate the land within three years at a rate of 3 acres for every 100 granted (in this instance almost 11 acres) the grant would be void and the Earl capable of granting the lands elsewhere. Early County Court records indicate that Robert served as Overseer of County Roads in March of 1760.
While Robert Davis’ parentage is uncertain, his family had close association both in North Carolina and later in Upper Canada with that of William Davis of Orange County, N.C. a son of Thomas and Mary Davis of Baltimore, Maryland; it is probable that the two men were brothers. After his marriage to Hannah Phillips of Yorktown, Virginia, William settled on a large plantation in Orange County, North Carolina with “a beautiful home, large distilleries and breweries and many black slaves.” 1
Robert and Jane Davis had two children in addition to the four above mentioned, James Davis and Ann Davis wife of Thomas Bowles. James emigrated to Upper Canada in 1794 but subsequently returned to North Carolina where, along with his sister Ann, he lived as of 1830.
In 1776, North Carolina declared its independence from Great Britain. Its inhabitants divided into two camps- Tories, those loyal to British rule, and Whigs, those opposed. The Davis family fell into the former category. By 1777, “a law was passed by the North Carolina Provincial Congress... requiring Tories to take the oath of allegiance to the new government or suffer banishment. All persons found guilty of giving aid... to the enemy were to be imprisoned... and have half of their estates immediately confiscated.” 2
Shortly after the passing of the above law, Robert Davis, Sr. was “cited by the Justices of [Orange County] to appear at [the County] court and take the Oath of Allegiance to the State as prescribed by Law or otherwise to be dealt with as the Law directs.” 3 The County Court Records indicate that Robert did not attend to take the oath as ordered.
The 1779 census for Orange Co. (North Carolina State Archives) assessed Robert’s plantation at 9,648 pounds while the 1780 tax record shows his widow Jane owning only 2,500 pounds worth of taxable property, considerably less than owned by the family the prior year. It appears probable that this reduction came as a result of confiscation due to the family’s lack of support for the revolutionary cause. Indeed, later loyalist petitions would speak of the family as having been persecuted as a result of attachment to the British government. It is apparent as well from the above that Robert died sometime between 1779 and 1780.
During this period of time “Hillsborough was the focal point for the military activities of the State.” 4 The year 1780 proved a successful one for the British forces beginning with General Cornwallis’s occupation of Charleston, South Carolina. 5 In June of 1780, revolutionary militia marching to relieve Charleston from the British passed through Hillsborough exhausting “all provisions of the vicinity before they resumed their march southward.” 6 These forces met with the British Army under Cornwallis in August at Camden near the North/South Carolina border and the revolutionaries were routed. The Patriot militia retired to Hillsborough where there “were frequent clashes between the civilians and the soldiers.... The military seemed to have little respect for civil authority and... wandering bands of foragers often confiscated or impressed grain from the farmers.” 7
Hillsborough served as the foundation stone for the British invasion of North Carolina due to the high number of Loyalists in the vicinity 8 and so on February 20, 1781 “as the fruit trees were beginning to blossom”, 9 Cornwallis marched into Hillsborough and raised the Royal Standard. Cornwallis made the William Davis plantation his headquarters, he and his soldiers sheltered and fed with Davis hospitality. They consumed all the available food supplies and Cornwallis gave William Davis a Due Bill for £10,000 for the food and the damage to the plantation. 10
The occupation of the area by British forces was short lived. Frequent clashes and skirmishes raged between the opposing forces. Not only were the lives of many locals lost, but there developed a critical deficiency of supplies. The soldiers went from “house to house requisitioning those provisions discovered, regardless of the political affiliations of the owners and cattle 11 “were impressed and slaughtered by the British Commissary... despite the bitter protests of their owners.” 12 The situation became so acute that horses were slaughtered to provide fresh meat.
Given the circumstances, Cornwallis withdrew on February 25, 1781 and Hillsborough again fell into revolutionary hands. Within a few months Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington and the Orange County Loyalists who had supported the British cause individually faced a state hostile to their presence. The victorious Patriots overran the William Davis plantation. “A mass of unsightly ruins was all that remained of the beautiful home that had so lately been a scene of domestic comfort and busy industry.” William and his wife removed for a time to the Yorktown, Viriginia home of her parents, and which town hosted Cornwallis during his retreat. It is believed that the Phillips home served as the headquarters of British Lieutenant John Graves Simcoe, later Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. 13
This ruinous scenario faced the Davis family prior to their migration to Upper Canada and the promise of free land prompted them to make the long arduous journey north.
Oldest son John Davis led the way followed by his mother Jane with his other siblings and eleven more families from North Carolina. Jane Davis, widow, filed an Upper Canada Land Petition dated July 15, 1794 stating that she: 14
“.... removed with her family from North Carolina in order to live near her son, Thomas Davis, who settled in the 7th Twp of Lincoln Co for four years past.”
The petition was followed by a list of the children who came with her- John Davis, Robert Davis, James Davis, and son-in-law James “Darickson”. The Executive Council of the province ordered that Jane and her children be granted 200 acres each, Jane’s in Lot 1, Concession 14, Windham Township, Norfolk County, the northwest corner of the present town of Simcoe.
Oldest son of Robert and Jane Davis, John was born likely at Forrester’s Creek, Orange County, North Carolina in 1759. According to early Orange County land documents, John was a planter by trade. 15 John appears to have sold off all his land in Orange County by August of 1793, 16 and along with his brother Robert, and one Samuel Williams arrived in Upper Canada by December 6, 1793 when the surveyor for Wentworth County was directed to allot lands to them in Saltfleet Township.
According to one source, John and his companions “crossed the Niagara River at old Niagara... and followed the Indian trails and if they left them they blazed the way to ensure safety. Thus they came to the Head of the Lake and saw a number of Indians in camp there.” The source goes on to state that John travelled on to Brantford where he met Chief Joseph Brant “who pointed South and said Big Lake”. 17 The party travelled on to and camped near “Pattersons’ Creek--going down the stream they found a white man in a Log Cabin hunting and fishing at [what is] now Port Dover, his name was Walker – he asked to go with them up the Lake to Big Creek then to Soveriens Corners now Delhi. Starting east again they became lost and when night came found themselves ... near [what would become] Simcoe.” Allegedly John “noted large black walnut trees and gathering a few nuts remarked the kind.”
John and Robert returned to Orange County, North Carolina to report to their family and collect their belongings. Allegedly, John’s first words to his family of Canada were, “it is a goodly land” and within a fortnight the caravan left North Carolina. The Davises found the accompaniment of the families of Margaret McCool, William Walker, Anthony Dougherty and Solomon Austin who would settle in Niagara and Norfolk. On June 4, 1794, John indicated in a petition for land that he had arrived from North Carolina with 11 Loyalist families for whom, “nothing but an ardent desire of living under the British Government could have induced them to remove so great a distance when they might have been accommodated with lands so much nearer their former place of abode.” John’s petition received approval, perhaps inappropriately, as he had already been granted lands pursuant to the terms of his mother’s petition two months earlier, in particular, Lots 20 and 23, Concession 5, Saltfleet Township, Wentworth County.
In June of 1795, John petitioned the government for a further 800 acres of land allegedly for family members desirous of coming to Canada, this petition met with failure as did a 1796 petition for title to lots 1 & 2, Concession 14, Windham which, according to the 1796 petition, John already occupied. John would subsequently acquire title to lot 2 from the registered owner and have lot 1 registered in the name of his mother by the government. In 1802, John’s wife Mary received a crown grant of Lot 7, Concession 2, Townsend Twp. In 1803, John purchased from Aaron Collver 12 acres in Lot 1, Concession 6, Woodhouse Township. Patterson’s Creek (the Lynn River) flows through the Windham and Woodhouse lots and on this creek John built both a grist mill and saw mill. To this he added a crown lease on Lot 2, Concession 13, Windham, bringing his total estate to 750 acres, the site of present northwest and east Simcoe. The 1809 assessment list for Windham counted John Davis as the largest property owner in the township with 750 acres of land, a gristmill with one pair of stones and a saw mill.
Nathan Mann and William Park, local millwrights said of the Davis Mills, “Grist Mill was 40 feet in length & thirty feet in width, well framed, weather boarding, shingled, finished on the inside with bins for holding grain, and three and a half stories high, containing one pair of stone and... one pair of large scales and weights” 18 John ran the mill with the assistance of his brother Robert and later his brother Thomas.
As well as establishing an early mill seat, John had the distinction of being a pioneer distiller in Norfolk, applying for and receiving in 1800 a licence to operate two stills, one capable of containing 136 gallons and the other containing 40 gallons and no more. Apparently, John either failed to adhere to the terms of the licence or commenced production prior to the license being granted for in October of 1800 John faced charges of selling spirituous liquors without a licence, a charge for which he was not convicted. 19 Whisky distilling appears to have been a family vocation for it has been said that John’s uncle William Davis owned and operated “large distilleries and breweries” in North Carolina. 20
John frequently served as a grand juror of the London District Court at Charlotteville, a position entrusted only to prominent citizens during those times. His name appears in the Jury list from the session on April 8, 1802 down to 1818. 21
During the War of 1812, John served as private in the companies of Captains Daniel McCall and John Bostwick in the Norfolk Militia. 22 In a claim for services rendered during the war, submitted to the War Compensations Board in 1824, John noted that he boarded 2 men of the 19th Light Dragoons from May 31 to June 24, 1814 and one man of the 19th from June 25 to Sept. 14, 1814. John claimed a total of 9 pounds 7 shillings and 6 pence compensation which was denied.
On November 7, 1814, General McArthur of the American forces landed at Port Dover and proceeded to march on the town of Simcoe burning much of value on the way. According to McArthur’s notes, “early on the 7th instant, the enemy were pursued on the road to Dover, many made prisoners and five valuable mills destroyed.” 23 The Davis grist mill was amongst those reduced to ruins. In January of 1824, John applied to the War Loss Commission for compensation. 24 John submitted a substantial 1000 pound claim for the mill, and 18 pounds, fifteen shillings for the scales and weights likewise lost in the fire. The commission allowed John only a total of 682 pounds.
John married Mary Dougherty (1777 - November 11, 1848) a daughter of Anthony Dougherty and Mary McCool who had emigrated to Canada with the Davis family in 1794 when John was 35 years of age and Mary only 17. There were no children of the marriage, and both were buried in the Old Windham Cemetery. When John died in 1827 his estate had a value at over one thousand pounds.
The second son of Robert and Jane Davis, Robert II was born at Hillsborough County, North Carolina in 1762, 25 and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1794 after which he worked in the lumber and grist mill business with his brother John. Robert received Lots 15 & 16, Concession 6, Saltfleet Twp., Wentworth County in 1794 and then subsequently Lot 4, Concession 6, Woodhouse Twp., Norfolk County in 1803. Robert served as a Grand Juror of the London District Court at Charlotteville from 1801 to 1804.
Robert was convicted in January 1801 of “retailing spirituous liquors by the pint, without a license and suffering the same to be drunk in the Stillhouse occupied by him on the thirteenth day October last”, his fine 2 pounds. 26
Robert sold his Woodhouse lot in 1806 and returned to North Carolina. The following concerning Robert and his brother John comes from a notation on the will of John’s wife, Mary Dougherty: “there was no written agreement between John Davis and Robert Davis when they worked together, [Mary Dougherty] said to her late husband when Robert was going away, ‘you owe Robert and you must pay him that’ – John went with Robert when he started & when he returned Mary said to him ‘did you pay Robert’, he said yes, she asked him, how much it was; he stated the amount which [she] cannot now remember.”
Robert married in Orange County, on April 16, 1810, 27 Elizabeth Latta (1778 - Jan. 26, 1848), possibly the daughter of John Latta. According to the 1820 census for Orange Co., Robert made his living as a manufacturer.
According to an affidavit sworn by Mary Dougherty in 1827 in the settlement of John Davis’ estate, she was “in daily expectation of the arrival of Robert Davis... with his family, into this Province from the United States.”
Robert settled in Windham Township following his return, residing on his brother John’s property. Robert and Elizabeth (Latta) Davis were buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Woodhouse Township.
The third son of Robert and Jane Davis, Thomas was born on May 4, 1764, possibly on the banks of Forresters’ Creek, Orange County, N.C. although, according to the 1880 Gratiot County, Michigan census, his daughter Fanny listed his place of birth as South Carolina.
Thomas Davis married on April 5, 1786,28 at the age of twenty-one, Deborah Hall (June 4, 1766 - circa 1807) youngest daughter of James and Mary Hall of Orange County. 29 John Latta served as bondsman for the obtainment of the marriage license. That same year Thomas’ mother provided him with 96.75 acres of farm land out of his father’s original 385. 30 Three children, Robert Davis, James Davis and Jane Davis were born to Thomas and Deborah in North Carolina.
Thomas and Deborah left Orange County in the late spring or early summer of 1790, when Jane Davis would have been about two or three months old, and traveled about 800 miles to Upper Canada arriving in Niagara on July 25, 1790. 31 Whether Thomas and Deborah came alone or with a party of others in unknown but the latter course would seem more probable. The following description of Thomas’ journey to Canada appeared in the Toronto Star newspaper, related by Thomas’ great-grandson John Kirkendale (1866 - 1933):
“It took over five months to reach Canada from North Carolina with the party having to chop the roadway through more than 600 miles of virgin forest in what is now New York state. And then, after bringing a small and highly valued herd of cattle and horses with them, they arrived at Niagara too late in the season to plant for the coming winter. The cattle all died, but the horses managed to browse upon bushes and softwood trees through the winter. Some time after they had become settled a few head of cattle were brought up the St. Lawrence valley from England and sold in the neighbourhood. My grandfather’s folks secured their share, but by the time they had produced enough to sell they had to drive the stock overland all the way to Detroit through the wildest of scrub country. Even when the market was finally reached the cattle brought but $15 per head.”
Upon his arrival, Thomas applied to Colonel Butler for land and received direction to settle on Lots 5 & 6, Concession 8, in the rear of Barton Township, Wentworth County, now the northwest corner of Rymal Road (Highway 53) and Upper Ottawa Street on the southern edge of the present city of Hamilton. 32 Title was formally vested in Thomas for one hundred acres on Lot 5, Concession 8, Barton Township on March 10, 1797.
At Barton, Thomas and Deborah’s fourth and fifth children, Mary and Elizabeth Davis were born with Mary Davis being christened at nearby Ancaster on April 8, 1793; 33 surprisingly none of the other children were baptised at the same time.
In August of 1792, Thomas’ uncle William Davis arrived from North Carolina in the accompaniment of his large family and wintered at Chippewa where his wife, Hannah Phillips, died of fever early in 1793. William settled on Lots 3 & 4, Concession 8, Barton Township, next to Thomas. In June of 1793, Thomas travelled to Newark with William to secure title to their respective lots. Later that same year, Thomas’ brothers John and Robert arrived in Upper Canada to make arrangements for the remainder of their family to migrate northward.
As already indicated, the last Davis migration took place in the spring of 1794 and in June of that year Thomas, again in the accompaniment of William Davis, travelled from Hamilton to Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) where he met his mother, sister Edywick, and three brothers. While at Newark Thomas petitioned the government for a further grant of land upon which to settle his family. 34 The Petition resulted in Thomas receiving a further 200 acres of land in Saltfleet Township (Lots 21 and 22, Concession 5) nearby those granted to his brothers John and Robert. This location near Stoney Creek on top of the Niagara Escarpment overlooked Lake Ontario, east of Hamilton. After placing their respective petitions before the government, Thomas’ family travelled from Newark to Ancaster where Thomas’ mother, Jane Davis, died in August of that year. 35
At this same time, Thomas made two disastrous land transactions. The first involved Thomas’ purchase from Andrew Butler of two parcels of land being lots 23 in the first and Broken Front concessions of Saltfleet on Lake Ontario; the first parcel measured 200 acres and the second 33 acres. By 1803, 36 Thomas had built a home on the shores of Lake Ontario and “fenced the whole of the...33 acres, planted a number of fruit trees on it and by the hard labour and honest industry of his family and himself converted it from a wilderness to a perfect state of agriculture.” 37 In 1817, when the greater part of the 33 acres was “tilled with wheat and the remainder of it being choice meadow and fallow” 38 it came to Thomas’ attention that the Lot 23, Concession 1 had been transferred by Butler to a third party in 1804 while the Broken Front lot had never been registered in Butler’s name, or for that matter in anyone’s name. Thomas promptly petitioned the government to vest title in said lands in his name. The land committee was prepared to accommodate Thomas only to the extent of allocating him the unclaimed 33 acres on the lake. 39
The year following Thomas’ purchase of the Saltfleet lands, 1795, Thomas attempted to purchase from one Robert Wier, lots 16 and 17 in the first concession of Ancaster. Unfortunately for Thomas, Wier died without ever having signed over the deeds for these lots. Even more unfortunate for Thomas proved to be the fact that the lands in question were never vested in Wier in the first place. In 1806, Thomas became aware of the situation and recognizing that he verged on “danger of suffering great loss” 40 petitioned the government for compensation but then was denied any claim to said lands. Thomas ought not to have been too dissatisfied with the land commission however, for in addition to the 500 acres already mentioned they had granted him a further 200 acres of land on May 17, 1802, being Lots 6 and 7, Concession 5, Barton Township. Later that same year, Thomas sold these lots for a profit.
The ledger book from Jean Baptiste Rousseaux’s general store in Ancaster – presently located at the Ontario Archives- lists Thomas Davis’ accounts with the store from November 1799 until January 1801. The following are some of the items included on the list: pepper; flannel, silk, linen, cotton, calico, buttons & thread; wine, whisky, rum, & tobacco; tea, tea pot, cups and saucers; 3 sheets of paper; house broom & iron; molten powder & shot; shovel, plough share & handsaw files; handkerchiefs and combs.
Between 1794 and 1807, seven additional children were born to Thomas and Deborah Davis: Fanny, Thomas, Ann, Margaret, John, William Alexander and Susan. There is no record of when Deborah Hall died, but it seems probable that it occurred at Barton or Saltfleet shortly after Susan’s birth in 1807.
Thomas was listed in the 1808 election return for the Province of Upper Canada. On May 23 of that year, Francis Gore, the province’s Lieutenant-Governor directed Abraham Nellis to “cause One Knight Girt with Sword the most fit Discreet to be freely and indifferently chosen to represent the Riding (for the Townships of Saltfleet, Ancaster, Barton, Glanford, Binbrook, and so much of the County of Haldimand as lies between Dundas Street and Onondaga Village).” 41
The list included 265 eligible voters in the riding and two candidates for the parliamentary position, James Blayney of Ancaster and Levi Lewis of Saltfleet (allegedly a Tory). Voting in the early 1800’s was not in private but done in open. One sheet of paper contained the settlers’ names, lot and concession, and a space for the voter to mark his selection. The returning officer apparently rode from home to home presenting the sheet to each entitled to vote with the voter making his mark, free to look at how the prior voters had cast their ballot. Thomas Davis, William Davis, Sr. and Wm. Davis, Jr., cast their ballots for James Blayney of Ancaster, the loser.
Sometime after 1808, Thomas moved to Norfolk County where his brothers John and Robert had settled along with his brother-in-law James Derrickson. As early as January 1797, Thomas had attempted to obtain, without success, a grant of Lot 16, Concession 2, Townsend Twp. 42 Certainly Thomas’ eldest son, Robert Davis, Jr. appears to have been in the Norfolk area as early as 1808, 43 while Thomas’ eldest daughter Jane had married William Potts of Charlotteville Twp. by September 1810. 44
Family notes belonging to the descendants of Thomas’ son John, associate Thomas with “the old mill” 45 while according to Thomas’ grandson Isaac Vail, 46 Thomas “built a saw and grist mill and founded the village of Davis Mills, in the eastern part of Ontario”. While Thomas certainly lived nowhere near the village of Davis Mills, it is probable that he was involved in the grist and saw mill trade with his brother John at Simcoe during the early 1800’s, probably stemming from the departure of his brother Robert from the business around 1806. In 1795 William Davis established a Mill at Mt. Albion, possibly with some sort of association between the two Davis Mills with Thomas acting as intermediary.
The obituary of Thomas’ son John indicates that Thomas lived at Simcoe at the outbreak of the War of 1812 and that “when the Canadian volunteers were stationed at Burlington Heights [he] had a contract for supplying them with flour from Albion Mills.” The obituary goes on to indicate that during this period of time Thomas would travel with each shipment of flour to Burlington Heights to ensure that the delivery reached its intended destination.
On February 21, 1812 Thomas received recommendation by Lt. Col. Nichols of the 2nd Norfolk Militia for the commission of Lieutenant while his son James received the commission of Ensign. 47 An early payroll for the 2nd Regiment of the Lincoln Militia indicates that Thomas provided service for that regiment in the capacity of Lieutenant for the period of at least Sept. 25 - Oct. 24, 1812; 48 the payroll lists Thomas as entitled to 12 days pay at 6 s. 6 p. per day and 12 rations for a total of 3 pounds 18 shillings. Another source indicates that Thomas “loaned money to the Canadian Government to carry on the War of 1812.” 49
Lieutenant Thomas Davis was not the only member of his family who supported the British cause during the 1812-14 war, his eldest son, Robert, served in the Flank Companies of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the Norfolk Militia, 50 while his third son, Thomas Davis, Jr., served in the Lincoln Regiment. Thomas’ sons Robert and James served at the fall of Fort Detroit to the Canadian forces in August of 1812. 51
Thomas Davis moved from Norfolk County and returned to Barton Township sometime after 1813, having served as Grand Juror at Simcoe on the 4th and 14th of December of that year. 52 Sometime around 1812, Thomas married a woman 18 years his junior named Margaret Williams (1782 - April 22, 1862). 53 Very little is known of Margaret other than that she was born in New Jersey and was probably the daughter of the John Williams of Mount Pleasant who would later be referred to in Thomas’ will. Thomas had a total of four children with his second wife: Pamelia, Louisa, David Kern and James Williams Davis.
In March of 1817, ten years after Thomas had initially petitioned for land in Townsend Twp., he purchased Lot 22, Concession 7, Townsend from the John Williams of Mount Pleasant mentioned above for 60 pounds. The 1818-1819 property assessments for Barton Township list Thomas as a farmer, with the 1818 assessment showing Thomas owning 530 acres of land, 260 acres of uncultivated and 70 acres of arable pasture land in the Gore District [Barton and Saltfleet Twps.] and 200 acres of uncultivated land in the London District [Townsend Twp.]. Thomas is listed as residing in a frame home and having one horse, 2 Oxen, 5 Milk cows, and two horned cattle between 2-4 years of age. By the time of the 1819 assessment Thomas had succeeded in cultivating 257 acres of Gore lands and had 6 cows and 5 horned cattle. Listed as well amongst Thomas’ possessions is a 1 1/2 u still so it appears that Thomas was familiar with the art of distilling whisky the same practice for which Thomas’ brothers John and Robert incurred criminal charges in Norfolk County.54
Thomas’ home at this time appeared a full and mixed one. The 1816 Barton Twp. census indicates that the home consisted of Thomas, under 50 years of age, 3 males under 16, and 6 females. The family would have been comprised of Thomas’ six youngest children from his first marriage, his second wife and their two infant daughters creating a home crowded with 10 inhabitants. Thomas’ son Thomas Davis Jr. would have left the home around 1820 when he married Margaret Rousseaux of Ancaster, 55 but while this would have reduced the home by one, two additional sons had been born to Thomas by this time. Furthermore, it appears that by 1820 the Davis household was a divided one. In December of 1820, Thomas wrote in his will of Margaret Williams,
“she shall be turned away from about my lands as she has never done her duty to me nor my children, immediately after my death without any other property than her bed and her clothes and never to be suffered to be among my children as her cruelty can not be suffered.”
Thomas instructed therein that his eldest son, Robert, take the four youngest children from their mother and provide them with a home and education until they reached the age of 21.
Thomas Davis died two years after drawing his will, March 10, 1822. According to the list of expenditures for Thomas’ estate, 2 shillings, 6 pence was expended for winding the corpse while the funeral cost 5 pounds, 19 shillings and 4 1/2 pence. His son, Robert Davis, as well as Thomas’ friend David Kern acted as estate executors. One hundred dollars went to each of Robert Davis and Thomas’ nine youngest- and unmarried- children with the residue to be divided between all of Thomas’ children married or single. The estate, not including the land, was valued at 263 pounds. Listed amongst Thomas’ effects were three horses, 13 cattle, 25 sheep and lambs, 13 hogs and pigs, and 2 bee hives. Robert, John, William, Ann, Margaret and Susan Davis each received 25 pounds. In order to ensure the support of the four youngest children and pay off their legacy, Robert raised funds by placing a deed of trust against the Saltfleet land in favour of David Kern and Thomas Taylor. It is unknown where Thomas Davis was buried.
Contrary to Thomas’ original expressed intentions Margaret Williams was not turned away from his lands and her children, but continued to live on the Lake Ontario home in Saltfleet with them. Possibly relations had improved between Thomas and Margaret in the two years between the drawing of his will and death or possibly Robert Davis had lacked the heart or inclination to turn Margaret Williams away and assume responsibility for caring for her four children in addition to his own growing family. In any event, at the time of the estate’s division Robert paid Margaret 25 pounds towards the support of her four children.
In 1840 David Kern and Thomas Taylor conveyed title of the lake lot to David Kern Davis who subsequently sold the lot in 1842. Thomas’ original grant of land in Barton, Lot 5, Concession 8, had been sold by Robert Davis on Feb. 14, 1832 while the Townsend lands would be sold by Robert in 1851. Upon the sale of the Saltfleet lot, Margaret Williams moved to Binbrook buying a small farm near her daughter Pamelia. Margaret died at Binbrook and was buried in the local cemetery.
Thomas Davis fathered a total of 16 children who in turn provided Thomas with a total of at least 118 grandchildren. Of Thomas’ sixteen children, the last to die was his daughter Pamelia on January 10, 1913, nearly 123 years after her father’s summer of 1790 arrival in Canada from North Carolina. 56
Edywick married in Orange County, North Carolina on May 6, 1794, 57 James Derrickson. James brought with him an infant son, Thomas, from a prior marriage. James is listed as residing in Orange County in the 1785 tax list. Soon after their marriage, Edywick and James emigrated to Canada. James received a grant of 200 acres in Saltfleet Township, Lots 29 and 30, Concession 8. 58
It appears that the Derrickson’s had moved to Windham Township by 1800. 59 James’ will is dated 1823 and makes no reference to Edywick so it is probable that she died by that time, possibly as early as the birth of her youngest child in 1801. James is listed as residing in a log home in the 1809 Windham Twp. assessment. As of 1813, it would appear that James Derrickson owned 610 acres of land being: Lot 11, Concession 8, Townsend; Lot 22, Concession 8, Charlotteville; Lot 1, Concession 9, Windham; and 10 acres on the southwest corner of Lot 2, Concession 14, Windham. James Derickson died in Norfolk County on May 6, 1824.
1. Aikman, John A. “William Davis” in Loyalist Ancestors, Hamilton Branch, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada. Pro Familia Genealogical Services (Toronto: 1986), p. 76
2. Twelve Families- An American Experience, author unrecorded, Dominion Branch of the U.E.L. Association, Toronto
3. “1778 Orange County Court Minutes”, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC
4. Lefler, Hugh & Wagner, Paul, Editors. Orange County 1752-1952. North Carolina State Archives (Chapel Hill: 1953)
5. Twelve Families
6. Op. Cit. p. 49
7. Ibid. p. 51
8. Ibid. p. 53
9. Ibid.
10. Aikman, p. 76
11. Lefler & Wagner, p. 57
12. Ibid.
13. Aikman, p. 76
14. Upper Canada Land Petition of Jane Davis, “D” Bundle 1, Document 33
15. Deed of Land between John Davis and John Latta dated 20 Apr 1793
16. Orange Co. Deed of Land between John Davis and James Davis dated 29 Aug 1793
17. Kirkendale, William A. Papers. Hamilton Public Library Special Collections
18. War of 1812 Loss Claims, Archives of Ontario, Toronto
19. Fraser, Alexander. “Minutes of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the London District” in Twenty-Second Report of the Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario (Toronto: 1933), p. 14
20. McCullough, Charles R. :The Davises of Bygone Days”, Scrapbook Collection, Hamilton Public Library Special Collections
21. Op. Cit. p. 2, 17, 36, 51, 82, 92, 104, 114, 144, 181
22. Mutrie, R. Robert. The Long Point Settlers. Log Cabin Publishing (Ridgeway, Ont: 1992), p. 53
23. “Early Norfolk County Mills”, local history files, Eva Brook Donley Museum, Simcoe, Ont.
24. War of 1812 Losses Claims, Dept. of Finance- U.C., RG 19 E 5(a), Vol. 3749, File 2
25. St. John’s Cemetery, Woodhouse Twp., Transcripts
26. Fraser, p. 14
27. Orange County Marriage Bonds
28. Ibid.
29. Last Will and Testament of James Hall, Orange Co., NC
30. Orange County Tax Records, 1786, North Carolina State Archives
31. UCLP of Thomas Davis “D” Bundle 1, Doc. 7
32. Ibid.
33. “Anglicanism In Ancaster”
34. UCLP of Thomas Davis “D” Bundle 1, Doc. 9
35. Affidavit of James Derrickson dated at Charlotteville on 25 Jun 1818, “Crown Land Papers, Archives of Ontario, Toronto
36. Hamilton Spectator newspaper. Thomas’ fourth son indicated that he was born in Saltfleet in 1803
37. UCLP of Thomas Davis “D” Bundle 11, Doc. 33
38. Ibid.
39. UCLP of Thomas Davis “D” Bundle 9, Doc. 4 & “D” Bundle 11, Doc. 33
40. UCLP of Thomas Davis “D” Bundle 9, Doc. 4
41. Powel, Janet, “Choose One Knight With Sword” in Head of the Lake Historical Society. Papers.
42. The 1797 Averill Report to the Executive Council of Upper Canada
43. Fraser. p. 179
44. UCLP of Jane Potts, Sept. 1810
45. Letter of Margaret Kohler dated 1 Oct 1993
46. “The History of Elkhorn Valley”
47. “Military Letters- War of 1812”, Eva Brook Donley Museum, Simcoe, p. 21
48. Hamilton Public Library, Local History Collection
49. “The History of Elkhorn Valley”
50. Mutrie. p. 54
51. Obituary of John Davis, Hamilton Spectator newspaper, 26 Apr 1901
52. Fraser.
53. Death Certificate of James Williams Davis, Wayne Co., Michigan, 1901, Reg. No. 83354
54. Inventory of Thomas Davis’ Estate, 1822 Wentworth County Estate Papers
55. “The Romance & Tragedy of Jean Baptiste Rousseaux”, Head of the Lake Historical Society
56. Death Certificate of Pamelia Nevills, Mount Brydges, Ontario 1913
57. Marriage Bonds of Orange Co., NC
58. Abstract Index of Saltfleet Twp., Wentworth Co.
59. James is listed in the London District Court Documents for 1801