Joseph Davis

Life Story

Irish farmer and leaseholder of Moneylawn and later Garrynew, County Wexford — patriarch of the family that emigrated to Hastings County, Ontario. His exact birth date is unknown; his father is strongly inferred to have been William Davis Senior.

Parents: William Davis Senior, strongly inferred; mother unknown Spouse: Catherine (Butler) Davis — married about 1811 (record not yet located) Children, established by record: Joseph Henry Davis (b. ~1819), John Davis (b. 1825), Edward James Davis (b. ~1835–36) Children, provisional (by association only): William, George of Garrynew, Dorothea (Davis) Bolton, Jane, Henry, and Ann Catherine — see Children

Joseph Davis was an Irish farmer and leaseholder, first associated with Moneylawn — recorded by clerks as Moneylane, Monemalane, Monemalone, and Monenalayne — in the barony of Gorey, County Wexford, and later with Garrynew, near Gorey and Ballycanew. His exact birth date has not been established. His father is strongly inferred to have been William Davis Senior; his mother is unknown.

Joseph was probably born before 1787. A Registry of Deeds memorial recites a lease dated 1 May 1807 between Joseph Davis and William Davis, farmers of Monemalane, County Wexford; if Joseph was of full age when he entered it, he would have been born by about 1786. This is an estimate, not a birth record.¹

He was connected with William Davis in the Moneylawn area at least as early as 1807. The 1807 memorial recites a lease from James and John Darcy to Joseph Davis and William Davis of Monemalane, farmers, for property described as part of Monemalane or Moneylawn in the barony of Gorey.¹ A separate 1807 memorial places George Butler and William Davis in possession of another part of the same lands.² An 1808 memorial names William Davis, farmer, as tenant or occupier of a further part of Monemalane or Moneylawn, about 17 acres 3 roods.³

Joseph continued to appear in the Moneylawn property network through the 1820s. A memorial of 1823 describes the lands of Moneylawn as then or lately in the tenancy of John Darcy, Arthur Darcy, Joseph Brownrigg, Joseph Davis, and William Davis.⁴ In 1827 another names Joseph Davis and William Davis of Moneylane, farmers, in an arrangement involving Arthur Darcy, Richard Woodroofe, Henry Philip Woodroofe, and Richard Browning.⁵

On 7 October 1824, Henry White of Clonganny leased the lands of Garrynew — about 104½ acres at a rent of £119 a year — to Joseph Davis of Moneylane. The three “lives” named in the lease were Stephen Ram, aged 8, of Ramsfort; the Rev. Henry Stopford, son of the Earl of Courtown; and Joseph Davis, aged 5, son of the lessee. This record directly establishes that Joseph Davis of Moneylane had a son named Joseph, born about 1819.⁶

By 25 March 1830, Joseph Davis and William Davis were described as “late of Monenalayne but now of Garrynew” in a deed of assignment to John Archbold of Ballinclane, assigning their remaining interest in the Monenalayne or Moneylawn leasehold. This deed ties the earlier Moneylawn records to the later Garrynew evidence and confirms that both men had moved to Garrynew by 1830.⁷

Joseph is probably the Joseph Davis who won second prize for butter at the North Wexford Agricultural Society show at the Ramsfort farm-yard near Gorey in September 1839,⁸ and the Joseph Davis listed under Ballycanew among candidates for guardians of the Gorey Union in January 1840.⁹ A freeholder notice in the Wexford Conservative on 13 March 1841 names Joseph Davis of Garrynew as a freeholder with property at Garrynew in the barony of Ballaghkeen.¹⁰ An October 1841 elector list appears to show two Joseph Davis entries tied to Garrynew, which may represent father and son, since Joseph Henry Davis would have been about twenty-two by then.¹¹ Later visible lists — 1842, 1844, 1846, and 1847 — show a single Joseph Davis of Garrynew.¹²

Joseph probably died, or ceased to be head of the Garrynew leasehold, before late 1845. A Catherine Davis appears at Garrynew in a valuation record dated 13 December 1845, listed in the houses section near Joseph Hopkins; the record does not call her a widow, but it places her where Joseph would otherwise be expected as head of the Garrynew holding.¹³ In March 1848 a newspaper notice advertised the interest in the lease of part of Garrynew — about 104 acres 2 roods, for three young lives — with applications to William Davis. The acreage and three-lives structure closely match the 1824 lease to Joseph Davis, suggesting a later Davis sale or transfer of the lease interest.¹⁴ No direct death, burial, probate, administration, or land-transfer record for Joseph has yet been found. For that reason, “before 1845” is the safest public death estimate, while the voter-list pattern leaves open the possibility that he died or withdrew from the qualification as early as 1842.

Joseph married a woman named Catherine, probably in County Wexford. Her maiden surname has not been established by an Irish record; Butler is the leading candidate (see Research Notes). They had at least three children identified by primary records, with several other individuals connected by Canadian census and other evidence whose parentage still requires proof.

Children

Established by record:

• Joseph (Henry) Davis, born about 1819 in County Wexford — named directly as “Joseph Davis, aged 5, son of Joseph Davis the lessee” in the 1824 Garrynew lease.⁶ He is the Joseph Davis, age 32, born Ireland, schoolteacher, in the 1851 Canada West census,¹⁵ and the subject of a separate profile.
• John Davis, born 28 July 1825, probably in County Wexford. His 1910 Ontario death registration names his parents as Joseph Davis and Catherine Butler, both born in Wexford. He is likely the John Davis, age 24, enumerated with Catherine Davis in the 1851 Canada West census.¹⁶¹⁷
• Edward James Davis, born about 1835–36 in Ireland. His 1863 Ontario marriage record names his parents as Joseph Davis and Catharine Davis and gives his residence as Elizabethtown. He is likely the Edward Davis, age 15, enumerated with Catherine Davis in 1851.¹⁸¹⁷

Provisional, by association only:

• William Davis — possible older son or close relative. A Wexford-born William Davis died at Stafford, Renfrew County, Ontario, on 1 January 1890, aged 77 (so born c. 1812–13). He may be the William Davis who handled inquiries for the 1848 Garrynew lease sale, but neither record names his parents.¹⁴¹⁹
• Dorothea (Davis) Bolton — possible daughter; married William J. Bolton and was mother of the Bolton/Boulton children found in Davis households in Canada. A researcher-authored argument (“Parentage of Sarah Bolton”) proposes the link, but the underlying records are not yet attached. Provisional until primary records are found.
• George Davis of Garrynew — possible son or relative; appears in arms-licence lists from the Gorey Quarter Sessions of December 1843. No record states his relationship to Joseph.²⁰ Not to be confused with the Canada-born George Davis, son of Joseph Henry Davis and Sarah Bolton.
• Jane Davis, Henry Davis, and Ann Catherine Davis — appear in family records alongside the Davises but are not yet documented as Joseph’s children here; Jane and Henry appear with Catherine Davis in the 1851 Canada West census, which does not state relationships.¹⁷