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Davis

J

Julia Rolfe

Brummie babby
Hi,
Im a new member and im interested to find out if anyone has any useful leads about the Davis family. My mother's maiden name is Davis, but she has very limited info about her father's side of the family.

According to my research so far I think we were related to,
Henry Davis was born in 1826 (a commercial traveller)and later married Sarah.
The family lived in Wheeler street with their sons, Charles born 1858 (silversmith) and Walter born 1861 (gold jeweller).
I know that the son Charles married Mary Ada hall and had sons Harold Bernard (my grandfather) and possibly 2 other sons. i think they were called Charles Victor who married Elsie and Lesley who died aged 3 years.
I just can't find other info from research as to any previous relatives or later descendants or any other links.

Any suggestions.

Thanks Julia.
 
I'm in much the same boat as you, Julia - my Mum was a Davis and very little is known about our Davis line.

Ours are probably not the same family, although both my grandfather (1901) and great-grandfather (1874) were also Walter. My 2x great-grandfather was Matthew, born somewhere around the 1840s, and I'm having great difficulty finding any more of his family, or even him with any certainty before 1871.

They are almost always Davis, though the Davies spelling does crop up here and there so I don't dismiss those possibilities.

Perhaps we can help each other, even if it's only for elimination purposes!
 
My gran was also a Davis and came from Birmingham. Her father was a Thomas born around 1800, and he married an Esther Green. It doesn't sound like we are connected, but you never know!
 
ive no idea if this will be of help but ive looked at nearby years at st.martins and there was a christening.....

henry b. 14th feb 1825 son of john and charlotte davis living digbeth

occ of father locksmith.
 
Hi Shera

I don't suppose you can find a Matthew in there? Father was John, according to his marriage cert, but his age is all over the place in the censuses. Probably born in the 1840s. Can't find a birth reg for him.

I have found a Matthew Davis in 1861 living with brother Henry whose wife is Sarah, but I don't think they're the same ones as Julia has.

(actually they're Davies in that census, but I'm not ruling the spelling out)
 
Hello Phoebe, noticed you are interested in the name HEMUS. My son and I are in the process of sorting this part of our family - have you any information about them?

Also my mothers sister married an Albert Davies who live in Billesley. Yardley. Miriam
 
sorry phoebe i couldnt find it and looked from 1840-1850. there are so many it is difficult and a few of the records are illegible. of course he may not have been christened at st.martins anyway. :(
 
phoebe in the dates you mentioned there are two births.

matthew davies 1842 apr-jun bham 16 233

matthew henry davies 1840 oct-dec bham 16 247

both are davies not davis but thought id post them in case you hadnt seen them.
 
Hi everyone,

Thanks for the quick replies to my queries.
I think the surname is definately Davis and not Davies as this is my mum's maiden name.
Also I am doubtful about christenings as my mum thinks that Harry her father had come from a family which had probably Jewish roots. She thinks that Harry's father Charles had married out of the Jewish faith when he married Mary Ada Hall.

Thanks to you all again,

Julia.
 
Thanks Shera, Birmingham Reg Office have checked from 1840-1845 for me, so he's neither of those two. I think he probably wasn't registered at all, it wasn't uncommon in the early years as many people thought they didn't need to register a child as long as it was baptised. Thanks for looking in St Martin's as well - I hope to come up to Birmingham and look through some PRs when I can, so I can put that one at the bottom of the pile at least.

Julia - we can't afford to rule out the Davies spelling, as often names were written down by someone else (eg the registrar or the census enumerator), and they spelt them as they heard them, or how they thought they were spelt. Or they were copying from dodgy handwriting. Our ancestors may not have checked, may not have been able to read or may not have been too bothered about spelling. Two of my grandad's siblings were registered as Davies and the rest as Davis! Then my great-grandfather's marriage cert has Davies as does the 1891 census, but they are Davis at all other times.

For such an ordinary name I've had all sorts of problems finding them - it's been transcribed as Daves, Dasies and Dairs so far. Nightmare!
 
Al

Just been reading links to Hemus,my mother is the daughter to Maud Hemus who we just have just found had a brother Harry and a sister Beatrice ,she died in 1931 when my mother was just 1 so shes trying to find any family members

Do you have any more information on the other family members

Many Thanks

Mark
 
Dear Mark. Sent you a Private message. I was so pleased to read your post and long to learn more. Miriam
 
I still don't really have anywhere to go with Hemus. I have Mary Ann Hemus, wife of Henry Hollioak (but no marriage has been found). Their children's birth certs show Mary Ann's maiden name as Hemus and the 1851 & 1861 censuses give her birthplace as Birmingham. She died in 1864 aged 35. Don't know for sure who her parents were as I've been unable to identify her with any certainty in the 1841 census. Hemus is a name that is widely misheard, misspelt or mistranscribed. Sorry I can't be of any help to anyone with this family.
 
Hi Shera,

i know this is a long time since the first posting,
but I did a bit more research since them.
I don't know if this would be the correct Henry Davis, but I have not much to go on.
In all the censuses from 1851 to 1881 I have found him as Henry Davis, but in 1841 he is a Davies.
in 1841 he was not living with his parents. At the age of 15 he was working as a glass cutter in 29 Brearley court (presumably a back to back)
The only adult is a Mary Palmer with her children and another boy lodger aged 14.
(Most people in Brearley court seem to be glasscutters of pearl button makers or other similar trades.)
The registration district is St. George, Birmingham.
I think they were possibly jewish (my mother definately thinks so), so would they still have a christening?
any ideas,
many thanks,
Julia.
 
Another long break to an update!
But I thought it might be worth mentioning that I have traced my Davis line to Romany travellers.

Matthew Davis' father is given as John Davis on his first marriage but William Davis on Matthew's 2 later marriages, and the one time I have found him on the census (1861) with his wife he is also William, and also on her death certificate. We haven't found his death.

Matthew's mother was Lavinia Lock, who comes from a fairly well-documented Romany family, but we aren't much further forward with the Davis line. They travelled on a circuit around the midlands, baptised children but did not register them, and did not always formally marry.
 
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