"Thomas Davies, Esq. of Davies Place, Inverness" -- 1st half of 19th century

[Rol]

I have come across a newspaper announcement for the wedding at Preston, Lancs.,  on 2 April 1832,  of

Mr. Roger Owen, formerly of the Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth, to Anne, daughter of Thomas Davies, Esq. of Davies Place, Inverness

I am curious about who this Thomas Davies really was and what he was doing in Inverness.  I can find no reference to a "Davies Place" in the one contemporary local directory to which I have access,  and I am beginning to wonder whether it was one of those aggrandised addresses intended to look good in the BMD columns.  Google and the archives of RootsChat and RootsWeb seem to offer little reliable assistance.

Nor is it yet clear to me why a woman whose father was based at Inverness (and likely a native of Wales) decided to celebrate her marriage at Preston.  I have failed to spot any Roger Owen(s) in the Preston section of Pigot's National Commercial Directory for 1828-29.

I harbour a faint suspicion,  based on very little evidence,  that Thomas Davies may have been one of the team of engineers who came north to work on the Caledonian Canal project.

He seems to have had a son working as a doctor in Notts.

I would be most grateful to hear,  should anyone know or discover any hard evidence about his activities or origins.


Rol



ADDED 15 May 2010:  Thanks to the PR transcription programme run by excellent Lancashire Online Parish Clerks,  it is now possible to confirm that the Owen-Davies wedding was indeed duly solemnised.  The only significant new evidence that seems to emerge is that the groom was a widower,  but for the record this is the entry (currently to be found in the "What's New" section of the Lancs. OPC website):

Marriage: 2 Apr 1832 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
Roger Owen - Widower of this Parish
Ann Davies - Spinster of this Parish
    Witness: Rd. ? Burnet; Jane Kennedy
    Married by Banns by: Roger Carus Wilson. Vicar
    Register: Marriages 1829 - 1833, Page 18, Entry 52
    Source: LDS Film 94014

   

[Rol]

Well,  a couple of months on I think it is safe to conclude that no Thomas Davies of that or similar description has yet captured the attention of readers of the Inverness board.  His pretentious-sounding address looks destined to remain a puzzle.  Perhaps in reality "Davies Place" was the locally used name for his "builder's yard",  a relatively temporary base adjoining his dwelling where construction materials and equipment were assembled and stored -- but also a description capable of generating a gratifyingly grander impression in the minds of distant newspaper readers down south.

Anyway,  that aside -- it is evidently time to scatter more bread on the (canal) water.  I have done some supplementary research on the Thomas Davies (TD) who is known to have been involved with the construction of the Caledonian Canal.  I am becoming increasingly confident that it was the same man.  There are some useful mentions in A D Cameron's The Caledonian Canal (4th ed., 2005).  On p.29 the author names three men,  one of them being TD,  who

came north with [Thomas Telford ... and] proved to be formidable contractors.

On p.42 we are told that construction preparations were completed during 1804 and

Soon cutting on the line of the canal began. Thomas Davies started in September on a stretch at Kinmylies with ten men and by December he had one hundred and twenty-three.

In 1808 TD was still at work nearby,  carrying on the excavation of the Torvaen and Bught sections (p.50).  But by 1811 (p.74) TD and his business partner,

the contractors who had been responsible for most of the cutting at the east end [of the canal], had men to spare ... and set them on excavation in the centre.

In 1813 TD was at work along the line of the River Oich between Loch Oich and Loch Ness (p.77).  For part of this stretch

the River Oich was to be diverted into a new channel for nearly a mile. [This was] slower because it required far more barrowing by Thomas Davies's men. ... Between them the two gangs [TD's and his partner's]  had completed four miles of the Canal in this area by 1815.

As the demands of work on the Caledonian Canal started to wind down,  it seems that the contractors wished to remain in the Highlands and to extend their operations to other projects -- which would explain TD's later continuing presence in and around Inverness:  as the author puts it (p.92),  during the final phase of construction

the main contractors on the Canal were undertaking other commitments over a wide area.

I can find no references that clearly relate to a different person of the same name in the Highlands during the first third of the 19th c.,  which is helping to buttress my belief that the bride's father in the 1832 wedding announcement was indeed the canal builder.  There are just a couple of NAS online refs.,  while the IGI seems to have only one TD in its Inverness-shire records for the year range 1790-1840.  That directed me to the OPR image for the marriage at Inverness,  on 16 September 1809,  of Isabella Matthews and "Tho's: Davies of the Canal".

It would be very interesting to hear,  should any of these details remind anybody of past "sightings" of TD.


Rol

[ghostwhisperer]

This proves nothing and may just be a coincidence but in Chapel Yard Graveyard the following stones are right next to each other.

Under this stone lie the remains of Margaret Davies, wife of Thomas Davies who departed this life on the 24th of Jan 1809 in the 49th year of her age. She left a husband and numerous family to lament her loss.

The next stone along reads

Beneath are deposited the remains of Mr Matthew Davidson, who for many years held the Office of Resident Engineer upon the Caledonian Canal. He died at Clachnaharry on the VIIIth day of Feb MDCCCXIX aged 64 years. Also of his wife Mrs Janet Davidson who died at the same place on the XIIth day of Dec MDCCCXXV aged 68 years.

[Rol]

Thank you very much for that info,  GW -- I think your instinct was spot on!

I have found a 19th c. pedigree purporting to be about TD,  but which looks to me like a mostly fanciful waste of time -- with the exception of a reticent and very edited section about his own immediate family.  That section does indeed state that TD had a wife called Margaret who died on the very same date and at the same age as your Chapel Yard MI specifies,  although it makes no mention at all of her place of death or of any second wife called Isabella.  My problem in even trusting that little part was that I had failed to find a likely burial entry for Margaret in the OPRs.  Maybe I failed to search properly?  My understanding is that the Chapel Yard was under Church of Scotland control;  but I suppose that if nonconformist interments happened there too,  that could explain Margaret being absent from the OPRs(?).

The fact that Matthew Davidson was buried ten years later right next to Margaret Davies is also thoroughly intriguing.  Davidson was born in the same part of Dumfriesshire as Thomas Telford and was one of his oldest friends and colleagues.  He was involved in a great number of Telford's projects and deputised for him as supervising engineer for the Caledonian Canal.  In the Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers Davidson's entry -- written by Mike Chrimes -- states that

Davidson had an important role in selecting the masonry contractors for the Caledonian Canal ... and possibly the earthworks contractors ... [including -- first named] Thomas Davies ... based on experience on Shropshire bridges and the Ellesmere Canal.

It is ironic that Davidson now lies beneath Highland soil,  because he seems to have been a diligent exponent of Highland-Lowland rivalry.  As Chrimes writes elsewhere in the article

Davidson had fallen in love with Wales,  as well as the Welsh girl he married [query her true origins,  as he later names her as  "Janet Irvine"],  and when he was sent to the Scottish Highlands he made no secret of his low opinion of the country and its inhabitants.  He persuaded many who worked for him to follow him north from Wales. ... He had no love for his fellow countrymen from the Highlands and was described by Southey as 'a strange cynical humorist'.

His son James seems to have risen above all that to follow in his father's footsteps as resident engineer for the canal;  but his other two sons apparently chose to stay south of the border:  both pursued medical careers,  Thomas the eldest having trained as a doctor at Oswestry.

So was the proximity of those two Chapel Yard graves just coincidence;  was there an informal "canal company plot",  where refugees from further south could huddle together;  or could Isabella's surname "Matthews" betoken some acknowledged illegitimate link with Davidson,  or even be a legitimate (albeit by that date highly unconventional) late example of the Celtic patronymic naming system?  As ever,  the solution to one puzzle throws up at least two more!  And I wonder whether there are also some junior Davieses lying elsewhere in the same burial ground.


Rol

[ghostwhisperer]

There are no other Davies stones but there are the following 2 Davis stones

Erected by William McKenzie, Horse Hirer, Inverness in memory of his beloved wife Elizabeth Davis who died 29th April 1861 aged 41 years.

Erected by John Davis in memory of his parents George Davis who died on the 6th July 1832 aged 44 years and Marjory MacIntosh who died on the 19th Oct 1836 aged 51 years. And of his children George who died in 1841 in infancy and John who died on the 4th May 1849 aged 6 years

[Rol]

There are no other Davies stones ...

OK -- much appreciate your checking,  anyway.  I suspect that the Davis ones do not quite fit,  but will bear them in mind.

On the subject of TD's children,  there is in fact more to report,  because after finding that info in the A D Cameron book,  I made another and equally important breakthrough,  which shows that TD had many more children than the Dubious Pedigree discloses -- and  several married within the local community.

The pedigree states that TD's eldest son,  also a Thomas,  joined the East India Company army as a military engineer and was killed at a siege during the Third Mahratta War.  He wrote a will leaving substantially all his property to his brothers and sisters in equal shares;  but he omitted to appoint an executor,  so the Madras supreme court sent letters testimonial with the details to the PCC,  and in 1822 that court granted admon with will annexed to his brother Owen,  the Notts. medic mentioned in my original post.

While all interesting enough,  that did little to tell me any more about the other siblings.  But then came a stroke of luck.  I was searching the NAS online index and came upon a reference to Thomas the Soldier's estate among some testamentary papers in a private collection originating from Inverness.  I have now received a photocopy of that document,  and it turns out to be an agreement among all the surviving siblings to appoint a lawyer to act on their behalf in collecting in the estate and appointing agents in India.  They seem to be listed by seniority of age.  The eldest,  Elizabeth,  had evidently married before the family came north,  but several of the others had put down local roots and therefore seem worth listing here on the Inverness board,  in case anyone can spot a connection.  TD himself is also a party to the agreement in his capacity as guardian to his two youngest children -- and is given an interesting former place of (Scottish) residence.  So,  here is the list (dated 9 Feb. 1822, in NAS GD23/7/49; words as original, format mine):

   --   Sarah Davies or McDonald [sic] spouse of William Macdonald [sic] plasterer in Inverness

   --   Margaret Davies or Mackay spouse of Lachlan Mackay sometime Tacksman of Milltown of Conage presently residing at Culloden

   --   Mary Davies spouse of Archibald Taylor residing in Inverness

   --   Owen Davies Doctor of Medicine presently residing in Inverness

   --   John Davies
   --   Anne Davies and
   --   Joseph Davies all residing in Inverness

   --   Jane Davies and
   --   Edward Davies also residing there with advice and consent of Thomas Davies sometime Tacksman of Conage now residing in Inverness their Father . . . as natural Guardian taking burden on him for his said children Jane Davies and Edward Davies who are at present in Minority . . .

Of all these,  only Elisabeth the eldest,  Thomas the soldier and Owen the doctor obtained a mention in the Dubious Pedigree.  At least the wedding announcement in my opening post serves to fill in some of Anne's later story.  But I wonder what became of the rest.  I have identified more or less speculative baptisms in and around Shropshire for the earlier children,  but in that respect Joseph,  Jane and Edward are a blank sheet (quite possibly born in Inverness-shire -- and children of the second marriage?).

Also,  it would be excellent to confirm which of the several Connages in the Inverness and Moray region was the one TD was previously renting -- and from whom (rentals?).  Perhaps Lachlan Mackay was at the Connage out beyond Culloden near the present airport,  but it seems a bit hasty to assume that either he or his father-in-law lived there without more evidence.


Rol

[Rol]

GW -- Motivated by your post reproducing Matthew Davidson's MI,  I have been tempted into another scan through L T C Rolt's Thomas Telford (Longmans, 1958).  Although Davidson is not really my intended focus,  I think that his forename and the exact position of his final resting place are sufficient pretext for a little more digression in his direction (the more so if entertaining!).  I hope you will agree that Rolt (pp.82-3) discovered some pretty spicy material about him that deserves sharing.

On politics (still in the shadow of the French Revolution,  the Terror and Bonaparte, of course):

Davidson ... remained throughout his life a staunch advocate of the established order.  Extremists,  demagogues or absolutism in any form could always be relied upon to provoke a retort such as this (in 1809):  'England these 120 years has been the best governed nation ever existed on this Globe and yet the factious barbarians are never content.  Hang the ringleaders and banish the rebel mob to the Highlands of Scotland -- this would tame them if anything would.'  And when one of his sons suggested that he seemed to disapprove of any opposition whatever to established power he replied:  'I am equally hostile to unbridled power whether exercised by the head or the tail of Society.  The last is the most hideous and most to be dreaded in these times.'

On staying healthy:

One of his more picturesque eccentricities was his belief in what he called 'that elegant and classical medicine,  Bathing in cold water' as a cure for every mortal ill.  He would astound all beholders by bathing in Beauly Firth in the most inclement weather,  and when his son John was dangerously ill with typhus he was only narrowly dissuaded from plunging the unfortunate boy into a bath filled with cold seawater.  On another occasion he threw two bucketfuls of his infallible specific over the Davidsons' serving maid when she complained of a fever.  He claimed an instantaneous cure.

On the Highlands and the citizenry of Inverness:

Being a Lowland Scot,  Davidson affected a fine contempt for the Highlands and its people. ... [The poet] Southey quoted him as saying that if justice were done to the inhabitants of Inverness,  in twenty years there would be no one left there but the Provost and the hangman.

On Wales -- and the "Welsh Colony" at Clachnaharry:

When he came south to join Telford he had soon learned to love the people of Wales and married a Welsh wife who bore him his three sons before he left for the Highlands. ... He often remembered with regret his old home from whose windows he had watched the great stone piers of Pont Cysyllte [the canal aqueduct over the Dee] slowly rising in the valley below. ... He brought with him to Clachnaharry so many of the Welsh masons who had worked under him at Pont Cysyllte that his house became the centre of a colony of exiles;  indeed he always referred to them as 'the colony' as though they were some outpost in darkest Africa.  'There is such a noise of Welshmen in the kitchen -- the Battle of Borodino was nothing to it',  he once wrote.

(As mentioned previously,  the "Welsh wife" theory is very probably erroneous.  Davidson and Telford were fellow stonemasons in Langholm in the 1770s,  and the IGI has an extracted marriage there dated 26 December 1780 between a Matthew Davidson and a Janet Irving [correction,  submitted,  so normally much less trustworthy;  but the wedding is shown in the OPR index on the SP site].  The Chapel Yard MI's description of Davidson's widow Janet seems unlikely to relate to a second wife.  The IGI also lists a broadly matching baptism for a Janet Irving at Langholm on 15 January 1758.)

Southey's line about Davidson having been "a strange cynical humorist" (Reply 3 above) sounds as though it cannot have been too far off the mark . . .

It is interesting to note that Rolt came across a letter (cited on p.85) written by Davidson to his son Thomas in June 1818,  by which date Thomas was "a fully fledged surgeon at Nottingham" -- whither Davidson's graveyard neighbour's medical son Owen Davies was soon to follow and start in practice himself.  The two doctors must at the least have known each other,  and Owen's decision seems unlikely to have been mere coincidence.


Rol

[Rol]

Back to Thomas Davies and his family.

In the hope of enabling others to find connections with these people,  I am posting the results of some further research.  Initially I have focused on the softest target,  i.e. -- because the NAS agreement of 1822 accords them the most distinctive name and address -- Lachlan Mackay and his wife Margaret Davies.

I think that there is enough Mackay-oriented material to justify their entitlement to a separate topic heading,  so here is the link to a new "daughter thread" (in both senses!):

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,458338.0.html

As set out there more fully,  the evidence that records the couple's marriage includes the very helpful words

Lieutenant Lachlan McKay of the 42nd Regiment of Foot was Married ... on the 17th of November 1812, to Margaret Davis Daughter of Thomas Davis Esqr Engineer

Lachlan Mackay turns out to have been with the Black Watch in the Peninsular campaign.  His and his wife's progeny include descendants in Canada.  One of them was a copiously documented grandson who had a brief but distinguished career in Africa as a sapper officer.


Rol

[ripriprip]

There are no other Davies stones ...

   --   Sarah Davies or McDonald [sic] spouse of William Macdonald [sic] plasterer in Inverness

   --   Margaret Davies or Mackay spouse of Lachlan Mackay sometime Tacksman of Milltown of Conage presently residing at Culloden
 

Can someone tell me where Milltown of Conage is please? I have this record, and am trying to understand the place names and their location.

~~
1797 Hugh son to John 'Mc'Mitchell and Katherine McDonald at Ouchneem (sp?) [Nairn] was born the 15th current [Sept] and baptized the 17th. Witnesses Hugh 'Mc'Mitchell of Newtown of Budgate & Hugh McDonald at Milltown of Conage.
~~

I searched the interent, and this was the only page that had Milltown of Conage on it.
If you can comment on Newtown of Budgate, I would appreciate that too.

Thank you
Tammy
BC Canada