Author Topic: HELP!! me find great-grandfather John Robert Davis-emigrated to Australia 1800s  (Read 4849 times)

Offline Neale1961

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I refer to Ernest’s immigration record from 1908, where he records his nearest relative or friend as H. L. GILL.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9B2-GS6X-V?cc=3477656&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3ACDCV-TPPZ

Henry Lawrence GILL was a carpenter and an early pioneer in Innisfail.
•   Born in Jamaica, & grew up in England
•   Arrived in north Qld in early 1880s
•   He built Tom See Poy’s first store about 1884
•   Moved to Cooktown by late 1880s and married (R.C.) there in 1889 to Irish woman Kate MAHON.
•   Moved back to Innisfail by 1890s when he built the pilots cottage.
•   By 1895 Henry Gill started working as a shipping agent for Howard Smith and Sons (a QLD shipping and customs agent).
•   Henry took a leading part in the banana trade which made Innisfail famous in the 1890s.
•   Part owner in the steamer Arakoon, engaged in the banana trade between Geraldton (Innisfail) and Townsville.
•   Henry took an interest in the sugar industry, and owned a sugar cane farm on Liverpool Creek, 30km south of Innisfail.
•   By 1906 Mr H L Gill, was manager of Howard Smith and Sons Steamship Co, Innisfail
•   Henry was instrumental in inducing Howard Smith Co. to obtain a large interest in Mourilyan Syndicate Ltd when it purchased the Mourilyan Sugar Estate, in 1907.
•   By 1910 Mr. H. L. Gill, was general manager of the Mourilyan syndicate.
•   There is documented evidence that he had numerous good relations with the Chinese community in Innisfail.

Newspaper death notice for Henry Gill
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16905799?searchTerm=%22mr%20H%20L%20Gill%22

Well-researched detail about Henry Gill here
https://jeanffrench.wordpress.com/2022/05/01/henry-l-gill-north-queensland-pioneer/amp/
It might be worth contacting the author to see if there is any documentation of Ernest in her research.

Also note my previous recommendation to contact the Innisfail and District Historical Society

Also of interest to you: “Hurricane Lamps and Blue Umbrellas” by Dorothy Jones, 1973 
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Hurricane_Lamps_and_Blue_Umbrellas.html?id=wnQcAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
Milligan - Jardine – Glencross – Dinwoodie - Brown: (Dumfriesshire & Kirkcudbrightshire)
Clark – Faulds – Cuthbertson – Bryson – Wilson: (Ayrshire & Renfrewshire)
Neale – Cater – Kinder - Harrison: (Warwickshire & Queensland)
Roberts - Spry: (Cornwall, Middlesex & Queensland)
Munster: (Schleswig-Holstein & Queensland) and Plate: (Braunschweig, Neubruck & Queensland & New York)

Offline sparrett

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James R Davis who died so tragically young at 32:
"Sudden Death at Harrietville. — News has been received in Beechworth that Mr James Davis,  the well-known miner, and part proprietor of the Jackass Reef, at Harrietville, dropped dead in the public street in that township on Wednesday. No particulars of the sad occurrence are yet to hand."
(Trove see sparrett's link earlier)

s.

Hi Annbee.
I have not seen that James DAVIS had the middle initial R.
It may seem a pedantic point, but in my opinion, it is worth noting.
Sue

Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline sparrett

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Place of birth Clare, Ireland.
Marriage column: Where married, at what age & to whom: Ireland, 21, Joannah Hogan.
Issue column: Issue in order of birth, their names & ages: John 27, James 22, Denis 19, Margret?

 


Question please.
Is the question mark after the name Margaret yours because you cannot read the age or does it  actually show on the certificate?
S
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Neale1961

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The name is Bridget, age 24 (not Margaret?)
Sue, in case you missed it, the death cert has been posted on reply#48. (Easily missed, 'cos attachment was added long after post was finished) :)
Milligan - Jardine – Glencross – Dinwoodie - Brown: (Dumfriesshire & Kirkcudbrightshire)
Clark – Faulds – Cuthbertson – Bryson – Wilson: (Ayrshire & Renfrewshire)
Neale – Cater – Kinder - Harrison: (Warwickshire & Queensland)
Roberts - Spry: (Cornwall, Middlesex & Queensland)
Munster: (Schleswig-Holstein & Queensland) and Plate: (Braunschweig, Neubruck & Queensland & New York)


Offline sparrett

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Thanks. Yes I see it there now.

Edits like that are a source of confusion ::)

The age of Bridget might be 14. Or 24. I have seen the descending birth age in the listing of deceased person's offspring is occasionally inconsistent, as if they suddenly "remember" a child accidentally omitted and add it in at the end.
Sue

Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Maiden Stone

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Place of birth Clare, Ireland.
Marriage column: Where married, at what age & to whom: Ireland, 21, Joannah Hogan.
Issue column: Issue in order of birth, their names & ages: John 27, James 22, Denis 19, Margret?

 


Question please.
Is the question mark after the name Margaret yours because you cannot read the age or does it  actually show on the certificate?
S

Question mark is mine. I read her name as "Margret". Names & ages in tiny writing.
Cowban

Offline Maiden Stone

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It looks as if the Davis family was fairly prosperous - John Sr was a farmer, had come over from Ireland a year or two before he had to be institutionalized


Death registration of John Davis stated that he'd been in Victoria 2 years.
Cowban

Offline Maiden Stone

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I have been looking at the DAVIS family, particularly James and John who were the sons of John who died in the Asylum.

James Death notice.  Aged 32
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/6073900


"Requiescat in pace" on death notice is an indication he was R.C.
He lost a couple of years from his age since he was listed on his father's death certificate in 1871.
Cowban

Offline Maiden Stone

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As has been mentioned by Neale, you should purchase the death certificate of the John DAVIS who died in 1871.


Update - here it is

Place of birth Clare, Ireland.
Marriage column: Where married, at what age & to whom: Ireland, 21, Joannah Hogan.
Issue column: Issue in order of birth, their names & ages: John 27, James 22, Denis 19, Margret?
 

Parents of John Davis from his death certificate were John Davis, occupation farmer, and Joannah, formerly  Stenchen.

If the age of Dennis on his father's death certificate was correct, and, if he was, like his father, born in County Clare, and if the family was R.C. this baptism is very likely his.
Catholic Registers at National Library of Ireland.
   Doonass & Truagh Parish, Diocese of Killaloe, County Clare
   1852 August 29th Dennis Davis, parents John Davis & Judy Hogan. Their residence begins with C (I
   think). Sponsors (godparents) John & Jane Murphy. Another column also has heading "Residence" (I
   think). It may be for residence/s of sponsors. The place looks like Clontara.
 https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634681#page/7/mode/1up

Format & style of registers and information contained in them varied by diocese, parish and priest. Some parishes didn't have proper registers with printed headings but used ordinary notebooks or accounts books instead. 

Baptism and marriage registers for the parish on the NLI website date from 1851.
https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0771
The map on the parish page shows names of other parishes in the county and diocese.

Judy/Joanna (+ other variants) Hogan may or may not have been born in the parish. Marriage was likely to have been in the bride's parish.
 
Cowban