William Davis and Mary Geer

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Parents:     William Davis unknown           Edward Geer (b 1763 Henfield Sussex, m Mary Bowlden 1788 Henfield)               
                                                                Mary Bowlden (b 1767 Henfield)

William Davis (b abt 1772 WAR Eng, m Mary Geer  1815 St Johns Anglican Parramatta)
Mary Geer (b 1789 Henfield Sussex, d 1851 Kent St Sydney)
       Hepzibah Davis (b 1807 Windsor NSW, m William Syrett 1823 St Phillips Sydney, d Aug 1823 Sydney)
       James Davis (b 1809 Parramatta, m Elizabeth Fowles, d 1892)
       Eliza Davis (b 1811 Parramatta, m George Onslow 1826 St Phillips Sydney, d 1879 Margaret St Petersham)
             Mary Jane (Jane) Onslow (b 1829 Liverpool, NSW, m John Rowley 1846 St Lukes, Liverpool , d 1909 Yule St, Pertersham)
                   John Clarkson Rowley (n 1847 Liverpool, m Sarah Jane Smart 1874 Beechworth Vic, d 1928 Bethanga)
                         Joseph Smart Rowley (b 1875 Yackandandah Vic, m Eircell Broome 1909 Albury NSW, d 1957 Bethanga)
                                                                                                        m Avis Sirl 1922 Albury
       John Davis (b 1814 Parramatta, m Elizabeth Dowling, d 1858)
       Samuel Davis (b 1816 Parramatta, m 1840 Cecilia Thompson-Hooper, d Orange, NSW 1878)
       Ebenezer Davis (b 1818 Parramatta, m 1846 Louise Valla Briarley, d Kings Plains NSW 1895)
       Robert Davis (b 1822 Parramatta, m 1843 Elizabeth Hollongshead Paramatta, d Gulgong ?)
       Charles Davis (b 1825 Parramatta, d 1842 Sydney)

To follow up on John Davis-Slade's email - He has suggestions as to parents of William

Mary Geer

1789    Born Henfield Sussex, parents Edward Geer and Mary Bowlden (probable)
1804    Charged with housebreaking at Horsham, Sussex, aged fifteen. Convicted at Lewes. Her accuser was David Baker of Etchingham.
            Sentenced to be hanged, later changed to life imprisonment and transportation.
1805    Arrived Port Jackson on William Pitt
1806    Assigned to Benjamin Haywood, as servant to his defacto wife who was having a baby
1811    Ticket of leave. Eliza born.
1815    Mary and William Davis married St John's Anglican, Paramatta .
            Mary and William had five more children
1831    Mary founding member of the first baptist church in Sydney
1851    Mary died, Kent St, Sydney .   She is buried in the Baptist section of Pioneer Cemetery. (Janet Hill)

Janet Hill gave us the above. See http://www.geocities.com/geer_family
To access Janet Hill's write-up directly

Mary Davis was one of the first converts to the Baptist Church in Sydney she is the 5th on the original Baptist roll and no details of the four before her have survived . It is also recorded Mary was deaf and fell asleep in sermons and meetings and snored.
Margaret Hardwick
William & Mary are on the Welcome Wall at the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, where most of the early settlers have their names
Janet Hill,

William Davis

Also went by the alias William Brown

1772     Born Birmingham, England (-1776?) His Convict Indent has his native place as Parish of Ross (Hereford). I think this is Ross on Wye
1797     Arrested Ross-on-Wye for stealing, sentenced to life imprisonment Hereford
1800     Arrives Sydney on Royal Admiral
1810     Ticket of leave
1816     Conditional Pardon
1818     Granted convict servant (at the 1823, 25 and 26 musters
 
    Our William Davis does have records in the Colonial papers mainly memorials for land for him or his children they are easy to follow you look for two leads (William Davis convict on the Royal Admiral 1800 or William Davis alais William Brown). 
    William was granted a 40 acre land lease at Castle Hill - Reel 2560 also Vol 3 348 121 original lengeth of time the lease was till 13 September 1824 at an annual rate of one shilling the condition was to cultivate 12 acres. It was on the road to Dural and it was bounded on the south side by Sexton's Farm. (I think I know exactly where it is, there is a Steiner School on it today) In 1825 William tried for a further 40 acres on the grounds of the size of his family - it appears he was granted it but never took it up. At a guess too swampy too out of the way just not practical he was living in Sydney by this time. Eliza and James both got their land.
      The other question William Davis dying in Windsor Hospital that date according to the church records he is a pauper why do you think its William. I think the one buried by the baptist minister at Camperdown Cemetery is more likely, I have no evidence beyond he is the only William Davis buried by the Baptist Church.
Margaret Hardwick

Benjamin Haywood

    Benjamin Haywood  did have a defacto wife who was expecting when he employed Mary from the William Pitt as a servant There is no record they ever had a sexual relationship and none of Mary and William's children have any record of being Haywoods. Hepizabah is always recorded as Greer or Davis all are baptised as Davis children and William in his various memorials always claimed them as his children.
    Benjamin Haywood is an ex convict alias William Morris arrived on the Salamander 29 August 1791 enlisted in the NSW Corp 1 April 1801was on Norfolk Island 1802 until 1804, (I have read and unfortunately did not keep a copy  that he was injuried in the Vinegar Hill Riots), 1805 apparently transferred back to the mainland his commanding officer was Wilson he definitely had a land grant (but I think he had problems managing it and it was over taken by his officer this was a little trick they pulled to get more land - I have no back up information). 1808 he was in Parramatta - 1809 he was attached to 500/600 24 April 1810 he was transferred to the to the 73 rd (that means he was invalided - there are no records of death etc) this information came via Jan Stinson "A Colonial Regiment New Sources Relating to the NSW Corps 1789 -1810" edited by Pamela Statham.
Margaret Hardwick

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Janet Hill, George Geer, Margaret Hardwick and Lyn Black. Margaret and Lyn corrected some of my errors on William Davis (much appreciated)
Edward Geer and Mary Bowlden's information came from Becci5 on a link  http://www.gencircles.com/users/becci/5/data/7182. Also some details about the family.

Research Notes

Some puzzling pieces of Geography
Mary's trial was held at Lewes, but Etchingham, the address of David Baker who was burgled is nearly 50 miles east of Lewes. Henfield is 10 miles west of Lewes.
The Henfield family
Edward Geer (b abt 1763, m Mary Bowlden 12 May 1788, Henfield Sussex)
Mary Bowlden (b abt 1767, d 1792 Henfield)
    Ann Geer (chr 13 Feb 1789 Henfield)
    Mary Geer (chr 18 Apr 1790 Henfield)
    Thomas Geer (chr 04 Dec 1791 Henfield)
This is the only one in the LDS that looks even close. But May's age at her trial is given as 17. But the Henfield Mary was christened April 1790. That look close to her birt as an earlier child was christened in Feb 1789, and the couple married in May 1788. But this makes Mary just turned fourteen at her trial..
Note Mary's early death could help explain the geography query above, and possibly was a factor in Mary ending up in trouble with the law. So the Heyfield family are only a 50% proposition?
Received from Jan Hill
Copies of Mary and William's trial documentation. Some images are difficult to read, so need to be turned into text before adding to this page
See References 198, 199 on file also

Genes Reunited checked for Mary and Edward geer,  Mary Bowlden and William Davis
Opinions vary as to who Mary's first three children's father was
I am inclined to believe it was William.
The only further information that I can think of that might be material is whether Benjamin Haywood's wife produced children regularly through the period 1806-11
There's a project if you want one
From Barbara Price
I recently found the following site - it might fill in some blanks for you www.familytreelegends.com/trees/becci click on Andrew Davis - I have had a look, still thinking about it

LDS
William Davis christenings in Birmingham (1771-75)
26 Aug 1771   Saint Martin, (John and Anne)
19 Jan 1773   Saint Phillips (Hannah)
28 Aug 1775   Saint Martin (John and Mary)
Any of theses are possible

William's Pipe?

I have received an intriguing email
    I am an archaeologist working on material from sites in Sydney, including early Parramatta. I found William Davis and other Davises on your family website via google.
    I have catalogued early smoking pipes marked "WILLIAM / DAVIS" and wonder if you have any information about what any Williams did. I am particularly interested in the convicted William as these pipes are rare and date to before 1840. Do you have any records about where or for whom he was working for as a convict or later, aside from farming? I have perused the Col Sec records but wonder how many relate to your particular family member(s).
    These clay pipes are found amongst other early pipes made in Sydney and possibly Parramatta, as well as those imported from the UK. I would be very interested in any material you have relating to early Parramatta as this area is the focus for much current work, including the 3 early Hospitals beside the river.
Reply
    William lived in Parramatta from 1815 to 1825. My writeup on the webpage does not agree whith Janet Hill's story, which suggests that William Davis moved to Kent St Sydney about 1825
    We can check past that from Convict Musters. etc which ran thru the 1820s and 30s I think. (He had servants assigned by then). I will check this out on my next trip to the Genealogy Library, and see what I can find. A lot of this material is available on CD
    Some notes from Janet Hill suggest William may have been a shoemaker in 1814.
    I will get back to you, but it may be a few weeks
    But it looks as if your Parramatta pipe is our Williams, it predates 1825

Keith Bulmer
has a marriage foe Ann Geer in his GR tree, but nothing else
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