William Davis and Mary Geer

I notice Margaret Hardwick suggests that only one William Davis was buried by the Baptist Church and that this may be him."

Email 2
"The ages of William Davis like all early convicts vary greatly and everyone has a theory as to the correct one, here is mine. 

    I was advised by Sheila Tilse (a descendant of William Davis and Mary Geer through their son Robert).who worked on the Australian Dictionary of Biography project. She suggested that I take the ages given on William and Mary's Marriage certificates as these were the ones given by the person themselves. William gave the age of 35 at his marriage to Mary Geer in 1815, which puts him born in 1780. At the trial he was described as a native of Birmingham.

    He found the following results:

10^th September 1780 born/baptized at St. Martin’s in the Bull Ring Birmingham

11^th September 1780 baptized at St. Philip’s Cathedral Birmingham

William Davis the son of William and Ruth Davis 

Search A. Completed for 1775 to 1780 Records for Baptisms St. Martin’s in the Bull Ring

There were nineteen William baptisms at these three Churches during the period requested. Only one was found for the year 1780. (10^th September 1780, son of William and Ruth Davis)

Search B. Completed for 1730 to 1780 Records for Baptisms St. Philip’s Cathedral

There were eight Williams baptized during this period, three had fathers named William. One in 1732, another in 1738 so they were not our William, there was only one record for 1780 on the 11^th September, the son of William and Ruth Davis.

    JD-S Note: Reason for two records at different Churches not known.

Could it be that St. Martins was their local church and they had a relationship with the pastor there? And then they wanted a grander ceremony at the St Philip's Cathedral?

    Mr Watson recorded the names of all children born as well as their parent’s names during the above years. There were 62 records and only two had a mother named Ruth and these were the two listings for William Davis

Search C. Completed for 1719 to 1779 records for marriages at St. Philip’s

No record found for William Davis to Ruth Davis: I am having this researched in further years.

Search D. Completed for 1730 to 1775 records for marriages at St. Martin’s in the Bull Ring

No record found for William and Ruth Davis:

    I am continuing with this line based on the reason I have given, and in the absence of any other reasonable alternatives.  As you know William arrived 207 years ago, and so far, no birth or death date has been determined due to the common name William Davis. The uncommon name Ruth,  attached to William Davis is the first real opportunity I have seen to try and trace this further.

    PS: A lot of family researchers, including myself, have originally followed the line of William Davis alias Robert Hudson, tried at the Old Bailey in 15th February1792, and who was transported on the Royal Admiral which arrived Port Jackson on 7th Ocober 1992. As some of us have learned after a lot of wasted time, this is the wrong William.

    We learned that the correct William Davis appeared at a Hereford Assizes several times between January and March 1797 and was returned to Hereford Gaol on the 21st March 1797 having been convicted and sentenced to Hang, then reduced to Life transportation. He arrived at Port Jackson on the 20th November 1800 on the Royal Admiral (2). Many researchers have missed the (2) ofet rthe name of the ship which as we all know now denotes the second voyage of the shipo carrying convicts to Australia."

Mary's surname is spelled "Geere" in the Henfield church records.
There are possible reasons why their union was not officially recognised sooner. In January 1807 Samuel Marsden, the only Church of England chaplain in New South Wales, left for England, where he recruited other ministers for the colony, The first to arrive was William Cowper, who was appointed to St Philip's Church in Sydney. Samuel Marsden did not return to Parramatta, where William and Mary were living, until February 1810. Andrew Houison, writing in the Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings, vol. 3, 1916, p. 363, says that during the period 1807-1809, some people opted to be married by a magistrate. The majority preferred to live "in a state of unblushing concubinage". William and Mary were apparently in that group.
After his return Marsden again resumed his farming activities and was also responsible for many civic duties, including sitting on the bench as a magistrate. It was here he earned his reputation as "the flogging parson". The time he spent caring for his flock was naturally curtailed. It was almost two years before he baptised the three oldest Davis children. In 1814 Marsden sailed for New Zealand to oversee his project to teach skills to the Maori. William and Mary married in 1815 after his return.
When the family moved to Sydney they had a closer relationship with that good man, William Cowper at St Philip's Church where William was sexton in 1830. Cowper baptised Robert and Charles Davis, presided over the marriages of Hepzibah and William Syrett in 1823, Eliza and George Onslow in 1826, James and Elizabeth Fowles/Faulkner in 1831 and Samuel and Cecilia Thompson Hooper in 1840. In 1823 he buried Hepzibah and in 1832 baptised William, oldest son of James and Elizabeth.

    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.