Wills are at the Register of Wills in City Hall, Philadelphia and, maybe, the LDS. Gene Stackhouse "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not."Stephen Wright >From: "Roderick Craig" <rodjcraig@hotmail.com> >Reply-To: philly-roots@rootsweb.com >To: PHILLY-ROOTS@rootsweb.com >Subject: [Phly-Rts] William Davy, Philadelphia Merchant (1794-1817) >Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:28:44 +0200 > >Hi, > >My interest lies in my 4 x great-grandfather, William Davy (1757-1827), an >English born Philadelphia merchant, who became an American Citizen and >later >Principal agent for the Indian Factories under the Jefferson >administration, >before retiring to England as a Consul of the United States for Leeds and >Kingston upon Hull (it must be quite rare for an Englishman to have >American >ancestors - usually the other way round !). > >The son of a Devonshire (England) cloth manufacturer, William Davy was born >in Crediton in 1757. He was at first a presbyterian, then a unitarian and >seems to have been a friend of Joseph Priestley. He emigrated to >Pennsylvania with his wife, children and several sisters on the ship >"Active", which arrived in Philadelphia on 15 August 1794. He first >travelled to Northumberland County where he stayed with the Priestleys >(September to November 1794). He Kept a diary of his trip, which was >published in "Pennsylvania History" (Vol. XX, April 1953). >On his return to Philadelphia, he wrote a long letter to George Washington, >proposing to set up cloth manufactures and make uniforms for the new >American Army (George Washington Papers, Library of Congress). He was >naturalised on August 31, 1796. > >In 1797, he was alredy in business in Philadelphia with Josiah Roberts >(from >Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England - who later married William Davy's >sister), under the name "Davy, Roberts and Co". Davy and Roberts started a >calico printing firm in Germantown Road (The Pennsylvania Magazine of >History and Biography). > > >From at least 1797, William Davy, owned or chartered many ships. In about >1800, he fitted out the privateer "Alexander", captained by his son John >Broom Davy, who captured several French ships. He imported sugar and cigars >from Cuba (Brig "Angustus"), India goods (silk, sugar, spices...) from >Calcutta (ships "Monticello" and "Coromandel"), Earth oil (petrol) and >elephant tusks from Burma (ship "Coromandel), rum from St. Vincent and the >Grenadines (schooner "Sukey and Peggy"), coffee from La Guaira, Venezuela >(schooner "Three Friends")... He exported hides to England and guns to >Simon >Bolivar. > >I know that he received invitations in 1804 and 1805 to dine with President >Thomas Jefferson in Washington (Pennsylvania History, Vol. XX, April 1953, >p. 277) and that Mr. and Mrs James Madison entertained him in 1805 >(Pennsylvania History, Vol. XX, April 1953, p. 277). > >Suddenly, in 1817, he applied for an appointment in the U.S. consular >service and returned to England where he died in 1827. > >William Davy and his wife, Susannah Broom, had 14 children, but, for the >moment I only know the names of 10. Several moved to England with their >parents. Albert Davy and Josiah Davy were both in the consular service in >Leeds. At least 3 sons remained in America. John Broom Davy was, for a few >years, consul of the U.S.A. in Rangoon, Burma, and died in Bordentown, New >Jersey in 1822. William Davy Junior died in 1822 in Cartagena, Colombia. >Thomas Davy, an agent for DuPont de Nemours, spent over 10 years in >Cienfuegos, Cuba, where he died in 1830. I have no idea if there are any >descendants in America. > >I know that at least 3 children (probably more) were born in Philadelphia, >but so far, I have been unable to find any baptisms (I suppose that they >were baptised as Unitarians or Presbyterians). John Broom Davy married >Harriet Bridges in 1804 in Philadelphia and Thomas Davy married Elizabeth >Loockermans of Delaware... > >I have a few addresses of William Davy's businesses in Philadelphia (59 >South Water Street ; Germantown Road ; wharves in Water Street ; Cypress >Alley, between Spruce and Pine, and 3d and 4th Streets ; 32 Dock Street >and >356 High), but I have only been able to check 2 Philadelphia directories >for >the period. > >I have been unable to find a will for any of the Davys in England. Where >can >I look in Pennsylvania ? > >Any further information about William Davy, his business... and the Davy >family would be most appreciated. > >Roderick Craig, >Mulhouse, France. > >_________________________________________________________________ >Personnalisez votre Messenger avec Live.com >http://www.windowslive.fr/livecom/ > > > >********* >Visit the threaded archives of this list: >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS >********* > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message