Ralph Davis

I've been looking a bit more into the Davis families in Leeds and Grenville Counties, Canada West. In my tree, I added Ralph Davis as the hypothetical father of my 4x great-grandfather, Joseph Davis, who was born about 1790, but that's highly highly speculative. Mostly, I added Ralph because I saw some DNA matches with some people who descended from him, but I thought I'd make some notes describing my thinking. These notes aren't a proof, just the basis of an hypothesis. 

Catherine Davis and her children, Dorothy, John, Joseph, Jane, Henry, Catherine and Edward, migrated to Augusta Township, Grenville County, Canada West in 1847, or very shortly afterward. At least one child may have remained in Ireland, Margaret Davis, who married William Smith and remained at Garrynew, County Wexford, Ireland. Margaret likely died before 1860 since her daughter, Mary Jane Smith, appeared on the 1861 census in Augusta, Grenville County in the household of John Davis, Margaret's brother. 

Reading the census records of these counties, you can't help but notice that Grenville and neighboring Leeds Counties were overrun with Davis families, many who lived very near Catherine and her children in 1852. Several of the Davis men were born in Ireland, specifically County Wexford, and belonged to the Church of England, including:

1) William Davis, who lived with his wife and several children in Elizabethtown. According to records, William was born about 1791 in Ireland. His son, Ralph Davis, was born about 1814 in Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County. 

2) Peter Davis, who lived nearby with his wife and four children in Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County. According to various records, Peter was born about 1796 in County Wexford. His oldest son, Ralph Davis, was born in 1825 in Elizabethtown, and lived near him. 

3) Edward Davis, who also lived in Elizabethtown. He was born about 1798 in County Wexford, and his oldest known child, Elizabeth, was born in Elizabethtown in 1832. 

4) Richard Davis, who was born in Ireland about 1799, lived in Augusta Township with his wife, Dorothy, and several children. His oldest known son, Ralph, was born in Augusta about 1829.

5) Mathew Davis, who lived with his family lived almost next-door to Peter's son, Ralph Davis. Matthew was born in Ireland in about 1804, but his children, beginning with Mary Ann in 1831, were born in Elizabethtown.

6) Thomas Davis, born about 1797, lived over one hundred kilometres north of Augusta and Elizabethtown in Goulbourn Township, Carleton County. Many online family trees place him as a brother to the above Davis men, possibly because he too has a son named Ralph, born about 1841. 

An Edward, William, and Ralph Davis owned land near one another in Elizabethtown Township in 1852. In 1861, Joseph Henry Davis, the son of Catherine Davis and my 3x great-grandfather, owned land next to Matthew and Richard Davis in Augusta. 

Given that Peter and Edward had death records that explicitly stated their birthplace as County Wexford, and William, Peter, Richard, and Matthew all had oldest sons named Ralph, there appeared to be a good chance that most or all of these men were brothers. Thomas had a younger son named Ralph, and he lived distantly from the others, so he not have been related or he may have been more distantly related. They may not have migrated together, but William had a child born about 1814 in Elizabethtown, which placed him in the area very early. 

It was also possible that their father's name was Ralph.  Ralph Davis appeared on a November 1817 list of Protestants from Counties Carlow and Wexford who were to be transported to Quebec in 1818, with 11 people in his party. A family researcher wrote about this list, suggesting that the British wanted to populate Canada to keep out the Americans and that this list was composed of Protestants that showed their loyalty during the 1798 Catholic Irish uprising. 

Although Catherine Davis and her family had settled right in the middle of these Davis men, it didn't prove a relationship. However, Joseph Davis was about the right age to be a sibling, and he may not have migrated with them because he had already started a family in Ireland. It also made sense that Catherine would have moved to someplace they had family. 

It is also interesting that most family trees for Ralph Davis showed that he had a son named Joseph, born about 1790. None of the older trees showed that this Joseph was our Joseph, but it suggested that there is some as yet unseen evidence, such as a family document or a Will.

Back in County Wexford, "the representative of Ralph Davis" appeared up on the 1832 the Tithe Applotment Book in Ballinahorna Townland, only 2 km away from Garrynew, where Joseph was listed in 1831.  Next to the representative was Edward Davis. If this was the same Ralph Davis and he was listed because he still held the lease, he would have lived very near to our Joseph Davis. Perhaps Edward was his brother and held onto the land; leases were valid for the lifetimes of the three people listed on it.  

A Y-DNA test would be the best way to prove a relationship between the descendants of Joseph Davis and these other Davis men, and hopefully one day that can happen, but autosomal DNA did show some interesting hints. The great-grandson of my 3x great-grandfather, Joseph Henry Davis, through his oldest son, George, provided me access to his DNA matches on Ancestry. Additionally, I have those of my Dad and Uncle. Through them, we seem some matches with descendants of all but one of the six men listed above, although some of them are very weak.​

Tester*	Match	Possible Relationship**	Tester's Ancestor (son of Ralph)	Centimorgans	Shared Known Davis Cousins***
D.D.	E.W.	4C1R	Peter	15	3
D.D.	J.E.	3C1R	Peter	​31	1
B.S.	N.A.	4C1R	Peter	24	9
W.S.	​N.A.	4C1R	Peter	23	9
D.D.	​N.A.	4C	Peter	19	15
D.D.	D.H.	​4C1R	Edward	​7	1
​D.D	C.M.	4C2R	Matthew	8
D.D	C.B.	4C1R	William	6
W.S.	R.D.	5C	William	6
B.S.	R.D.	5C	William	7
B.S.	R.K.	5C1R	William	6
D.D.	R.S.	4C	Thomas	10

* D.D. is the grandson of George Davis, B.S. is my Dad, W.S. is my uncle
** Relationship assuming Ralph is the father of Joseph Davis, my 4x-great-grandfather
*** These are Ancestry shared matches with Davis cousins where I know my relationship with them. There are usually several more shared matches but I am not certain about the relationship. These shared matches need to be at least 20 cM to appear on the list.

These matches suggested that Ralph Davis and Joseph Davis may be related in some way, but clearly it did not prove that Ralph was Joseph's father. Ralph could have been an uncle or a cousin or perhaps their wives were the blood relations. A Y-DNA test with a male-line descendant of one of these men, as well as more research into autosomal matches may go a long way to prove a relationship, but to actually prove a father-son relationship may need some records I haven't seen yet.