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William's sister Sarah was born in 1817, followed by William in 1820. Sometime before the birth of his sister Debora (registered 1825 but date unknown), the family moved to New Norfolk. . Jane died 08 Aug 1858 aged 62. Since Oscar's death does not appear in the Pioneers Index, the family may have left Tasmania after Jane died, possibly to Victoria or New Zealand. One of my lines of research will be to find out how and when they came to Australia. This clipping is from the Internal Revenue Office listing of Licensees in the Hobart Town Gazette for September 30th, 1851.  A year later - same list - same paper - October 5th, 1852.  and October 4th, 1853  January 2nd, 1855  In 1855 (February 13th issue), the Publican's Licence was transferred to Graham Dixon  and it was Dixon who renamed it the Ark Inn. (December 18th, 1855)  In 1857 the Licence was transferred to John Frederick Morris, who was William's brother-in-law (married to Catherine Croswell, sister of Rebecca and Frances) and then sometime before Jan 1860 it was finally transferred back to William and William held the Licence until 1879. In 1864, Ownership was transfered to John James Aston Watkins, although it appears that William Davis stayed on as Licensee. I don't have a date for this for sale ad, but I will investigate.  Some people have suggested that the Help Me On Inn was in fact a grog shop on the adjoining property so more investigation is needed.  This is an artist's reconstruction of how the Ark Inn would have appeared circa 1865. In January 1849, at the age of 28, William married Frances Crosswell (20) and they had a daughter (Sarah) 10 months later. In August 1852, Frances gave birth to another daughter (Frances Phoebe Rebecca) but although the infant survived, Frances died from complications of the birth. On Christmas Eve 1853, William (aged 33) married Frances' youngest sister, Rebecca Crosswell (aged 20, her name is mispelt CRONIVELE on the Pioneers Index) and they had 7 children together. William died from "pneumonia and exhaustion", at the age of 63 on August 9th, 1883. He died without leaving a will and his oldest daughter Sarah Davis (Spinster) inherited his estate. Sarah married William Henry Bennett in April 1884. |
 William Davis was buried in Stephen Street Cemetary, New Norfolk In loving memory of WILLIAM DAVIS who died 9th August, 1883 Aged 65 Years A good husband and an affec- tionate father. When the Christ appears who is our life then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 Also WILLIAM OSCAR son of the above died 25th September 1866 aged 16 months View the genealogy of William Davis at GenCircles |