The Will of Adoniram J. Davis

Adoniram J. Davis (1830-1903) was the son of William Davis and Mary Sibley of Elgin, Ontario.  He was the husband of Louisa Norton of New York and the father of Mary/Minnie (Davis) Scott (who married Arthur Herbert Scott) and Dr. William Norton Scott, who later moved to Spokane, Washington.

"I Adoniram Judson Davis of the Town of Aylmer in the County of Elgin yeoman do make publish and declare this and this only to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments or documents of such nature and kind by me heretofore made.

1.  I direct that my just debts and funeral and testamentary expenses be paid by my executors...as soon as conveniently may be after my decease.

2.  I decree and bequeath to my beloved wife the use, income and profits of all my Estate real and personal so long as she shall live and after her decease my executors are to realize and convert my Estate into money and subject to the pregoing provisions I devise and bequeath one fifth of my estate to my Grand daughter Lousia Clark, now of Three Rivers in the State of Michigan to be paid over to her at the expiration of one year after the decease (of my said wife?) if she has attained the age of twenty eight years (line illegible) during such year, but if she has not attained such age then my said Grandchild is to receive annually the income accruing on such one fifth until she attains such age and until said one-fifth is paid over to her.

3.  I devise and bequeath to (my son?)  William Norton Davis, M.D. of Waterford in the County of Norfolk subject to the foregoing two fifths of my estate absolutely and I devise to my daughter Minnie Louisa Scott of Montreal in the Province of Quebec subject to the foregoing two fifths of my estate absolutely and freed from the management or control of her husband or any other person whatsoever. 

4.  My executors are to have full power and authority to sell and convert any or all of my estate and keep the proceeds invested in Mortgages or Real Estate Bank Stocks or such other securities as they decree advisable except Chattel Mortgages and Promissary notes but the Income to be paid to my wife as long as she shall live.    

5.  And I nominate constitute and appoint my said wife Louisa Adelia Davis and my said son and daughter William Norton Davis and Minnie Louisa Scott Executors of this my will. 

In witness whereof I have duly signed .... sixteenth day of September A.D. 1898.
(signed) A.J. Davis

T.H. Backhouse
Barrister at Law
Aylmer, Ont
May Weisbood
Stenographer, 
Aylmer, Ont. 

Adoniram's grandchild Louisa Clark is the child of Ursula Davis, who married Dr. Whitman Clark of Three Rivers, Michigan on May 13, 1874.  Whitman's passport application, filled out in 1910, says he was born in Ingersoll Ontario and moved to the United States in 1871.  It also states that his daughter Louisa Clark was born in Centreville, Michigan, on May 16, 1876.  The Michigan Deaths and Burial Index on Ancestry reports that Ursula died at the age of 23 on September 28, 1878 in Three Rivers, Michigan.  The cause of death is not stated.

Ursula (Davis) Clark is buried in the Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Michigan, beside her husband.

Ursula's memorial stone, Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Michigan.

In fact, I have never attempted to track all of Adoniram and Louisa's children.  In the 1851 census, Adoniram and Louisa are newlyweds living in with Adoniram's family, and they do not appear to have any children. In the 1861 census Adoniram and Louisa have three children:  Amarillas, aged 9, Ursula, aged 7, and William, aged 1.  In the 1871 census (which has several strange mistakes--Louisa is written as Laura and the family is marked down as being of German origin) Adoniram and Louisa are living with 18-year-old Anna (probably Amarillas), 16-year-old Ursula, 10-year-old William and 7-month-old Mary.  In the 1891 census, Adoniram and Louisa (now 51 and 54, respectively) are living with only one child, Minnie (the family nickname for Mary), now aged 10.  We know that Minnie and William survived their father, and Ursula probably died before 1880, leaving one child.  What happened to Amarillas?

The family tombstone in the Orwell Cemetery in Yarmouth Township memorializes two more of Adoniram and Louisa's children, Judson and Wallace.  Wallace does not appear on the 1860 census, so he probably died before the age of 5.

Dr. William N. Davis, Son of Adoniram J. Davis and Louisa Norton

Adoniram J. Davis' obituary in the Aylmer Express newspaper had alerted me to the fact that, as well as being the father of Minnie (Davis) Scott, he also had a son, "Dr. W.J. Davis, of Spokane, Washington".  I had no previous information about this son, but I believe I have found him on the 1900 United States Census.

The information situates him in Spokane Ward 4, District 0070, 1120 Broadway Avenue.   He is living with a wife, Maud, and three daughters.  Here is the information it contains:

William N. Davis, head of household, married white male, born in January 1861, 39 years old, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, both parents born in English Canada, immigrated to the United States in 1877 at age 23, is a naturalized American, Physician by occupation. They rent their house.

Davis, Maud, wife of household head, married white female, born in September 1867, age 32, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, father born in English Canada, mother born ?udia, immigrated to the United States in 1884 at age 16.

Daughter Evelyn H. Davis, born August 1893, age 6.
Daughter Isabell Davis, born October 1896, age age 3.
Daughter Mabel Davis, born October 1896, age 3.  All born in Washington.

I've also located a physician named William Norton Davis in the Ancestry database "Spokane, WA Directories 1889-93", which collects four years of the R.L. Polk and Co. directories.  He shows up four times;  three times at the address 21 & 22 Daniel Block, Spokane Falls, and once (1893) at 9 First National Bank Building.   I'm convinced that this William Davis is the Dr. W. J. Davis spoken of in the newspaper, since Norton is his mother, Louisa Norton's, maiden name.  I think the Aylmer Express got the initials wrong.  "William Norton Davis" also corresponds to the "William N. Davis" in the census.

Neither William nor Maud appear on the 1910 census as far as I can tell.  However, the three daughters appear as boarders in a home in Spokane headed by a Charles and Lottie Perkins. Their daughter, Charlotte Perkins, age 15, and Charlotte McMurray, the widowed mother of Lottie Perkins, live their as well.  Charles Perkins is a 50-year-old public school teacher.  Evelyn Davis is 16, and the twins are 13.  The Davis girls do not appear to be working.  Where are their parents?  If they are orphans, why aren't they living with family?  This record indicates that their mother was born in New York.

The database "Washington Deaths, 1883-1960" has an Isabel Ramsey in Seattle, Washington, who died on May 2, 1950 at the age of 53.  Her parents are listed as William N. Davis and Maude Haley.  Is this our Isabel?  I can't find a marriage record for her.  In the 1940 census there is an Isabel Ramsey living in Seattle, age 43, who is married but not living with her husband at that point (she is listed as the head of a two-person household, along with a 7-year-old son, Herbert).  Interestingly, this Isabel is listed as having only completed two years of high school.  She has no listed occupation or income.