Michelle Dennis' Genealogy
 

Welcome to my family history webpage

A DOCTOR & A PIONEER IN THE FAMILY?

Michelle's great great great paternal grandfather Dr Samson DAVIS  was born in Whitechapel, London in 1818.
He qualified as an Apothecary (doctor) in 1827 and in 1840 married Louisa EMERSON (daughter of his chemist friend George Emmerson). He published a book on Physiology, and spent much of his time lecturing at various universities mostly about mesmerism.  Unfortunately, his wife Louisa died of consumption, shortly after the birth of their only child in 1842. Read more about Samson's life and family here.

Dr Samson was heartbroken, (and in his words) - "a great calamity overcame me, and I desired at once to leave my native land for some time...." He set sail for New York, North America in 1842 and stayed for only a short time with his brother John. Read more of Dr Samson's Diary extract here.

He returned to London, perhaps slightly happier, and in Jan 1846 married Annie RATHBONE REEVES in Brompton, Middlesex.  He had three children, and then decided to immigrate to Melbourne, Australia with his brother Joseph and family. Read about why exactly the Davis family decided to immigrate.

In 1852 he arrived in to Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne aboard the ship "Gloriana" and settled in East Melbourne (then known as Emerald Hill). After a daughter was born in South Yarra (Mary Eliza) in 1855, he decided to move to the busy goldfield town Castlemaine, Victoria. After the death of a child, and having established a busy, eminent medical practice in both Castlemaine and nearby Newstead, Dr Samson finally met his end by drowning in the Loddon River in 1860. He was only 42.

His firstborn son George Rathbone DAVIS selected land and settled at Boho, near Violet Town in 1879 where the DAVIS family can still be found today. He named his property "Woodvale".
 

  LINKS TO OTHER FAMILY WEBSITES

  Susan Rogers BRITNELL family

Stuart Bone's WHITE family - including photos of Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire

Peter White's WHITE family of Oxfordshire
 

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Compiler: Michelle Dennis Victoria, Australia

Some of these pages were created by John Cardinal's Second Site v1.9.9.
Site updated on 16 Jul 2006 at 8:55:56 PM from Davis; 1,708 people