52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 45: Rich Man – Thomas N. Davey of Carthage, Missouri

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

There are not many well-to-do ancestors in either my family nor my husband’s family. One person who could qualify would be the Thomas Nicholas Davey, who was the brother of Frederick N Davey, my husband’s great-grandfather.

Thomas N. Davey was a mine owner in Carthage, Missouri.[1] He was also a vice president of the Empire Electric Power and Supply Company.[2] He built a large Queen Anne house in 1888.[3] All of those things could qualify him as a rich man to me.

He had enough money to travel to England at least five times, in 1896, 1908, 1909, 1911, and 1921.[4]

In the 1890s, Thomas N Davey donated land at Jefferson and First Streets in Carterville, Missouri for the building of a new school due to the addition of mining land.[5]

A biography written about Thomas listed him as a manufacturer, inventor, and mine-owner. The area around Carthage had many lead mines and he managed the Carthage Machine Works, where the first Cornish force pumps were used in the mines. He spent time improving on various machines used in mining. One invention was the Cathage pump clack.  The bio stated he was “a strong and self-reliant man” and “firm in the belief that sober, frugal and diligent young men have as good opportunities for the acquisition of honors and wealth today, as at any time in the past.”[6]

I am not sure if he ever owned the mines, but I found leases for mining land. He was to pay one-third of the ore to the owner of the land. He leased the land along with two others, William McMillan and C.C. Allen.[7]

He employed Fred N Davey, who was an excellent pattern maker. He paid for the funeral and burial costs of Fred’s wife, Matilda in 1885, though no tombstone was ever erected.

He was an Episcopalian, having served as vestryman at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1873.[8]

He was born 7 Nov 1835 in Constantine, County of Cornwall to blacksmith, Thomas Davey and Mary Nicholas, and baptized 24 July 1836.[9] He was the first son, and third child of fifteen, though only seven lived to adulthood. The family moved from Cornwall to the Bristol area before 1841 and later lived around the London area. They departed for America aboard the Ocean Queen in 1852.[10]

The family settled first in Reading, Pennsylvania, then moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where Thomas’ parents passed away.

Thomas N. Davey married Anna Stealey on 25 February 1861 in Clark County, Indiana.[11] They had three children:

• Paul Nicholas Davey
• George Franklin Davey
• Marie J Davey

Thomas died 20 March 1924 in Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri at the age of eighty-eight.[12] His wife, Anna, died five years later on 26 February 1929 in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas, at the home of her daughter, Marie.[13]

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[1] Carthage Missouri Directory, Dunham Directory Co, Publ., 1912, p 45, Thos N Davey, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com).

[2] ibid., 1909, p 47, Thos N Davey, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com).

[3] Image of Davey house, source unknown.

[4] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), 1896, SS Servia, nos. 410-412, Thos N. Davey, image 792; citing NARA M237, roll 664. Also ibid, 15 Aug 1908, SS Lusitania, no. 7, Thomas N Davey, image 450; citing NARA T715, roll 1132. Also ibid 5 Sep 1909, SS Prince Fredrich Wilhelm, sht 101, lines 5 & 6, Paul N and Thos N Davey, image 608; citing NARA T715, roll 1333. Also ibid 20 Aug 1911, SS Caronia, p 1, no. 29-30, Thomas N Davey, image 466; citing NARA T715, roll 1727. Also ibid 1921, SS Adriatic, Thomas N. Davey, image 263, citing NARA NYT715_roll 3013.

[5] “History of Carterville Schools,” Jasper County Schools, http://ctv.wcr7.org/about-the-school/carterville-school-history.

[6] “Thomas N. Davey,” Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, Volume II, edited by Howard L. Conard, The Southern History Company, New York, 1901, p 232-33.

[7] Jasper County, Missouri, Deeds, v. 34, p. 253, and 381, Mining Lease; digital image, FamilySearch.

[8] “Jeffersonville,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), 16 Apr 1873, p. 4.

[9] For birth, see Thomas Davey Family Bible, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Moore, Wilstch, Keyes & Company, 1859); original owned by [address for private use], transcription done by Mary Davey Korn, granddaughter of Thomas Davey. For baptism, see "England,Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), Cornwall >Constantine > Baptisms, 1813-1844 > image 85 of 107, p. 156, no. 1245,Thomas Nicholas Davey, 1836; Cornwall Records Office, Truro.

[10] “New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” Ocean Queen, arriving 12 Mar 1852, 2nd page, lines 18-25, digital image, Ancestry ((http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Aug 2019), citing NARA M237, roll 110.

[11] Clark County, Indiana, Marriages, Bk H, p 91, Davey-Stealey, 1861, FHL film 1415853.

[12] Missouri State Archives, Death Certificates, digital Images, Missouri Digital Heritage (http://www.sos.mo.gov), file no. 8087 45, Thomas Nicholas Davey, 1924.

[13] “Texas, Death Certificates 1903-1982,” digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com), Wichita, 1929, Jan-Mar, no. 12347, Mrs. Anna Stealey Davey, image 186.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.