Rachel was born in St. Helier, Jersey, 208 years ago on the 7th August 1813. She was the daughter of William Davy (of Somerset) and Marie Defrance (of Guernsey). Fifteen days later she was baptised, on the 22nd August 1813.
Rachel’s parents, William and Marie had married in 1804, nine years before she was born. Therefore it is possible that she was not the first child they had as this is quite a large gap between marriage and first child, particularly for those days.
I have not been able to find out any more about Rachel. Apart from her birth the next possible records would have been the first census in 1841. If Rachel was still alive, (the Cholera Epidemic swept through Jersey 3 years before) she would have been 28. By this age we can presume that she might have been married and therefore using a different surname which would make her harder to trace. The fact is that I can’t find any of the Davey family in 1841.
Another fact that is interesting is that Rachel’s father writes a Will & Testament on the 15th November 1832, the year of the Cholera Epidemic that swept through the island and especially through the more populated town areas. In the Will & Testament, Rachel’s name is mentioned as one of the beneficiaries along with her siblings. This implies she must still be alive. We know that her father continues to live a long life, so I wonder if he, along with many other panicked islanders decided to make arrangements just incase the worst happened! The following is a list of the family and their ages for the year 1841:
William Davy (father) – would have been 61, he was still alive as he didn’t die until 1864 at the grand age of 84.
Marie Defrance (mother) – would have been 59, she was still alive, and didn’t die until 1858, again at the grand age of 78.
William George Davy (sibling) – would have been 25, I have nothing about him apart from his Baptism date: 17th November 1816.
Mary Ann Davy – Mary is a bit of a problem as there appears to be two of her. One born in 1819 the other born in 1825 (who married George Le Breton). Sometimes when one child dies young another is born and given the same name in memory. I wonder if that is the case here.
Isaac William Davy – would have been 20 years old. Isaac is not in the 1841 census either, but as my great great great grandfather I know that he goes on to lead a long life, until the age of 78!
So where Rachel and her family are in 1841, still remains a family history mystery, one I hope to be able to solve one day…
Note: you might notice that I have used 3 different versions of the Davey surname, this is because 3 different types have been used in the records, so am I a Davy, Davey or Davis?
