Thomas Edward Davis or Davies[1] (
c. 1785 or 1795[a] – March 16, 1878) was a prolific real estate developer who built residential properties in New York between 1830 and 1860.
Early life
Davis emigrated from England to
New Brunswick, New Jersey, early in the 19th century, with the intention of setting up a whiskey distilling business.[2] When the distillery failed, he moved to New York City in 1830.[2]
Davis began his career in property speculation in New York with financial backing from the banking house of J.L. & S. Joseph & Co.[2] The Joseph were a major firm of securities brokers and had the agency for the Rothschilds but became overextended and was a casualty of the crash of 1837.
In 1831, Davis built
Federal style townhouses in red brick on both sides of East 8th Street, between Third & Second Avenues, developing the entire block known as
St. Mark's Place.[3] The townhouses originally stood "virtually alone in the meadows and marshland of the
Stuyvesant family's farm", heightening "the grandeur of these two rows".[4] There remain three surviving townhouses from this development: the
Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place, the building at 25 St. Mark's Place, and the best preserved of the three, the
Daniel LeRoy House at 20 St. Mark's Place.
Further developments by Davis in the area include Carroll Place, on the block from Thompson Place to LaGuardia Place.[5]
Toward the end of the recession that followed the
Panic of 1837, which lasted until the mid-1840s, Davis was able to purchase 400 plots on Fifth Avenue (north of Twentieth Street) for a few hundred dollars each and built a complete block of fine dwellings between East 31st and East 32nd Street.[6]
Staten Island
Between 1834 and 1835, Davis bought land on
Staten Island that ran from the quarantine station to Sailors' Snug Harbor, or nearly the whole of northern Staten Island.[7] He called the area New Brighton (after a coastal resort in England), and built Greek revival style houses on the shoreline.[8] An association of wealthy entrepreneurs was set up to further develop the land and promote the area as a suburb, with easy access to New York via steam ferries. However, almost immediately, the financial crisis known as the
Panic of 1837 resulted in foreclosure of the association.[7]
Davis, with co-partners, re-acquired the development and managed to ride out the recession. Davis lost a substantial amount of money during this period but survived the crash, while the bankers who had initially provided support for Davis, J.L. & S. Joseph, failed.
Minnesota
Davis and two of his sons-in-law, Frederick C. Gebhard and
John F. A. Sanford, became involved with financing the
St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company in Minneapolis. Sanford, who had been a frontiersman, was acquainted with the men developing the project and they invited him to invest. He in turn brought in Davis and Gebhard. The relationship between the developers and the New York backers was not good, and finally broke down following the death of Sanford in 1857. Gebhard died in 1865, his brother William H. Gebhard became involved, court action followed, and it took several years for the situation to be finally resolved.[9]
Later life
Davis became extremely wealthy, and was considered the greatest real estate speculator of his time.[7] Among New York City real estate owners,
c. 1862, Davis's holdings were placed third after
John Jacob Astor and
department store mogul
Alexander Turney Stewart.[3]: 134 In the mid 1860s, Davis moved with his family to Italy.
Personal life
Davis's wife was Anne Power, who had been born in Ireland in October 1799. Her brother was
John Power, Vicar General of New York and pastor of
St. Peter's on Barclay Street in Lower Manhattan. Another brother was Irish politician
Maurice Power, who married the daughter of Judge
Henry Brockholst Livingston. Together, Thomas and Anne Davis had eight children who survived to adulthood,[10] one son and seven daughters:
Thomas Edward Davis Jr. (d. 1916), who married Marianita Jove (d. 1870), daughter of Lorenzo Jove. Davis Jr. was a friend of the Irish writer and poet
Fitz James O'Brien, and was involved in trying to raise a regiment with him during the
American Civil War, called the McClellan Rifles. When O'Brien was killed, Davis Jr. brought his remains back from Baltimore for burial in New York and acted as one of his executors.[11][12] Davis Jr. was in poor health and eventually moved to Europe where he died in
Bournemouth, England, in 1916. His daughter, Marianita, remained his companion until his death.[13]
Catherine "Kate" Davis (1829−1870), who married Frederick Charles Gebhard (1825−1865). Of the Davis children, they were the only couple to remain in the United States.[b]
Isabel Davis (1832−1898), who married
John Francis Alexander Sanford (1806–1857), a widower twenty-five years older than herself. She moved to Paris after his death.[c]
Anna Davis (
c. 1833–1925), who married Auguste La Montagne (
c. 1840−1894).[17][d]
Mathilde "Tilly" Davis (1841−1917), who married Don Antonio Lante Montefeltro della Rovere (1831−1897) on 28 April 1866.[e][20][21][22]
Eliza "Lizzie" Davis (1844-1923), who married Marquis Angelo Gavotti Verospi (1835−1916) on 10 October 1861. [23][24]
Marie Davis (1850−1932), who married Anatole Eugène Alexis Taffin d'Heursel, comte d'Heursel (1840-1896) on 28 October 1868; she left him for Henry Louis Eugène Marie Say (1850–1899) of the French sugar manufacturing family in about 1878, they married on 20 May 1882. Unable to obtain a divorce, she took Swiss naturalization and married Say on May 20, 1882 in Switzerland. After his death in 1899, his will was contested by his sister, Jeanne-Marie Say, Vicomtesse de Trédern, on the grounds of his children's legitimization.[26]
He died in
Florence on March 16, 1878, at the age of 93. His body was returned to America, where he was buried at Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral Churchyard in Manhattan.[10]
Notes
^
abNote that 1850 New York census indicates Davis was born 1785, however 1860 census conflicts and indicates Davis was born in 1795.
^Isabel Davis Sanford's two children were: Emilie Sanford (1852−1932), who married French diplomat Count Maurice Sala,[16] and John Francis Sanford (1853−1912).
^Davies, Thomas E. (1881).
"O'Brien in His Last Days". In Winter, William (ed.). The Poems and Stories of Fitz-James O'Brien. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. pp. xxxi–xxxv. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
^Gunn, Thomas Butler (March 5, 1862). Whitley, Edward (ed.).
"Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nineteen: page sixteen". The Vault at Pfaffs: An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York. Lehigh University. Retrieved June 28, 2016. O'Brien wounded – A letter from him – At Frank Leslie's.
^"Passport application with affidavit by Marianita Davis". February 1920 – via Ancestry.com. {{
cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (
help)
^Ancestry.com; Italian Genealogical Group and German Genealogy Group. "New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862–1948". Index to New York City Deaths 1862–1948 (database on-line). Provo, Utah – via Ancestry.com. {{
cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (
help)
^"30 U.S. Officers Decorated in Paris. Cross of the Legion of Honor is conferred in the Name of the French Republique". The Washington Evening Star. June 7, 1919.
^"The Racetrack Speed Boy". The New Yorker. May 7, 1949.
^Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 908; Laufende Nummer: 1495; Source Information:mAncestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Eheregister und Namensverzeichnisse. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, Deutschland. Name: Mathilde LanteMontefeltro Della Rovere; Maiden Name: Davis; Gender: weiblich (Female); Spouse: Antonio LanteMontefeltro Della Rovere: Child: Thomas Ludovicus LanteMontefeltro Della Rovere.
^"Married. VEROSPI – DAVIS". The New York Times. November 4, 1861. Retrieved June 18, 2020. In Paris, on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Church of St. Roch, by the Abbe de Roquefeuil, the Marquis ANGELO GAVOTTI VEROSPI, of Rome, Italy, to LIZZIE, daughter of Thomas E. Davis, of this City