Another chapter in the early history of the San Juan Islands
THE FIRST WHITE FAMILY ON LOPEZ

by John Goekler
“The Islands’ Sounder” Wednesday July 21, 1993

When early settlers came to the San Juans, many did so as British subjects. They considered this British Territory and themselves English by tradition. They celebrated British holidays, and honored their sovereign, Queen Victoria. Lopez settlers James and Amelia Davis were descended from a long line of such loyalists. Thadeus Davis, James’ great-grandfather, fought for the Crown in the French and Indian Wars, and was taken prisoner by the Colonials in the American Revolution. That war was an economic disaster for the Davis family, because after America was declared a sovereign nation, Thadeus and all other Loyalists were dispossessed of their land. The family migrated to Ontario, near Niagara Falls, to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Two generations later, seeking a new life, Hezekiah Davis came to the Northwest, planning to settle in Dungeness. Deciding that he liked the area, he returned to Ontario in 1868 to persuade his son James, along with his wife Amelia and their three children, to move west with him.

They agreed and arrived in Dungeness, where James worked in a local mill and Amelia taught school. But the call of land drew them onward, and in 1869, James Davis hired a native boatman to transport him and his family across the Straits to Lopez Island.

They made the journey in a large canoe, bringing with them a cow, a pig, some chickens, a few planks to build a rudimentary shelter and 40 cents, their total remaining capital. When they stepped onto the shore of Lopez, they were the first native family on the Island. There were some - 20 other settlers on Lopez, but they were• either bachelors or had native wives.

Life on their 600-acre homestead was hard - the land being either swamp or spruce forest - - and the family struggled to clear and drain year they shot 238 bucks from the ridge pole of the barn, letting all the does pass by. James owned one suit of "store bought” clothes, which he donned to paddle over to Victoria in his canoe to trade. Later, when Rowland, the oldest son; took over the trading duties, he wore that same suit to town. For normal occasions, the men folk wore deerskin trousers and jackets sewn.

Despite all their efforts to remain British subjects, they were required to become US citizens after the 1873 political settlement was reached which declared the San Juans to be U.S. territory. The family had re-file for homestead rights, ending up with only some 220 acres from the American government.

Along with work – Amelia was noted for sleeping only four hours a night plus taking a one hour nap each day at noon - the family strove to support their island community. At various times, the Davis home served as the south end post office, Sunday school, library, hotel and dispensary. Amelia was the Sunday school superintendent, and James, who had two years of medical training, served as the local doctor.

He was also the children's tutor, reading to them each night from books he brought back from Victoria. In fact, the family loved reading so much that James typically spent half of his proceeds from trade On books, magazines and papers, which where carefully scrutinized for every scrap of information they contained, then loaned out to neighbors through their library.

As the island population grew, and their ranch flourished partly from to the Texas Longhorn cattle which James imported and sold as beef in Victoria - the Davis homestead served as a social center for neighbors. When Amelia purchased the first Singer sewing machine in the area, local women walked over to stitch their families’ clothing. Later, they gathered in the parlor on Saturday nights to sing because Amelia possessed the only organ on the island.

While James worked raising cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, horses, along with crops of fruit, berries, potatoes, vegetables, hay and grains, Amelia carded, spun, knitted and dyed wool, made the family’s clothes, and produced butter of such a high quality that it routinely brought 10 cents more than any other brand when shipped off to market. The kids – 11 in all – helped with ranch and chores.

Amelia made horseback visits to neighbors’ homes for tea. She also welcomed new arrivals into the community, and recruited members for one of her prime causes, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Her religious faith helped sustain the family through the loss of two children to diphtheria, another to drowning, and another to disease in Alaska, where she had gone to work as a missionary.

Amelia kept a detailed diary, and among the memories she recorded were natives dancing on the beach in front of the house, James rescuing a group of Chinese immigrants from a reef off the south end after they were abandoned by smugglers, the arrival of a new threshing machine, and the purchase of a stylish four-seat phaeton, perhaps to be drawn by a team of the family’s renowned Percheron draft horses.

As seems suitable for children raised on an island, or perhaps because they worked so hard o the ranch, most of the Davis children took to the sea. Rowlan became a ship’s captain, hauling lime from Roche Harbor to Tacoma. Arthur skippered tugboats, and Lindley, the youngest, formed Cary Davis Tug and Barge, a predecessor to Puget Sound Tug and Barge. Eunice married John Troxell, the locally famous fish trap builder, while young James married Troxell’s sister Mabel, and continued to work the ranch.

James Davis always remained loyal to England, claiming he never set out to change countries. But years later, when he and Amelia moved briefly back to Canada, he decided that he was, after all, pretty good American. They returned to their island home, and spent the rest of their lives in the community they helped to build.

Editor’s note: Davis is an old name on Lopez. Admiralty charts dating from 1859 list Davis Bay and Davis Point, (known locally as Jack Shear’s Point.) But these places were apparently named for another settler, not the James Davis family which subsequently homesteaded the area around Davis Bay.