A Tale of Two Charlies.

Charlie Davis (1891(?) - 1944) 2nd Great Uncle.

Charlie and Adelaide Davis, 1942. Source: Personal collection of the author.

Many years ago, my grandmother told me about a beloved aunt and uncle.

Her aunt, my 2nd great aunt, Adelaide Price, was her mother's elder sister, born on August 16, 1895 in Renfrew, Ontario, the child of George Alfred Price and Catherine Adelaide Victoria Lewis. When the family came west, sometime between 1899 and 1901, Adelaide came with them, accompanied by 6 sisters and one brother, and settled in Saskatoon, SK. Adelaide lived a life that left few documents - we know from the 1916 Prairie Provinces census that she was living at a farm in the district of Kindersley, working as a servant. She shows up again in the 1921 Census of Canada, with a new name, Davis, and a new husband, Charles.

Uncle Charlie, or Chas, as my grandmother called him, was, by all accounts, a wonderful uncle, much loved by his nieces and nephews on Adelaide's side. He opened his home to my grandmother, who as a young woman moved to Saskatoon for work and lived with Adelaide and Charles. Family lore tells us that Charles was a very devoted husband to Adelaide, dying only a few days after her death in September 1944. It was said that he died of a broken heart. The couple did not have any children of their own.

Source: Original photo from the collection of the author. Top to bottom: George Lapointe, Charlie Davis, Adelaide Lapointe (seated on lap of Charlie Davis) Wilbrod Lapointe, Marie Lapointe (my maternal grandmother). Circa 1932.

Despite her fond memories and deep love of her uncle, my grandmother also tells me that she and her siblings were teased, sometimes ostracized as a result of her aunt and uncle's marriage.

It was because he was black.

It goes without saying that the marriage of Charles and Adelaide was unique for its time. Family lore tells us that they struggled to find a minister to marry them in Saskatoon - the marriage took place in nearby Delisle, Saskatchewan where they were able to find a minister who saw past colour and unite them as husband and wife. There is no doubt they struggled

throughout their entire marriage - perhaps to find housing, jobs or even social acceptance in their church and neighbourhood.

My initial research was was meant to explore the nature of a mixed race marriage in 1920s Saskatchewan, and what it might have meant for both Charlie and Adelaide. Having found a semi-accurate picture of Adelaide's life, I wanted a bit more detail on Charlie's life to flesh out their story. But after some basic searching - the federal census, Henderson directory and newspaper searches - this rabbit hole turned from a musing on early twentieth century race relations to something completely different.

Searching for Charlie Davis.

My first stop for clues about Charlie Davis was the federal census. Census records from 1931 and 1921 told me that Charlie Davis was born in the United States, that he was a member of the Church of England, that he was married to Adelaide Davis, that he worked as a chef and later a porter for a Railway company and that he was "negro" (a word that was the vernacular of the time).

However, the key details, such as his year of birth and date of immigration, were inconsistent.

• The 1921 census of Canada indicates he is 30 years old: making his birth year approximately 1891 and his immigration year of 1913.
  

• The 1931 census of Canada lists him as being 51 years old: which would make his birth year approximately 1880, and his immigration year 1909.

I was unable to find a Charles Davis that matched what I already knew in either the 1911 federal census records, or in the 1916 Prairie Provinces census.

Source: Page 1, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Monday, June 27, 1910

A Previous Wife and a Previous Life for Charlie Davis?

I went in for round two of research, looking for newspaper articles that might have mentioned either Charlie or Adelaide. It was there that the mystery deepened.

I came across a June 27th 1910 article in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix relaying a trial of a man accused of murdering his wife, the "coloured woman, Helen Davis". The defendant? Charlie Davis. According to the article, Charlie Davis immigrated from the United States (Texas) with his wife in 1909, after being married in Trinidad in 1906.

Could the Charlie Davis of the article be the same Charlie Davis who later married Adelaide Price? Its possible. The facts that line up include his race as well as the the fact that the immigration year mentioned in the newspaper article, and that listed in 1931 federal census was the same - 1909.

Thinking that perhaps there were two men named Charlie Davis living in Saskatoon around that time, I started combing through the 1911 Federal census records and Saskatoon Henderson Directories, in several years pre and post event, to find another Charlie Davis living in Saskatoon at the same time. Nothing appeared that aligned with the few facts I already had on hand about Charlie Davis.

As an aside, the "murder" was clearly an accident, and October 6, 1910 article in The Saskatoon Star Phoenix indicated that Charlie Davis was easily acquitted by the jury, with the verdict of non-culpable homicide. He was simply trying to defend his wife from an intruder, and the gun misfired. Its also worth noting that the press coverage of the time was highly sympathetic to Mr. Davis, who took the stand in his defense and showed deep remorse for the loss of his wife.

A Working Theory on the Two Charlies.

There is always the possibility that the Charlie Davis acquitted of his wife's murder and the Charlie Davis married to Adelaide Price are two different people. However, my working theory is that the Charlie Davis married to Adelaide, and the Charlie Davis acquitted of murdering his wife are one and the same. Details in the census record may have been guessed at or partially obscured to hide his past, especially given the 1921 census would have been conducted while Charlie and Adelaide were newlyweds. Perhaps he hadn't yet worked up the courage to tell her his past!

Its also possible that he left the country following his 1910 acquittal but prior to the 1911 federal census and came back to a different part of Canada, thus not being recorded on the the 1916 Prairie Provinces Survey. This theory gives credence to two different immigration dates listed in the 1921 and 1931 federal census - perhaps Charlie Davis came to Canada twice - first in 1909 with his first wife, Helen Davis, and then again in 1913 following a brief reprieve after the acquittal.

What's Next for the Two Charlies?

My next steps include locating immigration records for Charlie and Helen Davis - they would have had to enter the United States following their Trinidadian marriage in 1906 and then enter Canada from the United States in 1909. I also need to locate marriage records for both Charlie and Helen Davis and Charlie and Adelaide Davis - clues could be found in either of these documents. And of course, there could be further clues in the the1941 census. But that will have to wait until 2033!