John Joseph Davies, the son of Geoffery and Honora Davies, was born on May 24, 1841 in Kentstown, Galway, Ireland. In Ireland he married his first wife Mary Ann O’Riordan, who was born in 1849, in 1879 in England. Mary died on February 5, 1879 while still in England. After her death and in the same year John married his second wife, Rebecca Victoria Scofield who was born in England in 1875. She died on July 3, 1946 in Victoria and was buried in Perth, Westeran Australia. Children included  Isobella who was born in 1874 and died in 1950 in Queensland; Adrian, born in 1875 in England and died in 1951 in Perth, Western Australia;  Thomas Frederick born in 1876 and died in 1957, Delia Clare born in 1878 in England and died in 1922 and  Sara Ann born in 1886 and died in 1962.

John was educated at Trinity College,. Dublin R.C. and was a Civil Engineer who migrated to America and served in the Civil Engineer Corps during the American Civil War. The Confederacy established a Corps of Engineers commanded by five different Commanders during the war. The Confederate Engineers obtained the services of trained Officers who had resigned from the U.S. Army, and Civilian Engineers who volunteered their services; but they lacked equipment and maps when the war began. Equipment was purchased from foreign countries, captured from the enemy, and manufactured in the South, but deficiencies continued throughout the war. Among other duties, Engineer Officers energetically prepared maps that were quickly distributed to the various army commands.  A detachment would typically consist of one or two Engineers, two Engineer Sergeants and several non-rated enlisted men, sometimes pulled from the ranks of other branches. In 1863, the Confederate Congress had passed legislation assigning a company of engineer troops to every division in the field. They consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Confederate Engineer Troops. The troops were drawn from each division and selected based on their experience in the mining or construction trades. Each company consisted of 100 men commanded by a captain and three lieutenants. The newly formed companies, consisting of 4,000 soldiers dedicated to engineer operations, were said to have been superior to the Union Army's ad hoc system, which relied on employing soldiers as engineers as needed. By 1865, the Confederate Army had many more engineer officers in the field than the Union Army. The Confederate Engineer Corps had 13 regular officers, 115 provisional officers drawn mostly from “civilian engineers”, and an additional 188 non-engineer officers assigned to engineer troops. The engineer troops of the Confederacy were generally committed to constructing and improving field fortifications deployed to the coastal and interior defenses, and were superior to their Union counterparts in that capacity. At times, engineers were also used to maintain and improve the Confederate railway system. The 2nd Confederate Engineers were assembled during the summer of 1863 with men from almost every Confederate state east of the Mississippi River, but it did not serve as a single command. Companies "A" and "E" were stationed at Fort Fisher, North Carolina; "B", "F", and "I" were at Forts Gaines and Morgan, in Alabama; "D" was at Fort McAllister, Georgia; and "C", "G", "H", and "K" were in Virginia. The latter four companies served under Col. T. M. R. Talcott of the 1st Engineers Regiment, for the most part. The individual companies surrendered with the army or department in which they were serving, and those with the Army of Northern Virginia totalled 97 officers and men.

John was said to have fought, or worked, for the Confederate States of America Engineers Corps; possibly deserting near the end of the war; realizing as many had that the south had lost. The legend is that John did so by jumping aboard a train load of what he thought was firewood at night; but as it turned out that he was hiding among, not logs, but a load of stiff dead bodies.  After the war John worked as an Engineer with the Great Northern Co. Railway and other major schemes until he eventually migrated back to England; and eventually, on to Australia. After migrating from England to Australia, John worked again as a Civil Engineer with the Queensland Railways and at a number of other important posts. He finally arrived in Perth, Western Australia, but refused a Government appointment offered him by Government appointed Chief Engineer, C.Y. O'Conner, and instead  became a hotel-keeper; and was said to have been responsible for some notable engineering projects.  He called his house "Richmond", possibly as a result of his service to the South.  He did end up working as a Civil Engineer in Australia, however, being appointed on May31, 1880, by the Secretary of Public Works; for £5 per week.

John’s brother, Netterville Routledge Davies, served on the opposite side with the Union during the American Civil War; neither of the brothers supposedly knew they were on opposite sides at the time of the war, with it all becoming clear after they returned home.  It did not seem to split the family, however, as they continued with cordial relations after arriving in Australia. They were both from a wealthy family at the time and had no need to become involved in the conflict; leaving everyone to wonder why in fact they did become involved.  After the war’s end they both returned to the England and then migrated, at separate times, to Queensland and then on to Western Australia. 

John Joseph Davies last place of residence is recorded as 114 Brisbane Street Perth and he died on April 15, 1907 at 65 years of age and was buried at the Karrakatta Cemetery in the Roman Catholic Section BA, gravesite number 0198. His daughter Delia Clare Davies who died on July 26, 1922 at afe 41 is also buried at the same location. Alongside, in gravesite number 0199 (it is in fact a double gravesite) his wife Rebecca Victoria Davies who died on July 31, 1946 at age 92, is buried. Also buried in gravesite 0199 is Thomas Frederick Davies, who died on July 16, 1958; but his relationship is not known.

Al McDonell, Metropolitan Cemeteries Board

Blue Book of Queensland

Confederate Engineers in the American Civil War, Engineer: The Professional Bulletin

          for Army Engineers,First Lieutenant Shaun Martin

David Hill

Dictionary of West Australians Vol 5 Perth, UWA Press, 1986

Garry & Gail Davies, descendants

History of the Confederate Engineers

Jenny Marshall, Royal Western Australian Historical Society Inc.