William Heath Davis

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William Heath Davis
William Heath Davis

William Heath "Kanaka" Davis, Jr. (1822–April 1909) was an early settler of San Diego, California, USA.

Davis was born 1822 in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) to William Heath Davis, Sr. and his wife, a daughter of Oliver Holmes and relative of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.. Both were from Boston families in the shipping trade. His nickname "Kanaka" refers to Davis's Hawaiian birth.

Davis first visited California as a boy in 1831, then again in 1833 and 1838. The last time he joined his uncle as a store clerk in Monterey and Yerba Buena (now San Francisco). He started a business in San Francisco and became a prominent merchant and ship owner.

Davis married María de Jesus, daughter of José Joaquin Estudillo, of San Leandro rancho near San Francisco Bay and son of José María Estudillo. The Davises had at least one daughter, Anna Maria, born c. 1849. About the same time he moved to San Diego.

Davis was the original founder of New Town San Diego, an attempt to build a new community closer to San Diego Bay than the original Old Town San Diego, which was located below the Presidio of San Diego at the foot of a hill a mile inland. It was variously called New Town, Graytown, and "Davis's Folly". Davis believed a town closer to the waterfront would prosper and recruited José Antonio Aguirre, Miguel Pedrorena, Lt. Andrew B. Gray, and William C. Ferrell as partners in the venture. A depression in 1851 caused the venture to fail. Later, in 1867, the idea was revived by Alonzo Horton, with a new subdivision just to the east of Davis's plot, and became a success.

The oldest building in New Town is the William Heath Davis House, a pre-fab "saltbox"-style home shipped from the east coast and built in 1850. It wasn't Davis's house, but of the same style and age of the Davis home that was on State and F Streets. The house is open to the public today as a museum at 410 Island Ave.

The original plaza for New Town is not today's Horton Plaza, but New Town Plaza, which still exists and is bounded by F, G, Columbia, and India Streets.

Davis died in 1909 in San Leandro, in financial straits.

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