Ellen Marion RANDELL 1867
Ellen Marion Randell was born in Ixworth, Suffolk in December 1867. She was the first child born to Nathaniel Randell and his second wife Emma Drake. Ellen lived in Ixworth with her parents and brothers and sisters.
Ixworth was described around the time as "anciently called Gisworth, standing on the river Thet, and consists of two neat and well built streets. It has a post office, a police station; and is a seat of petty sessions. The church has a tower, and contains a brass of 1567. There is a Wesleyan chapel, and a national school for boys and girls financed by subscription."
By 1891 Ellen, was in fact a teacher and had secured a position with the local school. She was documented in Kelly's 1896 Directory as "Miss Randell, one of three staff at the Ixworth National School". Ellen's younger cousin Annie Mary Randell, born in Holt was also recorded as a school teacher in the 1891 census.
Ellen Marion Randell, age 30, married Samuel Pye Cubitt in Ixworth, April 1897. After which she left Ixworth and to move to her new home in Market Place, Epworth. Epworth, the birth place of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, is a small village near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. Samuel had his own shop, as a General Dealer. Today a general dealer, in so much as the concept exists, would be a miniature department store trying to provide an entire village with every possible option over a single counter.
By 1901 their household comprised, the young couple, their 2 month old baby Douglas, a domestic servant and a boarder Ellen Thwaites. Next door however, lived Samuel's parents, Samuel and Sarah Ann Cubitt and staying with them was grandson Michael Randell Cubitt who was obviously Ellen's first child.
In a weird coincidence in 1911 the Cubitt family were still not under a single roof, in fact they were stretched far and wide over the country. Samuel was working in Castleford, the two boys were in what I presume to be the family home and Ellen was a visitor at her mothers house in High Street, Ixworth. Ellen was caring for her third child Cyril, who was around 15 months old and born in Trimingham.
Michael aged 12 and Douglas aged 10 were in Trimingham accompanied by boarder and Head Teacher Alice Holman. Alice was around the same age as Ellen and was presumably a connection from her teaching days. The total household comprised of five people, the other two were Servant, Leah Bishop and Companion Help, Jennie Cornish, both aged around twenty.
The couple re-appeared 8 March 1935 when they were recorded by USA Immigration Officials crossing the border between Buffalo, USA and Ontario, Canada. It's clear from the information they provided, that they were in transit and had visited England.
At the time they state their home address as 134 Erskine Avenue, Toronto and significantly their nationality as Canadian. Ellen records her arrival in Canada as August 1912 on the Royal George, embarking in Montreal. They also nominate nephew, Harold Edwin Randell, 35 Orchard Ave, Toronto, as their contact in Canada. However, on the passenger list of the return journey they nominate Douglas Cubitt, Stone Merton Street, Toronto as a contact.
Samuel and Ellen Cubitt were passengers on the 'Majestic' which sailed to New York. A short physical description of the couple was included in the documentation, not surprisingly both had grey hair with Ellen having blue eyes whilst Samuel, aged 66 years had matching grey eyes and hair. The questionnaire filled out by the couple reassuringly asserted that neither of them had ever been arrested and they had 30 dollars with them.
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Samuel Pye CUBITT 1868
There are several things about Samuel Pye Cubitt that are notable, the most obvious is his middle name. Pye however, is simply his grandmother's maiden name. She was Frances Pye and she married farmer, Samuel Cubitt, 7 November 1832. Samuel Cubitt owned a 28 acre farm in Trimingham.
Samuel Cubitt and Francis Pye had a son Samuel Cubitt born around 1841. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Trimingham, most likely, James Randell.
Blacksmith, Samuel Cubitt married Sarah Ann Armitage, April 1867 in Castleford, Yorkshire and this leads to a second curiosity. Samuel Pye Cubitt was the only child of Sarah Ann Armitage and Samuel Cubitt. Sarah Ann, born 1827 in nearby Glasshoughton, Yorkshire and was fourteen years older than her husband and almost 40 when Samuel Pye arrived. During this period Samuel Cubitt, blacksmith lived and worked in Castleford, Yorkshire.
Samuel Pye was born in Castleford in 1868 and followed the well trodden path of a Yorkshire blacksmiths son by becoming an assistant draper in a haberdashery. His career progressed well and by the time he married Ellen Marion Randell in 1897 he was in a position to run his own shop. In the first year of their marriage they moved to Market Place, Epworth in Lincolnshire and opened a General Dealer shop. His parents followed them to Lincolnshire and in 1901 were living as their immediate neighbour's.
A third point of curiosity is how did the couple meet. Even rudimentary geography places them born 200 miles apart. Samuel senior's Trimingham connection may provide an answer. Even if he wasn't the apprentice of James Randell, he must have known the Olley family, who literally supplied a good percentage of the Trimingham population. This would put him in contact with fellow blacksmith, James Randell, husband of Esther Susannah Olley and James Randell was Ellen Marion Randell's uncle. Thus a tentative link is forged.
Just to complicate things Samuel Pye Cubitt's mother, Sarah Ann died in 1906 and in 1915 Samuel Pye's widowed father married James Randell's daughter, Mary Susannah Randell.
In 1911 Samuel Pye Cubitt was recorded staying at 126 Low Oxford Street, Castleford. His details reveal that he was a 'Draper Traveller' staying at the home of Simeon Hull a Grocers Manager. Both Simeon Hull and his wife came from the London area.
Samuel Pye Cubitt, Ellen Marion Randell and their three boys, Cyril, Douglas and Michael, evidently emigrated to Canada in 1912. According to the brief information supplied in 1935 as they crossed the border into the USA, they had arrived in Canada in August 1912 having sailed on the Royal George and arrived in Montreal. They had settled in Toronto and later were joined by Ellen's nephew Harold Edwin Randell.
I was unable to find a record of the family arriving in Canada in 1912 but found an earlier passenger list of the SS Canada, dated 22 July 1904 which has Samuel Pye Cubitt travelling to Quebec. It contains several brief details, married, aged 36 years, Manager, and current address Lincolnshire.
I was unable to find any other detail relating to the trip but presumably having completed a first expedition, the family inspired by the opportunities migrated and lived out the remainder of their lives in Canada.
Samuel and Ellen had the following children:
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