In April 1881, Ellis Dawe was a bailiff at Marsh Farm.

Birth

Ellis was born at Melbury Osmond in 1812, the third child of Thomas Bodley Dawe and his wife, Mary. His father was a farmer; his mother was the daughter of Aaron Priddle, a farmer.

Marriage

On 10 March 1838, Ellis married Mary Cave at Yetminster. She was the daughter of William Cave, a shopkeeper.

Early married life

Ellis and Mary lived at Stockwood until about 1842 and then at Hilton until the early 1850s. In 1853, they were at Halstock, and in 1861, at Limington. The census records Ellis as a farm labourer at Stockwood and as a farm bailiff at Hilton and Limington. He was a dairyman at Halstock.

Separation from wife

Only the 1841 census recorded Ellis and Mary living together. In 1851, Mary and two of her children were visitors at Hound Street, Sherborne, in the household of John Stevens and his wife, Rebecca (nee Cave); in 1861, she was at Marsh Farm, staying with her brother-in-law, Francis Dawe; in 1871, she and two daughters lived in Tabernacle Lane, Yeovil; and in April 1881, she with her married daughter, Frances Freemantle, at 438 Old Ford Road, Bow, London. This evidence and the fact that their last child was born in 1853 suggests Ellis and Mary lived apart from the mid-1850s.

Wife’s death

Mary died in London on 23 December 1886, aged 68, and was interred at East Chinnock.[1]

Hardington

By April 1871, Ellis was living at Hardington Marsh in the household of his brother, Francis.

On Christmas Day 1875, he and his brother, Francis, helped extinguish the fire at William Newberry’s Farm.[2]

On 19 January 1888, Alfred Brown of Yeovil broke into Ellis’s house while he was at a sale at Marsh Farm.[3]

Retirement

In April 1891, Ellis was at Dawe’s Farm, East Chinnock, living as a retired farmer in the household of his nephew, William Taylor. In March 1901, Ellis was living alone at Partway Cottage.

Death

Ellis died on 27 or 29 October 1904 at Marsh Farm, aged 92.[4]

Children

Ellis and Mary had four sons and four daughters.

References

[1] Monumental inscription at East Chinnock.

[2] Western Gazette 31 December 1875 p. 5.

[3] Western Gazette, 3 February 1888, p.6.

[4] Western Chronicle, 4 November, p.6 says Ellis passed away “on Thursday,” which would be 27 October 1904, but Chard and Ilminster News, 5 November 1904, p.5, says he died on 29 October.