I would like to tell the migration stories of some of my ancestors: Who were they, why did they move, and how did they do it? Difficult to know everything, of course, but below I'll use the records that are available to me to tell that story. I'll do my best to distinguish between the records and my speculation.
Charles Rubidge (1787-1787)
Charles Rubidge is my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather, so 6 generations back.
Charles Rubidge was the 2nd son of Robert Rubidge and Margaret Ann Gilmour of London. To get some idea of the social class of this family, let's look at their occupations. Robert Rubidge had several occupations, including Musician, Hosier, and Commission traveller. The fact that he switched careers could mean that the large family had some financial difficulties. He sent his first two sons, Robert Henry and Charles, into the Royal Navy as children, to be trained into officers, after Margaret Ann died (apparently in childbirth). Robert Rubidge had six children that survived to adulthood: two from his first marriage, and four from his second. The third son, Joseph William, was an artist, a painter whose portrait of Napoleon on his death bed was widely distributed as an engraving. The fourth son, Frederick Preston, was a surveyor and architect, and the sixth son was a barrister in Port Hope, Upper Canada.
Robert Henry Rubidge emigrated to South Africa in 1821. and Charles Rubidge emigrated to Canada in 1819. Three of the other brothers ended up emigrating to Canada soon after (maybe around 1825).
Charles wrote of his motivation for emigrating to Canada, written some time between 1826 and 1838:
"When I was residing near Swansea in South Wales, I happened one day to be dining at the house of an esteemed friend, when the conversation commenced by some one, after dinner, speaking about the Canadas, the probable chance of mending our fortunes, providing for our families, and mode of proceeding. At the time, it appeared mere conversation. However, it made such a deep impression on us all, that from that day we never met without renewing the subject, reading every work we could procure, both on these Provinces, and the United States of America, and gaining what information we could from every person who had ever been in Canada. My brother shortly afterwards removed to Swansea, in order to accompany my friend, who had also made up his mind to emigrate; but a severe domestic loss prevented the former from going, and changed his views: but I had come to the determination to go to Canada; for I found that with a limited income of L.100 a-year, it was impossible to maintain, with proper respectability, that situation in life which my profession called for. My family consisted of a wife and three children, from seven to three years old."
So the motivation was certainly financial --an income of L.100 a year is not much. For comparison, consider the amounts mentioned in Jane Austen novels -- the rich men have incomes measured in thousands a year. But this family was not from that environment! Maybe better to consider what you could buy with L. 100. According to Charles, he had to borrow L.200 to move his family to Canada: half of that for tools and clothing, and the remainder for the voyage and provisions. He noted that he repaid this debt in 1825. Other comparisons: in Canada around 1838, a farm of 100 acres with a log house and a barn, could be L.200 or L.250, and could easily spend L.500 more to build a good frame house and clear and fence the land.
Read "Backwoods of Canada" Catherine Parr Strickland Traill.
My impression is that Charles Rubidge greatly improved his status by moving to Canada. He did have to literally live in the bush, but he and his family became locally prominent.
Sarah Maria Russell (1815-1891)
Sarah Maria Russell is my grandfather's great-grandmother, so 5 generations back.
She and her sister, Ann Elizabeth Russell, came from Jamaica to Upper Canada some time between 1826 and 1844. Sarah Maria Russell married Charles Rubidge's eldest son Charles Portlock Rubidge. Ann Elizabeth Russell married Dr. William Best. They all lived in the Peterborough area.
Sarah Maria Russell was the daughter of Joseph Russell (1770-1820) and Ann Elizabeth Burton (1781-c1826-1829). Joseph Russell was a landowner and slaveowner in Jamaica. Ann Elizabeth Burton was a "free woman of color." The law in Jamaica restricted the inheritance Joseph Russell could provide to Ann Elizabeth or her children. Side note: These restrictions were severe and essentially unavoidable. For a person of color to own substantial property (over a certain value), the individual would have to petition the Jamaican Assembly for special Privilege, but apparently even that was impossible in 1820. Ann Elizabeth Burton did own property and people in Jamaica, at least from 1817 to 1826.
Joseph Russell died in England in 1820, and his will provided for non-transferable annuities for his Jamaican family: L.200 a year for Ann Elizabeth Burton, and L.100 each to her daughters Sarah Maria and Ann Elizabeth. These amounts are Jamaican currency, which is slightly less valuable than pounds sterling. But it is a significant amount, more than Charles Rubidge's naval income, and could have provided the means to leave Jamaica. Ann Elizabeth Burton died some time between 1826 and 1829. Her children would still have been young when she died. How would these two children, now parentless, have managed their inheritance and been able to emigrate to Canada? They did not come to Canada poor, or as servants to others -- they married into locally respected Canadian families, without hiding where they came from.
The Russell Name: Sarah Maria's first son was named Charles Russell Rubidge(1845-1928). So the Russell name was significant to pass on in this way.
Race: 1861 Canadian census lists Sarah Maria Rubidge and her sister Ann E Best as "Mulatto" born in Jamaica. The 1851 and 1871 censuses did not record race. The 1871 census did record "Origin," which was given as "English" for Sarah Maria Rubidge. Very few other non-white Jamaican immigrants in this time period.
Charles Russell Rubidge: In 1880 and 1900 US censuses, he gave his mother's birthplace (inaccurately) as England. But in 1910 and 1920 US censuses, he gave his mother's birthplace (accurately) as Jamaica, West Indies, or Jamaica Island. In each of these censuses, his race was listed as white.
What is the connection with Canada? The British Empire? Charles Rubidge had sailed to Jamaica in 1800. He could have known other officers of the Royal Navy there?
https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2293
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/77875/livesayd_1.pdf
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146647713