Pyke, Eleanor Fish
(1834 - 1912)
Eleanor Frances “Ella” Fish was born on May 22, 1834 in Providence, the second of seven children of Daniel Bowen Fish and Sophronia Tobey.
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Eleanor broke with family tradition by marrying an Englishman—Samuel Pyke, a marble cutter. They married in 1856 when she was 22, and they had three children: Jane “Jennie” Collins Pyke, James Tobey Pyke, and a daughter, Ella, who died in infancy. The year of 1904 was a difficult one for Eleanor—her daughter Jennie died in April, and her husband Samuel in December.
And in that same year, young Howard P. Lovecraft (the future “weird fiction” writer) and his mother moved in next door, around the corner on Angell Street.
Howard’s grandfather had also died in 1904. Eleanor Pyke and Sarah “Susie” Lovecraft shared a neighborhood, old New England ancestry, and the recent death of a family member; it is likely that they spent some time together. Certainly James and Howard became close.
James would get out of the shoe business within a few years of his father’s death, and turn his attention full time to his poetry. Eleanor also fancied herself a poet—she must have been delighted when her son James showed the same inclination.
Eleanor Pyke died on August 26, 1912.
Catherine Beyer Hurst, MBA, Writer and Community Historian
Gallery
Eleanor F. Pyke (1834-1912)
Eleanor Frances “Ella” Fish was born on May 22, 1834 in Providence, the second of seven children of Daniel Bowen Fish and Sophronia Tobey. Daniel and Sophronia both came from old New England families; Daniels’s grandfather, also Daniel, was from Dighton, MA and had served in the Revolutionary War. Sophronia’s father, Archelaus Tobey, was born in Sandwich, MA and was descended from an old Sandwich family dating back to the 17th century.
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Eleanor broke with family tradition by marrying an Englishman—Samuel Pyke, a marble cutter. They married in 1856 when she was 22, and they had three children: Jane “Jennie” Collins Pyke, James Tobey Pyke, and a daughter, Ella, who died in infancy. By 1865, Samuel had gone into the boot and shoe business with Sophronia’s father and brother; both of Eleanor’s parents and her brother were living with her, Daniel, Jennie, and James at 98 North Main Street. Their store was housed at several different locations on North and South Main Street during this period.
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By the time of the 1900 federal census, Samuel and Eleanor had moved up the hill to a home at 237 Butler Street. Their son James, who had gone to Brown University and become an ordained Congregational minister, had by this time given up the ministry due to health concerns; he was living with his parents and working with his father in the shoe business. Their daughter Jennie had married a Brown University classmate of James’s, Gibbs Braislin, who had also become a minister.
The year of 1904 was a difficult one for Eleanor—her daughter Jennie died in April, and her husband Samuel in December.
​
And in that same year, young Howard P. Lovecraft (the future “weird fiction” writer) and his mother moved in next door, around the corner on Angell Street.
​
Howard’s grandfather had also died in 1904. Eleanor Pyke and Sarah “Susie” Lovecraft shared a neighborhood, old New England ancestry, and the recent death of a family member; it is likely that they spent some time together. Certainly James and Howard became close.
​
James would get out of the shoe business within a few years of his father’s death, and turn his attention full time to his poetry. Eleanor also fancied herself a poet—she must have been delighted when her son James showed the same inclination. Eleanor Pyke died on August 26, 1912.
Catherine Beyer Hurst, MBA, Writer and Community Historian
Further Reading