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Post by cooksj on Oct 5, 2012 16:25:44 GMT
Hi, I've been researching my family history for about 4 months now and am not progressing as well as I'd like with my paternal line.
I was born a Cook in Blackburn, Lancashire and the family appear to have been around the areas of Oldham, Dukinfield, Stockport and Ashton under Lyne for a significant period of time.
The most recent family member linked with Thameside is Frank Cook (1866 Oldham) who married Sarah Griffin (1865 Hurst, Ashton) in 1888.
I'm in the process of getting copies of certificates, one by one and believe the following to be fathers and fathers - John Cook (1832 Cheshire) married to Elizabeth Wilkinson (1832 Stockport, later to become Hadfield).
George Cook (1803 Stalybridge) and James Cook (1767 Mottram in Longdendale).
If anybody can help, then I'd be extremely grateful.
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Woody
Full Member
Posts: 241
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Post by Woody on Oct 7, 2012 14:27:46 GMT
I don't know whether the following information applies to your family or whether it’s just a set of coincidences which need a lot of further investigation. The Parish registration entry for John Cook's marriage to Elizabeth Wilkinson gives his father's name as George, occupation 'publican'. In the 1828 Pigot Directory for Ashton-under-Lyne', there's a tavern called 'The Eagle' listed at Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. It doesn't get a mention in the guide to old pubs of Ashton so I suspect it was sited at the Stalybridge end of Stamford Street. Anyway, in 1828 the landlord was George Cook and the place was still there in 1853 when the landlady was Elizabeth Cook. In the 1853 Bagshaw Directory, the address of 'The Eagle' was listed simply as 'Staley' and, in the 1874 Morris Directory, there’s a Mrs Betty Cook living at 130 Stamford Street, Stalybridge. Apart from the Directory entries, one specific event in 1838 is recognised because it was the date upon which agreement was reached about the construction of St Paul's Church on Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge ..... "A meeting was held on the 9th May 1835 in the Eagle Inn to which 13 gentlemen attended; 12 local mill owners and a local solicitor. They were all of the opinion that a new church should be built in the township of Stayley. A subscription list was opened at the meeting and 1,040 pounds was pledged and which was found to be over a quarter of the money required to build the new church. The Earl of Stamford donated 10,627 square yards of land upon which to build the church and for the original grave yard". The several references I've found provide conflicting information about the precise address of 'The Eagle' but although it no longer exists, I think the place was still there in November 1903. There's a local newspaper report of a scam involving the explosion of poultry which also, in the same paragraph, refers to it as both Eagle Hotel and Eagle Inn but it's almost certainly the same place. There’s also a reference to it being the meeting place for the Freemasons of Moira Lodge which places 'The Eagle' in the Thompson Cross area of Stamford Street between Norman Road and the playing field at West Hill School. If George Cook was dead by the time of his son's marriage in 1854, I would have expected John's marriage registration certificate to indicate that. That being so, I would also have expected to find both John and his father in the 1841 and 1851 census returns but although there are literally hundreds with those names, there's nothing conclusive for either of yours. Elizabeth Cook’s (Wilkinson) second marriage in 1870 was to Robert Hadfield, a widower with children from his former marriage to Leonora (Mallinder). She died 1869 at Dukinfield aged 33 years, which would have allowed Robert to re-marry, but I can’t find a reason for husband John Cook’s disappearance from the family scene. Robert and Elizabeth are in the same house at Newton in the 1871 census together with both sets of children; Elizabeth’s children are listed as ‘Hadfield’ but have the tag ‘Cook’ added as differentiation. I only found one death record that fits John's age exactly – 1868 in the London Road District of Manchester - and if you want to explore that one, the certificate reference is LRD/62/192. Of course it may also have been that he committed some serious crime which meant he was unlikely to return any time soon. The final bit of information is a Stockport marriage in 1803 between George Cook and Betty Petty where his occupation is given as 'Innkeeper of Ashton under Line, Lancaster'. Again, this might just add to the coincidences but it might also get you a bit further forward. You’ll find the Directories I used at www.historicaldirectories.org, but put a few hours aside because although searches are free, the process is cumbersome and patience is the order of the day until you become used to navigation around the site. I kept copies of the records if you want them.
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Post by cooksj on Oct 9, 2012 17:53:33 GMT
Hi Woody,
Many many thanks for this, this is brilliant. I've only been doing this for about 5 months now, primarily through 'ancestry', with the help of the bmd's, Lancashire opc and family search.
'Historicaldirectories' is a new one for me which I'll get onto as soon as I can.
When I set out on this journey back through time, so to speak, I was thinking that my paternal line would be easy to trace. The Cumberland and Yorkshire lines in my family tree have much more activity whereas aside from a bit with Elizabeth Wilkinson/Hadfield, there's been pretty much nothing. Internet searches proved fruitless too.
I'll print your reply out at work tomorrow, arm myself with pad and pen and christen my new white-board that I just put up today.
All fascinating stuff, many thanks for your time and I will pm you as to how I get on.
With regards to your findings, I've found a death certificate for a John Cook from Dec 1868 in Manchester (ancestry), I have the 2nd marriage to Robert Hadfield, George Cook (1803) married to a Mary (1801) ? and George with the parents James Cook (1767) and Betty Nield (1770). But anything after John Cook is more a shot in the dark really at this stage.
I have requested a copy of John and Elizabeth's marriage certificate and with the documents that I have of his son Frank (1866) and his grandson Ernest James (1891) I'm confident that I'm on track with John. Just as a side-note, Ernest's 2nd child/son Stanley who is my grandfather is 90 in two days. Sadly though I won't be there as I'm in Qatar, but my 14 month old son James will go and see him with the wife.
Amazing how interesting/fascinating this all is once you start digging.
Many thanks again and I'll let you know how I get on.
Simon
p.s. Anything you've kept, I'd greatly appreciate. Dates and names are great but stories/facts are what make these things seem more real.
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Woody
Full Member
Posts: 241
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Post by Woody on Oct 10, 2012 11:55:49 GMT
I’ll happily do that, Simon but I suggest that you PM an e-mail address to me because we can’t send attachments through the message board. I’ve just provided my own address for you via PM, and Gay has found more information about The Eagle which I can also send.
Apart from me forgetting that Stamford Street ran from Ashton as far as Portland Place in Stalybridge, I’d also overlooked the significance of John Cook’s occupation as a spindle maker. We are assuming that in order for his wife to be free to remarry, John must have died but this isn't necessarily the case. His occupation might provide an alternative reason for his disappearance between the 1861 census and Elizabeth's re-marriage in 1870.
I'd also forgotten that this was the era of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, caused when supplies of raw cotton from the USA dried up almost completely because of blockades due to the Civil War there. Whereas the 1850s had seen rapid expansion of the cotton industry across the entire Tameside district and a consequent doubling of the population, the first half of the following decade saw just the opposite and starvation became the order of the day for thousands of Lancashire families between 1860-1865.
For example by 1864 at Glossop, there were 686 empty houses, 65 empty shops and 15 empty beer houses, the exodus caused primarily by evictions. In 1863, unemployment stood in Stalybridge alone stood at over 7000 cotton operatives, 75% of the town’s workforce, and with no Welfare State people were dependent on charity, an underpinning cause of the ‘Stalybridge Bread Riots’ in March 1863. There’s a thorough account of these riots in ‘Bygone Stalybridge’ which is worth a read. You can access the book free if you Google the title.
The spring of 1864 saw a wave of emigration stimulated by special agencies. The steamship companies cut their rates: steerage to New York cost £3 15s 6d (about £56 today). The Australian and New Zealand governments offered free passage, and 1,000 people had emigrated by August 1864, 200 of them from Glossop.
It was quite usual for husbands in these circumstances to travel alone in advance and establish themselves before sending for the family, even if they ever arrived alive, even if they ever sent for the family. I just wonder if ............. !!
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