Welcome to this weeks Scavenger Hunt and as you can see, it's a joint Hunt this week. Let's see if the two can be joined up.
Good Luck and Good Hunting
Barbara
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Here are the details for Royd's and my Scavenger Hunt. We'd really love to have some fresh eyes look at what we've found, and take us further.
This is a scavenger hunt for Royd’s ancestor Daniel Cork(e) and my ancestor Richard Cork(e).[The name is spelled both ways in various sources]
We think they are brothers, but haven’t been able to prove it despite lots of research and help from the Kent board. Fresh eyes much appreciated.
Both, on their marriage certificates, have father Richard Cork(e), labourer. Both lived in the same area of Kent.
Richard Cork jnr was baptised in Cudham, Kent, February 1840, son of Richard Cork and Jane. Richard snr is a labourer, and travelling in work – the first suggestion this is a travelling family.
1861: Richd Cork, 19, Ordinary Seaman 2nd class, born Goodham, Kent, on HMS Britannia, Portsmouth. Class/RG9 Piece/4483 Folio/23 Page/14
Naval records, show him born August 9th, 1841, Cudham, Kent.
Oct 1864, he marries my great great grandmother Eliza Miller (1846, Seal, Kent), in Sevenoaks, aged 23, as Richard Corke, occupation seaman, resident in Seal, father Richard Corke, labourer. Eliza is shown as aged 20, but she was only 17, and 3 months’ pregnant with my great grandmother.
1871: Richard Cork with another “wife”(Charlotte Jane [Tolhurst]) aged 30, born Cobham, farm labourer, Northfleet, Kent. Class/RG10 Piece/896 Folio/12 Page/15
(1871 Eliza Miller Cork is with another “husband”. All Eliza’s subsequent details are known).
Richard and Charlotte had daughter Charlotte in 1872, and son Arthur Friend Cork in 1873 in Chatham. Oct 1874 they marry, but since Richard is still married, he uses his mother’s name, Cooley.
The family all take that name, and he lives and works in Chatham till he dies in 1896 as Richard Cooley.
The Cooley connection helped us link Richard jnr to the correct family.
Father Richard Corke snr baptised in Stone, Kent, in 1812, son of Richard Corke, labourer, and Sarah.
In 1840 he’s at the baptism of son Richard jnr(as above), and Feb 23rd 1851 in Pyrford, Surrey at the baptism of his son Stephen.
He may be the Richard Corke sentenced in Oct 1849,Folkestone, to six months for two counts of fraud.
1861 in Seal, Kent, with wife Jane (c1820, Chertsey), and children Jane (1842, Ightham), James (1848, Reigate), Eliza (1853, Seal), Alice (1856, Seal), and Elizabeth (1859, Seal). Class/RG9 Piece/487 Folio/33 Page/4
Son Stephen is with his sister Sarah (1837, Seal) whose married name is Lowder/Louder, Wrotham. Class/RG9 Piece/ 486 Folio/102 Page/4. We have the details of Sarah's marriage to Peter Lowder, 1859, as Sarah Cooley.
Another child, Mary Ann (1862, Seal) was born before mother Jane’s death in 1867.
1871 widowed Richard is in Offham, Kent, with Stephen, Alice, Elizabeth and Mary Ann. Class/RG10 Piece/919 Folio/12 Page/16
1881 he is in Trottiscliffe, with another “wife”, and daughter Mary Ann with her illegitimate son. Class/RG11 Piece/903 Folio/28 Page/10
1891 he is living with “daughter” Sarah, (Sarah Lowder of the 1861), who may be his stepchild. She was baptised in Seal, in 1837, as Sarah Cooley, mother shown as Jane Cooley, traveller. She names Richard Cork as father on her second marriage to James Dalton, and in 1891 Richard is “father” living with her and James, Sundridge. Class/RG12 Piece/674 Folio/47 Page/2
Richard dies in 1891, in Otford.
The family used both Corke and Cooley names, probably because Richard Corke and Jane Cooley may not have married. Eg daughter Jane Cork, baptised Ightham Dec 1842 as daughter of Richard and Jane, is shown as Corke in the 1861. However, she is Jane Cooley as witness at her brother Richard’s bigamous marriage, 1874 Chatham, and marries 1878 Chatham as Jane Cooley to John Hedges, giving father Richard Cooley, basketmaker.
Now for Daniel (c1845, Chelsea)
1861 in Shoreham, Kent, he is Daniel Clarke, aged 16. We’re his place of birth is Chelsea, Mddx. Shoreham is about 4 miles from Seal, where the Corkes are living. Class/RG9 Piece/487 Folio/100 Page/8
He marries Olive Martin in April 1870, Maidstone. No family witnesses.
1871 in Offham, Kent, next door to Richard Corke snr (as above) and close to Richard’s son James Corke, married to Harriet Parris (cousin of Daniel’s wife Olive). Daniel is born Chelsea, Mddx. Class/RG10 Piece/919 Folio/12 Page/16
1881 Daniel is in Frindsbury, as is James Corke, a couple of doors away in Oak Street. Daniel born Chelsea, Surrey. Class/RG11 Piece/881 Folio/28 Page/ 12
1891 in Eynsford, in 1901 and 1911 in Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey. All these Censuses show pob Chelsea. James Corke is not next door, but not far away – in 1891 in Hoo, in 1901 back in Frindsbury, in 1911 in Wainscott.
Can anyone find the Corkes in 1851 which should have Richard Corke/Jane Cooley and many of their family, including Richard jnr and Daniel together? Can anyone find a baptism for Daniel Corke – all the rest of the family we have the records for. Was he really born in Chelsea?
Can anyone find the family in 1841?
Thank you!
