Samuel Cooke
Samuel Cooke mar. 1765 Ann Bromley
______________l_____________
Thomas John Mary William m.1809 Mary ?Cook
___l_____________ l
Mark Thos. Thomas Wm Bromley m.1830 Anna M Smith
l l
Emma Louisa Wm B., Thos Smith, Robt Choyce, Geo Alfred, Margt, Arthur Patk.
m.1859 Margt Sweny
Samuel Cooke was born about 1740. He gave his occupation as ‘farmer’ when, in 1765 he married Ann Bromley at the Anglican Cathedral, Manchester. We do not know whether he owned the farm, rented it, or was in fact an agricultural labourer.
The first recorded birth to Samuel and Ann was Thomas, baptised at Manchester Cathedral in 1769. When the second child, John was baptised in 1771, Samuel was noted as a ‘breeches maker’. He had obviously left farming, and most likely worked in, or managed, a clothing factory in Manchester. Later, I believe the whole family, seeking to improve their prospects, moved down to Birmingham and settled in the parish of St. Martin’s.
Samuel is not verified as our earliest Cooke ancestor, but the next generation is. My Gr Gr Gr grandfather from Birmingham was a William Cooke, who I believe married a Mary Cook in 1809.
We can trace the family forward from them, but we cannot be sure of William’s parents’ names.
The main clue we have is the middle name of William’s son, William Bromley Cooke, 1809-1867.
I looked for a Cooke/Bromley marriage in England for the period 1740-1810, and found only one,
a Samuel Cooke and Ann Bromley, who married on 26.12.1765, at Manchester Anglican Cathedral
of St. Mary, St. Denis & St. George. Both signed the register. The marriage and subsequent births were recorded in the cathedral parish.
Five children of Samuel and Ann Cooke were baptised at Manchester Cathedral:
Thomas 18.6.1769, John 26.5.1771, John 10.4.1774, Mary 19.11.1775, and William,
on 24.2.1777. Apart from their baptism details, nothing more is known about John and Mary.
When Samuel and Ann married, England was changing from an agricultural society to an industrial one, and in the process many tenant farmers and labourers were forced to leave the land and find work elsewhere. Samuel worked on a farm in 1765, then in a factory in 1771, and some time after 1777, the Cookes moved down from Manchester to Birmingham in search of work in the factories there, and settled in the parish of St. Martin’s.
The Cookes of Birmingham who are verified include the brothers Thomas and William (father of Wm Bromley Cooke). They would fit in as sons of Samuel and Ann.
William appears to have married a Mary Cook on 24.1.1809. Their son William was born on 15.10.1809 and baptised on 2.1.1810 at St. Phillip’s Cathedral. I believe that he later took the surname of his grandmother, Ann Bromley, as his middle name.
Thomas, a ‘button maker’, married Mary Sanders at St. Martin’s Birmingham in 1810, and the only child whose baptism record I have found is Mark Thomas, on 17.9.1814 at St. Martin’s.
(But Mark had a brother, Thomas jnr. I found him in the 1881 Census list, 65 years old, born about 1815/16. He must be Mark’s brother, because, living with him, listed as his ‘nephew’, was Mark’s son William.)
Samuel Cooke mar.1765 Ann Bromley
_____________________l__________________
Thomas John Mary William
m.Mary Sanders m. ? Mary Cook
_l__________________ l
MarkThos. Thomas jnr Wm Bromley Cooke
_l_______________ l
Wm. EmmaLouisa, mar.1863......George Alfred
So Mark Thomas and William Bromley were probably cousins. The strongest indication of a connection between them is the following:
In the 1860s, William Bromley’s son, George Alfred was living in Dublin, and Mark Thomas from Birmingham was temporarily working in London. In 1861 he was alone, but in 1863 he brought his two eldest daughters to London too, for a special occasion.
George also travelled across to London for that occasion- his own wedding. He married Mark’s daughter, Emma Louisa, and took her back to Dublin. How would they have known each other, one from Dublin and the other from Birmingham, if they were not related ?
I believe they were second cousins. One of their sons was Samuel Oliver, and Mark’s brother Thomas had a grandson, Samuel Charles. It is possible that the boys were named after their great-great grandfather, Samuel Cooke from Manchester.