Cooke of B'ham,Measham, Burton, Derby & Dublin

[kenneth cooke]

Re my Posts 6 to 9-
Five Cooke brothers went to Ireland. The third brother was Robert Choyce Cooke, b. 1838. He married in Derby in 1862, and was present when his father William Bromley Cooke died there in 1867.
His first wife Ann must have died as Robert remarried, to Eliza Jane Evans in Dublin in 1878.
In 1884 twin boys, Robert and William, were born, in Dublin.

In the 1901 Dublin Census, at 30.2 Grenville St. Mountjoy:
Cooke Robert C., 62,  Head,  Prot. Baptist
    “      Eliza         40,  Wife       “       “
    “      Robert      16,  Son        “       “
    “      William     16,    “          “        “

The only one found in the 1911 Dublin Census was Eliza Jane Cooke, Widow, Baptist, 9 children born, 2 living.
Robert died in Dublin in 1908 and Eliza in 1937.

Robert Choyce Cooke (?jnr.) (? one of the twins) married Priscilla Bradley in Nottingham in 1908 and so far I have found two children born there:
1909 Mary Cooke and 1912 Robert C. Cooke.

[kenneth cooke]

Re my Post No. 16- Wm Bromley Cooke jnr.
William was the eldest of the five brothers. I had earlier thought that he had gone to England after the death of his first wife, Thomasina in 1873,remarried, and returned to Dublin where his two (at least) young children were.
It was the other way round. After Thomasina died, he remarried in Dublin, to
Elizabeth Norman from Liverpool, on 6 May 1874. They were in L'pool in 1881 and there is no further sign of them in Ireland. But it seems that Lydia, his first child, stayed in Ireland until she married James Macnab in 1890.
Now I wonder who looked after her when her father moved back to England.
I know the fate of only two of the brothers. Thomas died in Sydney, Australia in 1903. Robert died in Dublin in 1908, and I'm sure that George Alfred stayed in England, but I have not found his death yet.
I suppose that William also stayed in England, but I know little about the youngest, Arthur Patrick. He seems to have been a willing witness at the marriage of others, but I have not found his marriage or death anywhere.

[kenneth cooke]

Re No.19, Wm Bromley Cooke jnr.
I'll post this while it's still fresh.
Marriage of Wm Cooke, clerk of 44 Lwr. Gloster St., son of Wm. Cooke, to Eliz.
Norman, 9 Lwr. Summer Hill, dau of Wm. Norman. Wit. Geo Ross & Patk Murphy.
St. Thomas C of I Dub. 6 May 1874.
Then they were noted in the 1881 Census in Liverpool.
I could not find either of them in later UK census lists. But I found a William Cooke in the 1901 Dublin Census-
Wm. Cooke 62 (Ours was 68), at 116.5 Lower Gloucester St. North Dock, Dub.
C of I., friend of head of household, James Flanagan. He and all the others were R.C.
There was no sign of Elizabeth. What is interesting is that it is the same street where he lived when he married in 1874, but that is not conclusive proof.

[kenneth cooke]

During my recent visit to Dublin, for the Sweny family reunion, I did some research on the Cookes and others.
In Thom’s Dublin Directory, from 1870 -1872, we find Thomas S Cooke, Auctioneer & Valuator, of 32 Ormond Quay, and from 1873 to 1879 we find that Arthur P Cooke had taken over after Thomas had left for Australia, with the same occupation and address.
In fact, Thomas & family had left in 1871, and arrived in Melbourne on Boxing Day that year.

[kenneth cooke]

I have found six children born in Dublin to Wm Bromley Cooke & Thomasina Bourne Sweny.
Florence 1860-1875
Anne Marie 1862-1873
Thomas O'Brien 1863-
Lydia Thomasina 1865-1960
Robert Arthur John 1867-
Wm Bromley b/d 1869

Anna Maria (Smith) was William's mother's name. Robert and Arthur were William’s brothers’ names, and his father-in-law was John Sweny.
Thomasina’s aunt, Eliza Sweny, had married Thomas O’Brien. She also had an aunt and a sister named Lydia.
After William remarried in 1874, he moved to Liverpool with his new wife. It seems he left his first family in Dublin, perhaps four of them, Florence, Thomas, Lydia and Robert. Florence died in 1875.
There is no evidence that William returned to Dublin after that.

[kenneth cooke]

Re Post 21-
We find Arthur, his mother and Irish wife living in Birmingham in the 1881 Census:
Victoria Cottage, Farm St. Birmingham:
Arthur Cook, Mar. 30, bookkeeper at Art Metal Works b. Humbleton, Lancs.
Lizzie    “      Wife 28,  b. Ireland
Anna Maria “  Mother, Widow  71, b. Appleby, Leics.
There is a place called Hambleton near Blackpool, but Arthur was born at Hulme, Manchester.
His mother’s details confirm his identity.
In the 1891 Census B’ham: Lizzie Cooke, 38, boarder, widow, warehouse woman, b. Ireland.

[kenneth cooke]

Re Post 18 Robert C. Cooke b. 1912
Robert Choyce Cooke, (the 3rd generation with that name), died in Nov. 1992, 80 years old, registered at Mansfield, Notts.
I am trying to find any relatives that still live in Nott'shire.
Ken Cooke

[kenneth cooke]

Re Tressle's reply, Post No. 1- Hope you are still following us.

Jennie Isabella Cooke married Albert Alfred Martin in 3rd qtr. 1901.

In 1911 Census, Handsworth, W. Bromwich, Staffs:
Albert Martin, 34, Head,  Mar., Tool Maker, b. B'ham
Beatrice  "      25, sister,  b. B'ham
Dorothy 6, & Gracie 2 yrs. daughters, b. Handsworth

Albert was listed as married, not widowed. His wife was listed in a nearby institution:
Jennie Isabella Martin, 35, Mar., Patient, b. Aston, Warwickshire

I presume that she got well and came home again. She lived until 1952:
Death- Jennie I. Martin,  B'ham, Warw. 1952

[kenneth cooke]

                                      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.