I've only found two possible marriages for Joseph and Mary, who had three children born between 11 Mar 1745-1753, baptised in Campton on the same day in 1758, with Joseph described as a husbandman of Shefford.
9 Jun 1740 at Campton, Joseph Cooper of Hawnes & Mary Wiles of Shefford
3 Feb 1746/7 (not 1745/6 as I stated in my post #8 above) at Southill, Joseph Cooper, bricklayer, & Mary Millard.
I can't find any other children whose parents were Joseph and Mary, baptised in any of the nearby parishes 1740-70, which is less than helpful when trying to eliminate one of the couples.
The earlier marriage has the advantage that Mary born 1745 would have been legitimate, but there's the problem of the big gap between the marriage and Mary's birth. As they seem to have been pretty lax about baptising their children, who were baptised in a job lot in 1758, it's possible there were other children born 1740-45.
The Southill marriage has the problem that Mary would have been illegitimate. And Joseph's occupation is wrong; bricklayer rather than husbandman.
I can't find obvious burials for either couple, so I'm at a bit of a dead end in trying to establish which of the couples were the parents of the three children, and I'm less than convinced that either marriage was Joseph born in Henlow in 1725. He seems too young to have been the one who married in Campton in 1740. The Southill marriage could have been Joseph from Henlow – for some reason which I can't explain, there were very few marriages in Henlow 1738-1750, just 8, with eight years with no marriages at all, which was very out of character. In the period 1714-37 the average number of marriages per year in Henlow was 3.58, max 8 min 0. In the 13 years from 1738-1758 there were just 8 marriages. In the same 13 year period in Southill the average number of weddings per year was 8.9 compared with 6.8 for the previous 24 years. So it seems possible that some Henlow couples could have married in Southill rather than in their home parish, for whatever reason. Which I think makes it more likely that the marriages of Joseph and John Cooper in Southill in 1747 and 1748 were the brothers from Henlow. But I can't prove it!
As I see it there are two problems, which I can't solve:
- Was the Joseph Cooper baptised in Henlow in 1725 the same Joseph, bricklayer, who married Mary Millard in Southill in 1747
- was this Joseph and Mary the parents of the three children baptised in Campton in 1758, where Joseph was described as a husbandman of Shefford, or were the parents the Joseph of Hawnes and Mary who married in Campton in 1740. Or were they another Joseph and Mary altogether?
I just don't know! I'm glad that it's just a peripheral line for me, and not a direct line.
David
