William John Cook b. 1864

[titocanete]

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing fine! I am from Viña del Mar, Chile. Been researching my family history for some time, and found some British ancestry - to my surprise.

My great-grandmother María Rosa Cook Pérez was born in Santiago. Her parents were Guillermo Cook Pierce and Rosa Celia Pérez García, and married in that city on 22 August 1893. They had seven children, but only two seem to have survived for longer than one year.

Guillermo worked at the capital's central train station. He seems to have vanished between 1903 and 1915: there is no death record anywhere in Chile, but his wife said in a legal document he died, something a Judge approved. Is it possible he came back home? I don't know. It is possible.

Guillermo said, as he married, he was an Englishman, and his parents were named Jorje and Sarah. Anglicized, their names were William, George and Sarah, respectively. Guillermo might have been born between 1863 and 1865. Pierce, Peirce, Price (or Priece, as it was registered) may be his mother's maiden name.

There is a census record from 1871 which matches my findings. He lived at Cottenham Road in Upper Holloway. However, I haven't been able to find birth or marriage records. Can't access Ancestry or Findmypast, they won't accept Chilean credit cards, lol. I would really, really thank you if it is possible to get some help. I'd appreciate it sincerely.

My kindest regards

[josey]

Welcome to rootschat  I am sure you will find lots of help here - and well done for immediately  offering help on the Chile records on another thread.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=767361.msg6312349#msg6312349

For a start, have you tried the free GRO index https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp to look for a Pierce [+ variations] birth with mother's maiden name Cook or vice versa? Did Guillermo give an age when he married? Ah I now see the title  - so is this age from his marriage?

Josey

ADDED - I am struggling to find that 1871 census - can you give the reference please? Found it RG10; Piece: 301; Folio: 71; Page: 67
George Cook   41 b Bedford bricklayer's labourer
Sarah A Cook   28 b Bucks ?Kingswood
William J Cook   7 b Islington
Emma E Cook   5 b Camden Town

[josey]

Here's a possible birth - from ancestry
Name:   William Cook
Gender:   Male
Birth Date:   4 Apr 1864
Birth Place:   Workhouse,Stepney,London,England
Mother:   Sarah Cook

but he may be this birth [freebmd.org & GRO website above]
COOK, WILLIAM  HENRY     Mother's maiden name WILLIAMS     
GRO Reference: 1864  J Quarter in ISLINGTON  Volume 01B  Page 250

From 1871 looks like William is Sarah's first child so marriage possibly ca 1860 onwards.

ADDED: Does Guillermo give an occupation for Jorge [George] on his marriage certificate? ANd who were the witnesses?

[titocanete]

Thanks for your help!

William/Guillermo was a mechanic, he worked at the railway. Among his children with Rosa Celia Pérez were Jorje Segundo, María Rosa (my great-grandmother), Guillermo Segundo, and another who seems to have died after being born prematurely. (There was some sort of tradition - nowadays uncommon - to name children after their parents or grandparents, appending "Segundo" - the second - to differentiate them from their ancestors).

His son Jorje's birth registration in 1903 was informed by Rosa, while her previous children were registered by William himself. So my guess is that he disappeared by then. The people at the General Cemetery of Santiago were very collaborative, but did not find William/Guillermo in their archives.

His surname may be "Cooke" instead of "Cook". The 1893 marriage register spells it that way.

Here in Chile it was common practice for foreigners to adopt Spanish names, or public officers simply used them instead of their English counterparts as they might not have known how to spell them. (Sometimes they did not even know how to spell Spanish names, my mother's name for example was wrongly registered)

William appears to have arrived in 1885 or 1886 to the Araucanía region, having settled in Victoria and Traiguén. There were registered three more children, who seem to have remained in Chile and have descendants. He claimed to have a wife named Manuela María Joge, also spelled Mary George in other document.

During that time, the Chilean government offered Europeans several benefits and free land if they came to populate / colonize southern Chile. That explains why there are so many German and Swiss families there.

There was a vast British colony in Valparaiso, but found no relatives to William here.

Here is a transcription (translated) of William's marriage in 1893:

Date: 22 August 1893 at 1:30 PM.
Place: Registry Office.
Name, nationality, age, profession/occupation and previous civil status.
Of the male spouse:
Name: Cooke Priece Guillermo.
Nationality: English.
Age: 28.
Occupation: Mechanical.
Previous civil status: Single.
Of the wife:
Name: Pérez García Rosa Celia.
Nationality: Chilean.
Age: 21.
Occupation: Merchant/trader.
Previously: Single.
Parents and residence of the spouses. Witnesses to the marriage.
Of the male:
Father: Jorje Cooke.
Mother: Sara Priece.
Residence (of William): Borjas 63.
Of the female:
Father: Ciriaco Pérez.
Mother: Carolina García.
Residence: Borjas 67.
Witnesses: Manuel Benito Pérez Valenzuela (half-brother of Rosa Celia). Marcelina Valenzuela Santibáñez (probably her aunt).
Notes and signatures: The mother of the wife gave her consent. (Signatures) William Cooke. Rosa Celia Pérez. Manuel B. Pérez. M. Carvallo E.

[Barry Emmott]

Hi Tito, I've looked through a lot of census returns without finding your William Cook. I found the entry in 1871 which is in the borough of Stepney. Since most children were born at home in those days I have looked for births in Stepney and found William Henry Cook, born 2nd quarter of 1863 but that seems a bit too early.
Surname      Given Name      District      Volume      Page   
Births Jun 1863
COOK    William Henry    Stepney    1c    482
I haven't been able to find any "likely" record of George Cook in the 1861 census - the only one in Stpney was too old and in a workhouse or similar.
I looked for marriages in the possible area and found
Marriages Jun 1861
Coleman    George        Bethnal Gn.    1c   632   
COOK    George         Bethnal Gn    1c   632   
DAVEY    Sarah         Bethnal Gn    1c   632
Marriages Dec 1862
COOK    George William    Mile End       1c   1136    
Murray    Sarah         Mile End       1c   1136
Marriages Mar 1867 
COOK    George        Bethnal Green    1c   580   
Treviss    Sarah Ann            Bethnal Green    1c   580
I found those on Free BMD (https://www.freebmd.org.uk)
Hope something here is useful.
Barry

[josey]

Good stuff, Barry, worth bringing this to the top again.

Births Jun 1863
COOK    William Henry    Stepney    1c    482

This William has MMN Davis from the GRO index
COOK, WILLIAM  HENRY     DAVIS     
GRO Reference: 1863  J Quarter in STEPNEY  Volume 01C  Page 482

Could possibly tie up with the 1861 Cook/Davey marriage in Bethnal Green you found.

Can't find anything that ties up with the Pierce [+ variations] clues  .  Apart from this marriage
Marriages Mar 1862
Barnes    Mary Ann        Clifton    6a   190   
Cook    George        Clifton    6a   190   
Edwards    Thomas        Clifton    6a   190   
Pearce    Sarah Jane        Clifton    6a   190
but I haven't checked who  married who yet.

ADDED:

He claimed to have a wife named Manuela María Joge, also spelled Mary George in other document.

Have you tried to find her death before 1893 when he married Rosa? Bu the said he was single in 1893 

[jennifer c]

When you say he worked at the station was he a clerk or porter or did he work laying the tracks?

Jennifer

[josey]

Tito said he was a mechanic so I wonder if he worked on the engines?

ADDED: If William arrived in Chile in 1885 or so we should be able to find him in 1881,
There is this William Cook in 1881 
RG11; Piece: 660; Folio: 137; Page: 9
Name:   William Cook prisoner
Age:   17
Born: Bloomsbury, Middlesex, England [this is near Islington]
"Her Majestys Prison" Wandsworth Common
Occupation:   General Labourer

ADDED again: The title of the thread is William John but none of the documents from Chile state a middle name of John 

[jorose]

There was a William George Cook birth registered 1866 Leominster whose mother's maiden name was PREECE, according to the new GRO search.

I believe this is him with father George and mother Mary in 1871:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V552-2FR
Mother confirmed as Mary not Sarah Mary or Mary Sarah etc by his baptism:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V528-3W6

Most of the children are registered as COOK, mother's maiden name PREECE on the GRO but one or two I think as mother's maiden name PRICE.

There's also a William J Cook born in the same area in 1864, mother's maiden name PRICE. He is with family (not parents) in 1871
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V552-5WN
But his parents I am almost certain were William and Elizabeth:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J74R-CZK
and I believe he may have died in Leominster in 1880, aged just 16.


I can't find what happened to William G. Cook born 1866, last seen with his family in 1881 census in Middleton.