Hi Stuart
In the mid 1600s the parish register usually only gave the father's name eg 7 Sep 1650 Ann dau of Thos Cowper, so you didn't even get the mother's christian name let alone her maiden surname! It wasn't until 1837 with the introduction of civil registration that the mother's maiden name was included in the birth details (but this wasn't usually included in the parish register for the baptism)
It wasn't until the burials that Mary's name is revealed, but who she was I haven't a clue (other than she wasn't Mary Haggisse!). I'm still looking for Thomas's will, which isn't in Beds, but as his burial entry states Thomas "of Norton" (which is Herts) I'm checking to see if Hertford has a copy.
I believe Neil got his information from Ian (who also kindly sent me his database some years ago having worked on it with my late father). Ian's research is VERY thorough (he employed professionals for some of the tricky bits) and is totally reliable, and any deviations from it eg marriage to Mary Haggisse, are suspect (your problem is you don't know where the deviations are!) . You have access to my tree on Ge Re - if you're interested I'll send you a more detailed report offline.
Because of the presence of this Cooper family on the Mayflower there is enormous US interest in them, hence the research that has been carried out in the US on their pre 1600 ancestry.
Regards
David
