Census 1861 lookup - Cooke, Pontypool

[leccy]

Howdy Toss,

It sounds like we may be distantly related! Perhaps we can cross-check some information?

The info that I have says that Charles and Eleanor had 3 children:

Sampson (1852-1866)
Patience (1855-1931)
John (1857-1939)

I hadn't heard of Sarah before

As for what happened after that, Charles died in 1862 (I believe) and then in 1863-4 the widowed Eleanor took her three children to Australia (arrived Port Melbourne March 1864 on SS Compeer.

I don't know when or where Eleanor died, but I assume it was somewhere in Victoria. Sampson obviously died young and unm. Whether John married or not I don't know.

Patience married a Melbourne architect named William Windas (orig. from East Yorkshire) and they had many children. The most interesting of these (to me) is my grandmother's mother...

[Toss]

Hi Leccy,
Thanks for the information. My family name is Cook and I have been trying to put the family together for some time ! From what I can gather and as far as I can go back is to ;

George Cook b 1783 Hirwaun Glamorganshire / ? d 1852 Varteg Monmouthshire
He married Elizabeth Roberts in Machen Monmouthshire in 1812

Sampson b 1812
John b 1815
Charles b 1816
Suzannah b 1819
Eliza b 1821
Hester b 1824
George b 1825

Sampson/John/Charles and Suzannah were all christened on 30th May 1819 in Risca Monmouthshire

Sampson b 1812 married Sarah Franks in Trevethin Monmouthshire in 1838 . They had 7 children including another Sampson b 1845 and a George b  1854
they moved to the USA and mainly settled in Colorado where they were silver and quartz miners.

John b 1815 is my line and he married Mercy James in Bedwelty in 1836. They also had a Samson ( but spelt without the "p") he was born in 1837 in Garndiffaith a village just near Trevethin in South Wales and this family moved  to South Australia initially and then to the Gold Fields in Victoria and mainly lived in Eaglehawk near Bendigo. He married a Marion Smith in Eaglehawk and the had 7 children. Three called George of which 2 died but they persisted and the 3rd George born in Eaglehawk  in 1875 9 he was my great grandfather). They then moved to Broken Hill in NSW where my family came from.
John and Mercy also had a George b 1845 Garndiffaith and he had a son also called Samson b 1873 in Victoria. So it gets very confusing  !!!

Charles b 1816 married Jane Lyshaw  and had a son George b 1840 Monmouthshire Wlaes, Jane must have died and then Charles remarried Eleanor Appleton and their first child I had was Sarah b 1847 who appears in the 1851 UK Census . I had lost them after this as they don't appear in the 1861 census. It would make sense then that after Charles died Eleanor moved to Victoria with the 3 younger children. I assume that the family may have lived in or around Bendigo at some stage ?? I had found another Sampson Cook in the electoral roll s in Boulder WA ?? if you can connect him .

Great to make contact. Hope this is of some interest if you would like further information let me know !!

[Seany]

Hey!
I'm going one further back to Charles parents George Cook and Elizabeth Roberts.

Charles was their 3rd son. His older brother John Cook (My relative) lived and married in Trevethin, Wales. Same place as Charles when he married Eleanor Appleton.

John moved to Australia first with his family and Charles and Eleanor moved. They all lived in Eaglehawk for awhile. Sampson died in a mining accident shortly after arriving. Their daughter Patience married William Alexander Windas and raised their family in Victoria while the rest of her the family moved to Merewether, NSW. They were neighbours with the Job and Martha Cleaves in Trevethin Wales, Eaglehawk Victoria, and Merewether NSW at the same time. Charles and Eleanor both died in Merewether. Same as their 3 youngest children John Bowden, Sarah Tabitha and Elizabeth Annie. Who all had their families around the Newcastle Area.

Hopefully you'll see this old post and say hi! I'm guessing there's a a relative of one of the Windas children here. I'm just trying to learn more about my relatives back then.

Also saw someone else related to John Cook. Toss. Down from George Cook + Kathleen Flavin line. Maybe John Edward Cook's Grandson? I had more on Marion Smith's family, since her sister married into the other side of my family, the Cleaves. Hope one day you reply to this forum again.

Sean

[leccy]

Well hello, quite a blast from the past!

You are quite right. WA Windas is my g-g-grandfather. He was an architect and a bit of a 'man about town' from all accounts. He and Patience met on the Bendigo goldfields and had 3 sons (two of whom died as infants) and 4 daughters. Their third daugher, Vera, is my g-grandmother. She died relatively young (in her 20s) and as a result little was known about this branch of my family.

Incidentially, their youngest and only surviving son, Cedric, moved to America and became an expert on naval history. There is a collection dedicated to his works in the Los Angeles maritime museum. He had two sons but as far as I can tell no grandchildren. And so the Windas line died out. A very long way from Bendigo.

I don't suppose you happen to have any photographs of Charles, Eleanor and their family? I have nothing that far back.

Cheers
L.

[Seany]

I haven't really any photos from that far back except photos of John and Mercy Cook, his brother and his wife. I'm glad to hear you're still out there. I'm hopping from Todd too. His broken hill is very new to  me.

All I have on Charles is where he he was living in Eaglehawk and Newcastle, along with newspaper articles of them. I'm after more photos of those days too.

I've spoken with a closer relative of yours. They have more on your side of the family going way back, I think. You could speak with them if you ever want to learn more about that side, or I can sometime send you what I have on Charles and Eleanor.

Sean