Re: Frederick Charles COOK, born in Birmingham about 1894
Hello Margaret, how lovely to hear from you. Thank you so much for replying to my post on the forum. My family connection to the Cook family is really through Susan, the wife of Edward Richard Cook. Susan was the sister of my maternal great grandfather who was named William Henry Bradford & they were both born in a small village in Devon called Zeal Monachorum.
Susan married in Devon to a man named Patrick Francis Redmond where they had their son Francis Michael Redmond. The family moved to live in Birmingham where they went on to have a further two children, William Henry Redmond & Fanny Elizabeth Redmond.
Sadly, Patrick died on 7th February 1881 & in June of the same year Susan re-married to the lodger of her neighbours who was listed in the 1881 census as a retired soldier ~ this man was Edward Richard Cook. The couple with whom he was lodging acted as witnesses to their wedding.
As you will know, Edward Richard Cook & Susan went on to have eight children of their own & the family lived in Sydney Road in the parish of Aston in Birmingham.
My grandmother (the niece of Susan) was born on 22nd April 1887 in Liverpool. Sadly her father died on 11th August 1896 leaving her mother Harriet to raise her alone.
My own Mom & her siblings all told me that my Nan had told them that she was orphaned as a very young girl & she was sent to Birmingham to be raised by her Aunt Susan.
I found my Nan who was named Elizabeth Kendrick Bradford in the home of her married cousin Fanny Goodwin (nee Redmond) in the 1901 census in Sydney Road where she was recorded as being a visitor. My grandmother was an only child so it must have been wonderful for her to be welcomed into a family with so many children for company. She very quickly began to look upon her Aunt & Uncle as her own parents & upon her cousins as her siblings. My grandmother went out for a brief time to America in 1912 & she listed Edward Richard Cook as her father.
I would be very grateful if you could tell me anything at all about the Cook family please. I have recently been trying to find out what became of the children............
I found that Francis Michael Redmond returned to live in Devon staying with family for a while but after his marriage at some point moved to live in the Manchester area where he worked as a prison warden.
Fanny Redmond married to a man named Thomas Goodwin who was a gold beater. They began married life in Sydney Road but later moved to live in the Islington area of London.
I know for certain that Lily Bayman Cook married to a man named Frederick Hyde & they lived in Leckhampton in Cheltenham.
Ernest Stanley Cook married to a lady named Annie Matilda Cudd. Sadly Ernest was killed during WWI at Flanders when Annie was pregnant. She went on to have a son who she named after his father.
John Thomas Cook married to a lady named Lily Travell who sadly died soon after they married. John Thomas Cook went on to marry the widow of his brother Ernest.
I have been looking into possible marriages for the rest of the family ~ perhaps you might be able to tell me if I am right or wrong please? .....
These are the possible marriages that I am wondering about....
Richard Edward Cook to May Rayson in the September Qtr of 1905.
Elizabeth Susan Hannah Cook to Edward Chamberlain Farrell Mulgrue 24/6/1906 St Andrews
Arthur T Cook to Violet J Davies Dec Qtr 1913
I found that Fanny & Thomas Goodwin had moved to live in the Islington area of London by the time of the 1911 census & in their home was also listed two visitors who were named as Lucy & John Long who had been married for one year. They were both recorded as being born in Birmingham & the year of birth for Lucy was given to be about 1889. There was a child in the Cook family named Lucy May Cook who was born in Birmingham in 1889 & so I wondered if this might have been Fanny’s half sister. I checked the marriage index & found a suitable marriage for a Lucy May Cook having taken place in Islington in 1910 so perhaps it was her ~ do you know for certain please?
I have been unsuccessful in finding any possible records of any sort for Frederick Charles Cook after his 1891 census entry with the family in Sydney Road ~ any ideas?
The story of my Nan becoming an orphan leading to her being sent to Birmingham to be raised by her Aunt was actually untrue ~ I looked for a death for her mother but was unsuccessful. Further research led me to find that her mother hadn’t actually died at all. Instead she married to a widower by the name of Charles Heap Hill. He too had children & it looks like they went off to Newcastle Upon Tyne where they married & lived for the rest of their lives both abandoning their own children. The children of Charles Heap Hill went to live with the mother of his deceased wife.
I don’t know whether my Grandmother knew this really but told her own children that she was orphaned to spare them knowing what had really happened to her or whether she was blissfully unaware of the truth.
I know that my grandmother was made welcome into the Cook family & shared a good relationship with them all & I would love to learn about them if possible to given me an insight into my grandmother’s adopted family.
If you can help me to learn anything at all I would be most grateful to you.
Thank you,
Jan.
