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I have the birth certificate for the daughter of Robert Augustus Cook: Queenie Elizabeth Cook (my grandmother) born 29/12/1906 in East Plumstead sub-district of Woolwich. Robert is recorded as a hairdressers assistant. Queenie's mother was Elizabeth Maud Cook formerly Swift, she gives two addresses:15 illegible possibly Rippolson Road, Plumstead (if so, this still exists) and Knessworth Street, Royston, Hertfordshire (not found).

I've found two possible birth records for Elizabeth Maud Swift on FreeBMD and Ancestry: 01-03/1883 Chorlton or 10-12/1890 Leicester. I have also found both Elizabeths in the 1901 Census of England. There is also an Elizabeth Maud Swift on the Philadelphia Passenger Lists on Ancestry but my subscription does not cover that.

Absolutely nothing - birth, marriage or death - comes up on either FreeBMD or Ancestry for Robert Augustus Cook.

I can find nothing obvious on a search for Robert in the English and Welsh Censuses for 1871, 1881, !891 or 1901

In summary, I am asking for help in finding:

1 The marriage of Robert and Elizabeth - if it happened
2 Anything on Robert
3 The details of Elizabeth's journey to the USA

I wonder if this is Robert?


Births Mar 1869

Cocks Robert Augustus O W. Ham 4a 73

Nicki

Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945
about Elizabeth Maud Swift
Name: Elizabeth Maud Swift
Arrival Date: 8 Dec 1920
Age: 31 Years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1889
Gender: Female
Ethnic Background: English
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Ship Name: Haverford
Port of Arrival: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Friend's Name: Mr. L J Daniels
Last Residence: England
Birthplace: Liverpool, England
Microfilm Roll Number: T840_138

Source Citation: Roll: T840_138; Line: 24.

That Elizabeth is married - and a housewife.

Nicki

To be honest anything is possible - I've been on this search for weeks. The birth cert definitely says Cook

Thank you

Robert

Robert - you have to keep in mind different spellings of names in this game!

It may be that the registrar read the name wrong when it was inserted into the registers or that he thought the name was Cocks depending on the accent of whoever registered it!

I would probably want to change my name from Cocks to Cook!!

Nicki

Thank you Alexandra you've saved me money there

That certainly fits with the 1890 birth so will see what I can find on RootsWeb

Robert

Alexandra

I know they were often illiterate so relied upon the recorder. Possibly also Cox but this seems a long way from Cook

Of course it is always possible that her parents weren't from England/Wales or weren't actually married or that Augustus was a middle name given at baptism rather than birth or that he gave himself...

Ancestors never make it easy...

Robert -- I'm thinking that anyone who saw your post on Success Stories (ta!) might be curious how this unfolded!

I don't think you'll mind me copying it here, but if you do, let me know and I'll do away with it.

And Angela -- you were so right. ;)

The actual identity of the Mr. Cook in question isn't really determined yet, but there are some promising leads.

I'll leave out some of my musings along the way that seem to have not panned out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder whether you've seen this guy.

Births Mar 1863
COOKE Augustus Robert
Bromley
2a 265

In 1871, Augustus R Cooke and Frederick A Cooke, a year older, are pupils at "The College" in Lowestoft. In 1881, Augustus R Cooke is a boarder and "Clerk Optician" in Mile End Old Town. Frederick A Cooke is a boarder in the same household, "Clerk (Unemployed)".

This would be brother Frederick's birth:

Births Dec 1861
COOKE Frederick Andrew
Bromley
2a 238

This is likely Augustus R Cooke's death:

Deaths Sep 1909
COOKE Augustus
age 46
Romsey
2c 54

The consistent use of a middle initial in the censuses suggests that he may have gone by his middle name, Robert.

Another and maybe better possibility is that he had a son, who would have been old enough to be a father in 1906, if born between 1881 and 1891. Or a brother could have had a son named for him.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding them in 1891 or 1901. Or an identifiable marriage for either.

I always look in the Anglo-Boer war for men who are missing in 1901. (Not just young men; my gr-grf's sister's husband's uncle was in the Imperial Yeomanry at about age 45).

Cooke, A.R. 20426, Trooper 3rd Coy., 1st Bn. I.Y.
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/kevinasplin/IYC.html

-- a possibility. There are a Frederick and an F in the list as well.

There are various possible permutations of events that could connect him to your Robert Augustus. One would be that he had a son but was not married and the son was registered under the mother's surname, and then took his father's surname as an adult, or earlier.

Heh, here's an interesting one. In 1891 there is an A Cooke, valet, in the household of Owen whose wife is Viscountess Hemsley, in Carlton Curlieu, Leicestershire. Age 30, no place of birth shown, but the household servants all seem to be listed as born in London. Presumably they travelled with the household. I wouldn't rule him out as that Augustus.

Interestingly, Leicestershire is where one of your Elizabeth Maud Swifts was born. This would be her in 1891:

Name: Elizabeth M Swift
Age: 5/12
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1890
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Henry
Mother's Name: Maud
Gender: Female
Where born: Leicestershire, England
Civil Parish: St Margaret
Ecclesiastical parish: St Matthew
County/Island: Leicestershire


I very much doubt that the EM Swift who travelled to the US was yours. It seems to have been a family unit:

SWIFT E M 31 F 1920 Liverpool USA Philadelphia
SWIFT G 8 F 1920 Liverpool USA Philadelphia
SWIFT G D 9 M 1920 Liverpool USA Philadelphia
SWIFT M B 31 M 1920 Liverpool USA Philadelphia

(from findmypast.com -- I don't subscribe to see details)

That is, that EM Swift was a Swift by marriage.


I then took another tack ...

I searched trees here at GR for Augustus Cooke and found someone with an Augustus Cooke born 1862 in Sydney NSW in his tree. A coincidental name and birthdate. So I checked NSW BMDs.

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm

29326/1942 (death)
COOKE AUGUSTUS ROBERT
father's given names GEORGE COLLERTON
mother's given names ELIZABETH
district PENRITH

However, there is no Augustus Cooke being born or marrying in NSW.

There is a record of the death of what seems to be one child of his:

21065/1977
COOKE RUPERT GEORGE
father's given names AUGUSTUS ROBERT
mother's given names MARION HEYES
(no district shown)

Aha, the child's birth:

27511/1894
COOKE RUPERT G
father AUGUSTUS R
mother MARIAN H
PETERSHAM

1894 -- so that AR Cooke would seem not to be yours, because he was apparently in Australia. That one could still be the one in the 71 and 81 English censuses who then emigrated. And yours, father of Queenie, could still be a son of his, born in England before he left. Again, possibly with a different surname.

Two more children:

35070/1897
COOKE CONSTANCE F M
AUGUSTUS R
MARIAN H
ROCKDALE

10267/1900
COOKE GILBERT A
AUGUSTUS R
MARIAN H
ASHFIELD


Back to England now:

Births Sep 1860
COOKE George Collerton
Greenwich
1d 520

Possibly a brother.

Oh good grief, how did I miss him? Yes, a brother. He's at the same school as Augustus and Frederick in 1871! He's a brother of *that* AR Cooke, anyhow! - the one born in 1862.

So Augustus Robert Cooke born 1862 in Kent had an older brother named George born in 1860. George was really too young to have had a grandson born in 1894 in NSW (Rupert), i.e. for that Augustus, father of Rupert, to be a son of George.

So the Augustus Robert Cooke who had a son Rupert in NSW in 1894 and died in NSW in 1942 must surely have been the one born in 1862 in Kent.

Revising what I had sent Robert: This clashes with the idea that the Augustus Robert Cooke born in 1862 died in Romsey in 1909. Someone at GR has an Augustus Cook born 1906, "?, Australia", in her tree. Another avenue that might be worth exploring. (NSW records are accessible only to 1906, and no Augustus Cook appears there.)

The George Collerton Cooke who was his father must have been the father of all three boys, the eldest having been named after him. (But note: if the Augustus Cooke who died in 1942 was a younger one, he could have been the son of George Collerton Cooke Jr.)

Yes, here we are in 1861:

Name: George C Cooke
Age: 9 Mo
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860
Relation: Son
>> Father's Name: George C
>> Mother's Name: Elizabeth
Gender: Male
Where born: Deptford, Kent, England
Civil Parish: Deptford St Paul
Ecclesiastical parish: Hatcham St James
Town: Deptford
County/Island: Kent

Mother Elizabeth Jeffery; married in 1859.

And George Sr. married again in 1873, to Amanda Elizabeth M Lagerwall -- Amanda ME Cook, in 1881. In 1881, George Sr was "Manager Manufacturer Scientific Instruments". He was 57, and Amanda was 26!

And they had a daughter. Maude. Aged 2. Per FreeBMD, "Maude Collston Cooke", born 1878, Epsom, Surrey. In 1891, they have a daughter Florence, 15, with them.

Ha! In 1901, Amanda is called "daughter". ("Wife" scratched out. The enumerator must not have believed it!) And now they have a son Bertram, 19, but no Maude.

Hmm, hmm. What have we here?

6958/1951
27060/1947
(marriage -- apparently registered twice?)
WARRAN CHARLES
COOKE MAUDE ELIZABETH
WAGGA WAGGA

Hmmmmm:

10600/1885 (birth)
SWIFT MAUDE E
father GEORGE FORD
mother EDITH
district REDFERN

What there *isn't* is any marriage for Augustus R Cooke. To Marian or Maude.

Someone here at GR has a Maude Swift born 1886 in Victoria, Australia.

Marian died in old age:

34953/1961
COOKE MARION HAYES
PENRITH


Did Maude return to Australia?

COOKE Maude 29 F 1914 London Australia Melbourne


So here's my theory. Maude E Swift of Australia had an affair with Augustus Robert Cooke who had emigrated to Australia and married Marian (although there's no record of the marriage), and she then travelled to England where she had their child, simply failing to disclose that she and the father were not married. Perhaps Augustus travelled with her.

There is a huge number of loose ends in that theory. But as Robert noted to me in pointing to one of them (the reversal of given names between both of the people he is looking for and both of the people I found), there is also a huge number of coincidences. ;)

It's an interesting one -- Robert, if you want to add any of the other info, please do!

Kathryn - all I can say is WOW!

Well done - super bit of sleuthing there!

Saw Robert's thank you message and decided to come and take a look - at least my hunch of the not being born in England panned out!

Well done again!

x

Eek -- sorry about that, *Alexandra*. I think my excuse is I'd just been playing with somebody's thread about an Angela.

Events outside England ... middle names ... not actually married: you called 'em! All possibles here, for sure. And the things you watch for clues to (like people using middle initials consistently) when you've been at it a while!