Finding Family in Wills
George Cooke and his wife Millicent were my eight times great grandparents. The couple had eight sons who were born between 1683 and 1698 [1] in Shepshed Leicestershire.
Shepshed, in Leicestershire, was originally know as Sheepshed prior to 1888 and gained its name from its origins in the wool industry. At the time Millicent Cooke and her family lived in Shepshed, it would have been mostly pasture for sheep and small farms.[2]
I discovered my Leicestershire roots while researching my Dawson ancestors In Nottinghamshire. My six times great grandfather, John Dawson married Millicent Cooke on the 5th of January 1756, [3] in Willoughby on the Wolds, Nottinghamshire. Millicent was from a town called Shepshed in the nearby county of Leicestershire. Shepshed was just under 13 miles from where she was married in Nottinghamshire. I have written a blog about marriages between families in neighbouring counties which you can read here.
Millicent Cooke was baptized on the 22 April 1732 [4] to parents Joseph Cooke (b 1698 Shepshed [5]) and Ann Coley ( b 1704 Shepshed, Leicestershire. [6]) Joseph and Ann had married in Shepshed in 1728. [7]
Baptism of Millicent Cooke [ Milicent], Leicestershire Baptisms, Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, DE610/5, Findmypast.
Joseph Cooke was the youngest of eight sons born in Shepshed to George Cooke and Millicent Cooke. The order of birth of the Cooke sons, 1. John (1683) 2. William (1685) 3. Thomas (1686) 4. George (1690) 5. Henry (1693) 6. Richard (1695) 7. James (1697) and 8. Joseph (1697) [8] became a key piece of evidence in finding information about my eighth great grandfather George Cooke when I found this family in the Findmypast collection of English Wills.
I estimated the date of birth of my eight times great grandparents, George and Millicent Cooke to be around 1660, working backwards from the birth their first son, however, I was unable to find any records relating to them apart from the birth and baptisms of their children and burial records for them. George Cooke Senior was buried at St Botolph's Church in Shepshed on 13 February 1729 [9] and a burial record showed that Millicent Cooke was buried there on 14 May 1710 [10] and that she was the 'wife of George'.
Records can be harder to find when your family history research goes back to the 17th century and beyond. In the absence of other records, Wills can be a wonderful source of information about family and the property they owned.
The burial record for George Cooke, dated the 13th of February 1729 [11] stated that he was a Husbandman. With this occupation George would have been a small landholder or tenant farmer. The significance of this was that more than often the transmission of land occurs by means of a Last Will and Testament, excepting when a person dies intestate. Owning land makes it much more likely that our ancestors wrote a Will.
On the Findmypast website I discovered the Last Will and Testament of George Cooke Senior, Millicent's husband. It was written in 1728, the year he passed away, and it was proved in 1729. [12]
Below is part of my transcription of the Will.
I give and bequeath unto William Cooke, Thomas Cooke, Henry Cooke and George Cooke, my four lawful sons the sum of Five Pounds of lawful money of Great Britain, to be Equally - divided amongst them...I give and bequeath unto Every one of my Grand-Children...
All of my Goods and Chattels [ ] and property...I give and bequeath unto Joseph Cooke (my Youngest Lawful son) ... and I do Nominate him, Make and Ordain him Sole Executor of this Last Will and Testament... [13]
This Will informs me that George Cooke was Yeoman which means he was a small landowner. It provides the names of five of my eighth great grandfather George Cooke's sons and it confirms that Joseph, who was my seven times great grandfather was his youngest lawful son. The fact that four of the eight sons John, William, Richard and James, were not mentioned in their father's last Will indicated that I should look for deaths for them prior to 1729 or explore other reasons why they might have been left out of their father's Will.
I found burial records for two infant sons of George and Millicent Cooke. Richard Cooke (1695-1695) [14] and James Cooke (1697-1697). [15] Both babies only lived a few months.
There were four deaths in Shepshed for males named John Cooke prior to George Cooke writing his Last Will and Testament in 1728. John Cooke who died in 1697 [16] was described as a Bachelor so he would have older than the fourteen years my John Cooke would have been at that time. John Cooke who died in 1699 [17] was a Householder and so again not the correct person. John Cooke who died in Shepshed in June of 1726 [18] was the son of Thomas and Mary, eliminating him from being George Cooke's son.
Transcriptions do not always contain all the vital details which are included in original records and this signifies the importance of checking originals where possible to avoid errors. I found John Cooke, the son of George Cooke being buried in Shepshed in 1711 [19]. Four of the five sons not mentioned in George Cooke senior's Will had pre-deceased their father. This was why they were not mentioned in the 1729 Will.
A second Last Will and Testament, this one written by another George Cooke in 1708 [20] which was proved in 1716, offered a possible explanation as to why my ancestor's second son William Cooke was omitted from his father's Will in 1729.
"Whereas William Cooke second son of George Cooke (my nephew) is in the second place [ ] copy-hold Cottage, situated and and being in Shepshed aforesaid, and George Cooke the fourth son of the said George Cooke of the last place the copy-hold cottage. My wishes and Will is that the said William Cooke shall take the said George Cooke (his brother) out of the said last place of the copy-hold cottage by a surrender out of Court according to Custom immediately after my death and [ ] and the said William Cooke to hold the same cottage ... I give unto Thomas Cooke the third son of said George Cooke my nephew... I give and bequeath to John Cooke and Thomas Cooke my nephews the sons of Henry Cooke my youngest brother..." [21]
The order of sons, William Cooke being the second son and George the fourth son of George Cooke, (nephew) revealed that this Last Will and Testament was written by an uncle of my eight times great grandfather George Cooke. This earlier 1709 Will offered a plausible explanation as to why William Cooke, the second son of my eight times great grandfather was left out of his father's 1728 Will.
William Cooke had inherited the bulk of his great uncle's property earlier in 1709 and was seemingly well taken care of financially when his father wrote his own Will nineteen years later. Not only had William inherited most his uncle's property but he was instructed to remove his younger brother George from it by a surrender out of court. This term indicates that the property inherited was copyhold and possibly sub-leased to young George and was to be surrendered or transferred to William on their uncle's death. Wills are an excellent source of information about property as well as family members.
Very importantly, this 1709 Will named the youngest brother of George Cooke (uncle of my eight times great grandfather) as Henry and Henry's sons as being John Cooke and Thomas Cooke.
This is valuable information about my Cooke family that I would likely not have found anywhere else. From the details provided in the Will, I knew that George Cooke's father, my ninth great grandfather, had two brothers named George and Henry. With no birth or marriage record in Shepshed for my ancestor George Cooke and with Cooke being a common name, the family names mentioned in the Will were vital information for my search for finding George's birth, who his parents were and where he had come from.
Wills can be a rich source of information about family and property and are an excellent substitute for parish or civil records. Finding out more about George Cooke and his wife Millicent, my eight times great grandparents, is an ongoing search. With the details provided in the Wills written by my eighth great grandfather George Cooke and his uncle, also named George Cooke, who both died in Shepshed, Leicestershire in 1729 and 1708, I now have clues that hopefully will take my research further.
FOOTNOTES
1. Baptism of sons between 1683 and 1698, Shepshed Anglican, Leicestershire Baptisms, Findmypast.
3. Marriage of Millicent Cooke and John Dawson, 5 January 1756, Willoughby on the Wolds, Nottinghamshire, England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940, Ancestry.com
4. Baptism of Millicent Cooke [ Milicent], Leicestershire Baptisms, Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, DE610/5, Findmypast.4.
5. Baptism of Joseph Cooke, 18 December 1698, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Baptisms, Findmypast
6. Baptism of Ann Coley, 2 December 1705, Shepshed, Leicestershire, England Select Births and Christenings, Ancestry.com
7. Marriage of Joseph Cooke and Ann Coley, 20 August 1728, Shepshed, Leicestershire, England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973, Ancestry.com
8. Baptism of Joseph Cooke, 18 December 1698, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Baptisms, Findmypast
9. Burial of George Cooke, 13 February 1729, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
10.Burial of Millicent Cooke, 14 May 1710, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
11. Burial of George Cooke, 13 February 1729, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
12. Will of George Cooke Senior, 1728-1729, Administration and Wills, Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicestershire & Rutland, Findmypast
13. Ibid.
14. Burial of Richard Cooke, 10 February 1695, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
15. Burial of James Cooke, 11 October 1697, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
16. Burial of John Cooke, 1697, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
17. Burial of John Cooke, 1699, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
18. Burial of John Cooke, 1724, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
19. Burial of John Cooke, 19 September 1711, Shepshed, Leicestershire, Leicestershire Burials, Findmypast
20. Will of George Cooke, 1708-1709, Administration and Wills, Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicestershire & Rutland, Findmypast
21. Ibid.