tcrengr's Scavenger Hunt... Everyone Welcome To Join In

[jaywit]

Looking at the Flamborough PRs on IGI they are online from 1724 but the first mention of a Cockcroft is the marriage of Richard to Allis on 10/8/1743 then the subsequent baptisms of their children, so it's possible they hadn't lived in Flamborough for a long period of time.


Edit Have you had the records at the RO checked to see if there are any Cockcrofts before 1724?

[toni*]

try this site

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cockcroft/
 

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?forum=cockcroft&url=/cockcroft/&path=/cockcroft/&terms=matthew&boolean=AND

[toni*]

earlier i think i might have mentioned wills, obviously the first place to look would be for Matthews will if he left one did it include family members other than wife and children?
if not it might be worth seeing if there are other wills for Cockcrafts and variants in Yorkshire and seeing if these mention Matthew
first of all you have to identify where the probate may have been granted unless you are aware of his residence approx. year of death and rough idea of wealth this may be difficult.

however you could try origins.net this holds the York Peculiars Probate Index 1383-1883 the originals are held at the Borthwick Institute but you can order copies online.


re the manorial records i mentioned earlier in the early days of the 1700's there were NO major population centres apart from London (in 1800 London was the largest city in Europe)  the next largest was Bristol and the third was Norwich.
next came York, Nottingham Exeter Worcester etc. with populations of 10,000 and then the next tier was Manchester 6,000 and Liverpool and Birmingham 4,000 each (thinks to herself wonder where Leicester is on the list)
so England was a rural country until the industrial boom.
the majority  of its people lived in villages and hamlets clustered around market towns with the larger ones acting as hubs for the local economy and providing a base for commerce and industry.
York itself is on the River Ouse and would be a fishing centre as well as on the main road through England to Scotland.
anyway i go off on a tangent.
within these rural communities there were 2 main admin. units the parish and the manor.
the parish  and manor boundaries may be different, in theory every manor had a 'lord' who would grant strips of land to people within the manor in return for service, so although the farmers farmed land in the manor they would have to give the 'lord' some of their crops or they could just pay the 'lord' for the use of the land.  at the end of the lower end of the social scale you had cottagers who worked the 'lord' land but had no land of their own.

thirdly it has been passed down the Matthew came from  Flamborough i dont think you would come up with a name of a town like this unless you had some reason to know the town so dont discount it


 

[toni*]

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/CBW/ERY/Flamborough.html

you probably have already seen this link.

[tcrengr]

Wow, you all have been busy!!!  Thank you so much for the incredible information you've provided.  I can't wait to start researching some of the records you referenced.  I had no idea about the manorial records, but they in particular seem very promising.   Since we suspect Matthew's family was poor, we're not likely to find a will or land ownership.  We also have hit a brick wall with his military records, since the fencible regiments do not seem to be as well documented as the regular militia.  The manorial rental records may hold the key!

I have some answers to several of the questions that were raised.  I wish there was more specific info to pass on.

The Matthew born in Illingsworth in 1762 was baptized at the Church of England in Illingsworth.  I believe that the same Matthew marries Hannah Farnell sometime around 1785 but we do not know where they marry.  Records for the baptism of their children are held by both the Zion New Methodist Connextion church in Ovenden and the South Parade Wesleyan chapel in Halifax.  What I can't seem to find are any death records for this family.  Is there a way to tell whether or not the records survived and are stored someplace that is accesible?

We know for sure that Matthew died in Ireland but all of the early records for his church and county were destroyed in the Dublin fire in 1922.  We're not sure when he passed on or where he is buried. 

I have a few more questions that I was hoping you all could help with:

Do people in the late 1700s always go by their first names or do they use their middle names?  In particular I'm wondering if Matthew could have registered for the military using his middle name.

Is it safe to assume that everyone's birth was recorded with the local church?  Does that include children born to single moms?

What is TNA online (please excuse my ignorance...I'm a novice when it come to genealogy!)

Thanks again for all your ideas and suggestions.  I'll let you know if anything develops....

Cindy

[tcrengr]

One more thought...

The Matthew Cockcroft born in Illingsworth in 1762 was the son of a Joshua (b: 1732) and he had a brother Joshua (b: circa 1759).  One of these men could be the Joshua who goes to trial in 1794.  The trial happened around the time Matthew joined the military.  I'll definitely contact the library and find out if they can do a look up to determine where Joshua was from and what crime he was accused of committing. 

Cindy

[jaywit]

To start and answer some of your questions.

Before 1837 when civil registration came in there was no law forcing anyone to be baptised.

Having said that it was highly unusual for a child not to be baptised the vast majority as babies, the sicklier the child the sooner it was baptised often at home oin the day of birth it it was thought it wouldn't survive.

Baptisms could be carried out in any church or non conformist chapel and my thoughts are that there may have been only one baptism but it was recorded twice, once in the chapel it took place in and again in the 'mother' chapel.

Now non conformist ministers couldn't conduct marriage cerimonies the only christian marriage had to be in a Church of England church.

They could conduct burials the only problem there was not many chapels had their own burial grounds. At that time no municipal burial grounds so the closest Church of England churchyard would be the obvious guess as to where they were buried.

[toni*]

Of course the manorial records may not list Matthew himself if he was not head of the household


Maybe they [Matthew b. Illingsworth & Hannah]didn’t die and are still alive aged 248!
Seriously though they could appear on the 1841 census
Sometimes there seems to be a gap in records (online)  from 1812 – 1837 there is a reason for this but it escapes me now!


If he lived in Newtownland all his life it is likely he is buried there, does the actual church hold a map of the church yard?
I did see online that where some of the fallen from the York Fencibles were buried so maybe it might be best to start with this church?

People could and still can call themselves what they like as long as  is not for fraudulent purposes.
Sometimes there were baptismal names and ‘real’ names
not every child was christened but it was unlikely that they shouldn’t have been, if a baby died and was unchristened then they wouldn’t be subject to the full rites and burials of the church of England
illegitimate children were recorded in the parish register as base born children and if you are lucky the curate (etc.) would make a note in the margin of his parentage if it was a small parish it would be unlikely the vicar didn’t know the father, there could also be a clue in the childs name but for now you have no reason to believe that Matthew was illegitimate.

You have to question whether he came from York originally or that he was just there to sign up? Although as I said before you wouldn’t pick a name like Flamborough out of mid air unless you knew the place and like Jaywit said there is a high density of the Cockcroft name in certain areas of Yorkshire.

TNA = The National Archives, some of their records are searchable online

[toni*]

PS maybe it might be best to concentrate on the Cockcrofts in Yorkshire and split them in to family groups and follow them through on official documentation to see if this lead anywhere specific.

PPS are you in Ireland? If yes how would I find a birth there circa 1926 only have childs and fathers name no place of origin no mothers name.