Marriages for Gibson Wake b 1857 Bishop Wearmouth

[janem46]

Please can anyone help with a friends  brick wall.
 Anecdotedly we have Gibson Wake b1857  marrying a Margaret Maclaren in Durham with 9 children, the first Margaret born  1885, the last Violet b 1905, all Sunderland. Margaret Snr was 93 when she died in 1954

The only marriage we can find is to Margaret Cook Feb 25th 1884, father William Cook bottlemaker, witnesses Thomas Carter, and Thomas Wake.
 Anecdotedly Margaret's father was a seaman from Leith. I cannot find anybody  in 1881 although I think Gibson was in the army in India. I have found a Margaret Maclaren b1862  Hartlepool area, and I think both Maclaren parents William (seaman from Leith) died at sea  1876, and Elizabeth died Stockton 1872.
Can anyone suggest any records to trace a possible earlier marriage of Margaret Maclaren to a Cook please, to explain the change of surname.? It is possible Gibson had an earlier marriage in 1876 although he first enlisted in 1877. Might  any banns available for these marriages.

We are stuck and a long way from Durham. Please can anyone help.

Best Wishes
JaneM46

[t mo]

hi
I,m not sure from your post wether you,ve seen gibsons service/pension record on FindMyPast but from that he was in india from 4 march 1879 to 27 may 1883.

have you seen this marriage for a William cook to a Margaret Gibson oct-dec  1852 reg dist sunderland  vol 10a p 481
does this solve the puzzle
regards
trevor

[janem46]

Hello trevor
Thank you for picking this up so quickly.  Yes I think we have got all his military career from FindMyPast. He seems to have joined up 4x at least between 1877 and 1903 and earned his Chelsea pensions. He has been riveting in between. Durham RO  have just pointed out his first 1876 marriage and we are sending for the certificate but I doubt if it is relevant. It is this surname of his second wife that is the puzzle. I cannot find a Margaret Cook in the 1871 or 1881 census that fits. If she is from this Maclaren family and in fact Margaret Surley Maclaren I can trace her back to North Leith, but why the change in surname and "father" William Cook ? She would have only been 10 when her mother died and her father was probably at sea. She was not with her MacLaren siblings either so presumably work house or employment somewhere? We just do not know where to look.

Jane

[CaroleW]

Can anyone suggest any records to trace a possible earlier marriage of Margaret Maclaren to a Cook please

If Margaret was 93 when she died in 1954 - she was born approx 1863/4

If she married in 1884 - she would only have been around 21/22

Anecdotedly we have Gibson Wake b1857  marrying a Margaret Maclaren

"Anecdotal info" can often be wrong - people get the generations mixed up so has your friend purchased one of their childrens birth certs to establish Margaret's maiden name?

There's only one Gibson Wake appearing on the 1861/71 census but there is a Gibson Wake marriage in 1876 as well as the one in 1884.  Gibson's father was Thomas in 1861/71

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2DPK-SW5

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NXGP-JH3

[CaroleW]

The 1871 has a Margaret Cook aged 9 b Sunderland with a William Swinhoe and wife Margaret. She is shown as daughter.

William Swinhoe was a sailmaker b Newcastle and married Margaret Cook in 1870.  If you decide to buy the 1884 marriage cert - it will be interesting to see what her fathers occ is shown as.

There are 5 trees on Ancestry for Gibson Wake and not one of the owners has bothered to buy a copy of that 1884 marriage cert nor do they appear to have looked at the Family Search entry as the marriage is just shown as "January 1884"

[mulvi3]

re anecdotal evidence, there is a marriage for a Thomas Wake in 1845 to, amongst others,  a Margaret McClashen

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FreeBMDMarriage&h=29829587&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=8914

This marriage fits with the 1861 census of Gibson with brother Joseph b 1846.

Vera

[janem46]

Hello All

Thank you for all these suggestions. What an inspired lot you are.
 Our Margaret Cook b abt 1862 was apparently illiterate even to her death, but remained very proud of  her Scottish ancestry, and always talked of being a Maclaren, with her father William, a seaman from Leith. The name Cook was never mentioned that her grandson and family  can now recall.
 We do have the 1884 certificate marriage Feb 25th as described above. The Swinhoe /Cook 1870 marriage looks an interesting angle. I had seen the family in 1871  but overlooked the possibility of the wife (apparently previously Margaret Cook),  having a second marriage . I will try to chase that up today. Maybe if I can find her daughters  birth that will be it, but where do the  detailed Maclaren stories come from, and the children from the Gibson Wake/ Margaret Cook marriage do seem to follow the traditional "grandparent naming pattern" of Thomas and Margaret Wake and William and Elizabeth Maclaren.

Thank you all for your help
Jane

Thank you.

[janem46]

Hello

I have just followed up the Swinhoe / Cook lead but have found William Swinhoe and wife Margaret at 32 Zion Street, Sunderland in 1891 + married daughter Margarert Harrison and 4 grandchildren living with them, so I think we can discount that idea.

Thanks

JaneM46

[Rosinish]

Please can anyone help with a friends  brick wall.
 Anecdotedly we have Gibson Wake b1857  marrying a Margaret Maclaren in Durham.
JaneM46

Hi Jane,

This may/may not help?

When I started researching my (deceased) mother's line, my aunt (mum's sis) told me her grandmother's maiden name was Lunn which I thought was brilliant as it would be easy to find (not too common a name)  .

However, after a lot of time, wasted ££'s & detective work, I eventually purchased the correct BC with her correct maiden name.
My grandmother's father died before she was born & she was brought up by her maternal grandparent's (my G Grandparent's) who's surname was Lunn which she obviously used.

It was through census records I discovered who my G Grandmother actually was although I didn't see it straight away as I was so fixated on the name I was given by my aunt who knew no different :-)

Just to let you see a different angle on things 

Annie