Age variations

[trish1]

I'm not sure I can get further back with this family - looking for ideas

William Warr (of Bridport in the County of Dorset) married Priscilla Cook of this parish - 11 Aug 1819 Greenwich St Alphege witnesses G Warrf (Warss? - could be Warr embellished? ) and Wm Langrish

William Warr - ages found - birth consistently given as Bridport
1841 - 40 (so 40-44)
1851 - 52
1861 - 68
1871 - 78
1878 (death) age 85

From parish records, 2 possible baptisms for a William Warr in Bridport
Dec 25 1792 son of Joseph & Frances (I favour this one) - there is a brother George baptised 1787 (witness on marriage?)
Dec 26 1796 son of William & Sarah Bull (unusual for English registers to give mother's maiden name but this page seems to have them all)

Priscilla - ages found - birth consistently given as Greenwich
1841 - 35 (so 35-39)
1851 - 42
1861 - 56
1867 (death) 65

The only possible baptism I can find is Greenwich St Alfege 1May 1799 Priscilla dau of John Clark Cook a victualler & Ann b. Apr 12 - which seems slightly early

Children of William and Priscilla are
John Watson 1821
William 1823
Joseph Cook 1826
Henry 1827
Frederick 1830

Trish

[SarahND]

Hi Trish,
I think you have the right Priscilla, but I realize that is not proof! As I'm sure you know, John Clark Cooke and Ann Wood were married on 13th Jan 1788 in Greenwich St Alphege in the presence of William Cooke.

There are 5 children baptized at St Alphege:

John 1 Dec 1788
Thos 16 Apr 1790
Another John born Nov 19, 1791 baptized Dec 14
Joseph 22 Feb 1797
Priscilla 1 May 1799

What would be lovely is to find the will of John Clark Cook(e) mentioning his daughter Priscilla Warr… I don't see a sign of a will offhand, though

Have you looked up marriages for some of her siblings to see if by some miracle William Warr is a witness?

Best wishes,
Sarah

[trish1]

Hi Sarah - it's useful that you think the 1799 Priscilla may be mine - because it has me looking for more reasons as to why. I was initially quite positive about it - but then found no-one else with trees on the net gave it a mention. Today I double checked those trees & realise they have all taken Priscilla's year of birth from the 1851 census - which has her born in 1809. Extremely unlikely given that she married in 1819. A couple of the trees are quite useful and contain lots of verification so I am surprised that they have 1809 as a birth date - especially as the marriage image is available on ancestry.

I've had no joy with the siblings marriages - I found a John & a Joseph married in St Alphege - at about the right time - no sign of a Warr witness - but not surprising as Priscilla and William moved to Bridport where all their children were born. It could, however be useful to check William via your suggestion & I don't think I have checked his siblings(although I have been checking this family off/on for many years).

John Clark Cooke was buried in Greenwich in 1832 (pre civil registration - although unless Wm Warr was the informant of little use in England) - there are a few possible for Ann

There is a will for a John Cook of Woolwich Kent - in 1833 - probably the closest - but I doubt it is John Clark Cooke. Nothing suitable for Ann.

thank you for the ideas

Trish

[SarahND]

Yes, it was the marriage date that made me realize the 1851 census age was way off. I never trust those ages anyway, having seen too many that were obviously not correct! In this case the usual option of checking the census age when she was a child (more likely to be accurate) is not available to you. And online trees... I came across one the other day that had a man born in 1903 fathering a son who was born in 1759 Sometime people just don't think...

I hope you find just the right obscure bit of document you need to verify this! It is not a straightforward search.


Sarah