Children of the Sampler – Murkin
In the possession of my cousin Hilary is a “sampler”, embroidered by Ruth Spooner in 1838 with the names and dates of birth of her brothers and sisters, the children of my Great-Great-Great Grandparents Elizabeth (nee Murkin) and Robert Spooner.
On the reverse, handwritten, is a list of names and dates of birth of Ruth’s aunts and uncles, the brothers and sisters of her mother Elizabeth Murkin. It is a most unusual and remarkable record. Read more 
Who was William Cooksey?
Christmas is a time for family games and puzzles. Mine centred on William Cooksey, the second husband of Hannah Miller (nee Mallin), who was himself a widower. Having trawled trade directories for Staffordshire (concentrating on West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Tipton), I had begun to develop a theory about William’s business activity as, at first, a Nail Ironmonger and, later, a Grocer and Tea Dealer. There were other Cooksey businesses, too: Samuel Cooksey and Joseph Cooksey. Were they all three related? Read more
William Cooksey’s first family
Tidying the desk for Christmas, I came upon a folder of miscellaneous documents. One of the these was a record of the Monumental Inscription on a headstone in the graveyard of Christchurch, West Bromwich, Staffordshire. Listed are Sarah (died 1836 aged 45), wife of William Cooksey, their son, William Mallin (died 1845 aged 30) and a daughter, Marie Louisa (died 1850 aged 35). Read more
Sources
An important task yet to be undertaken is to indicate here on the family tree, the sources of all the data. That is a mammoth task, but one that must be undertake if others are to place any reliance on the accuracy of it all.
I do, of course, have sources of most of the data, listed as footnotes in the written ‘stories’ of the various branches.
As always, small steps must be the start of that long journey.
Mallin rested
For the time being, I must leave Hannah Mallin and her family. Hannah’s christening (her birth was in 1804) remains to be discovered and her parents elusive. There is a wealth of Mallin data in West Bromwich and the surrounding area. Indeed, everything points to Mallin (perhaps with this spelling) being a west midlands surname. However, I have not yet found a ‘key’ that ‘unlocks’ the data. More research. Another day.