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. Continue reading

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? Continue reading