Charles Cook
ID # 1921, (1808-1853)
| Baptism | Charles Cook was baptized in 1808 at Over, Cambridgeshire, England. |
| Death | He died on 4 August 1853 at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, England. |
| Burial | He was buried on 7 August 1853 at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire. |
| Marriage | He married Elizabeth Ann Russell, daughter of George Washington Russell and Rachel Vrooman. |
| Note | The information that we have with which to identify the following Charles Cook as the husband of Elizabeth Ann Russell is, to a degree, circumstantial. With the information confirmed by his death registration, however, it is now reasonable to identify him through the following history: Information about Charles Cook is taken from Elizabeth Ann's obituary in the Niagara Falls Gazette (Niagara Falls, New York). It states that Charles, Elizabeth's husband, was a member of the 43rd Light Infantry, an English regiment stationed at Lundy's Lane at the time of their marriage. After many years, memories can be faulty, however there is some credibility to this claim. According to Wikipedia, the 43rd Monmouthshire Regiment of Foot was in Canada from 1836 until 1846 whereupon it returned to England. Rather more detailed information is given by Sir R.G.A. Levinge in his 1868 work Historical Records of the 43rd Regiment. This places the regiment at Queenston in June of 1838 and later the same year at Drummondville, perhaps the Drummondville that is now part of the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario - Levinge isn't clear. Apparently, the regiment was still in the Niagara area in 1839, but removed to Amherstberg in 1840. In July of 1842 it left Amherstburg and, via Toronto, went to Montreal. In May of 1843 the headquarters went to La Prairie and then in September to Quebec. It went to Halifax in 1844 and returned to England in 1846. With the exception of the baptism of son Alfred Charles Cook at Laprairie in 1844 our information for Charles Cook is limited, but it seems reasonable that Charles and Elizabeth Ann met during the regiment's stay at Niagara. There is evidence that Alfred Charles Cook, their son, was born in Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1844 (see the 1851 census at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, which shows Alfred as age 7) and this agrees with Alfred's 1844 baptism. Another piece of documentation showing Charles Cook is to be found on the marriage registration of son Alfred Charles Cook in 1865. He names Charles Cook as his father. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum web site shows two Charles Cooks as mustering out of the 43rd Light Infantry in 1848: Cook, Charles Regimental No.2228 Rank Pte ForenameCharles SurnameCook Regiment43rd End of Service 7 Dec 1848 Cook, Charles Regimental No.558 Rank Pte ForenameCharles SurnameCook Regiment43rd End of Service Dublin. 25 Sep 1848 If the 43rd Regiment had two Charles Cooks, were there then three? It may not matter. Consider the following: Ancestry provides us with records of British Army Chelsea Pensioners who served in Canada and Charles Cook of the 43rd, regimental number 558 was one of them, no other Charles Cook being found. This Charles Cook was born approximately 1808 at Over in Cambridgeshire, was a tailer, spent two years with the army in Gibraltar and ten years and ten months in Canada. He had a rather long list of infractions which resulted in disciplinary action. He was discharged from the service as being unfit for duty for reasons of advanced age and rheumatism. He was discharged at Templemore in Ireland on 25 September, 1848. The discharge indicated that he intended to return to Cambridge. Given his age, he seems an unlikely candidate to be the Charles Cook, husband of Elizabeth Ann Russell, however, it may be noted that the pages of infractions in his file do identify him as a tailer with the 43rd and that he found himself in trouble at Niagara in 1838 and 1839. These infractions, extracted from the defaulters' roll, mainly had to do with drunkeness and failure to return to barracks by the required time. The one major difficulty we have in assigning this Charles Cook as being the husband of Elizabeth Ann Russell is that he claimed to be 18 when he joined the army in 1826. This would make his year of birth 1808 and make him some 18 years older than Elizabeth Ann. As for the Charles Cook with the regimental number 2228, he has not been found and nbr. 2228 has been found assigned to at least two other soldiers, neither of them named Charles Cook. He does not appear in the database of FindMyPast UK, and Ancestry does not have him in their file of Chelsea Pensioners who served in Canada. For the moment, the only Charles Cook of the 43rd Regiment who, documentably, served in Canada, that we have as a candidate for the husband of Elizabeth Ann Russell, is Charles Cook, regimental number 558. Ancestry also provides pages from lists of Chelsea Pensioners and this includes pages with a list for those who served in the 43rd. A Charles Cook of Cambridge is shown as dying on August 6, 1853. Was he Elizabeth's husband? Consider that Elizabeth Ann spent her time in England, such as we may document, in Chesterton, Cambridgeshire. This was, at the time, a village near the city of Cambridge. And with this information, we find one more piece of documentation relating to the Charles Cook so far discussed. Note the Chelsea Penioner record that dates the death of a Charles Cook in Cambridge to August 6, 1853. With this in mind, the GRO in England provides the following death registration: Registration District Chesterton Union 1853 Death in the Sub-district of Fulbourn in the County of Cambridge Nbr. 6 Date of death Fourth August, 1853, Chesterton. Name Charles Cook. Age 45. Tailor. Cause of death Disease of Kidneys 6 months, fever 1 week, Certified. X - The mark of Susan Cracknell, present at the death. Chesterton. Registered on Sixth August 1853. Familysearch has a database, England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991, which has the following information: Charles Cook England Deaths and Burials Name Charles Cook Residence Place Chesterton Gender Male Burial Date 07 Aug 1853 Burial Place Chesterton, Cambridge, England Age 45 Birth Date1808 It does not provide the name of a cemetery. Charles Cook, the Chelsea Pensioner, was born in 1808. His age at time of death in 1853 in Chesterton, 45, agrees with this. Charles the Chelsea Pensioner was a tailer in the army and Charles in Chesterton was a tailer by trade as stated on his death registration. Elizabeth Ann and her children were resident in Chesterton.His address at time of death is not given. Who was Susan Cracknell? We are left with no idea. There are a couple of possibilities, but she may simply have been a Cook family member. Neither the 1851 or 1861 English censuses provide us with a reasonable candidate for the Susan Cracknell who was present at the death of Charles. A Charles Cook has not been found in the 1851 census whom we could reasonably identify as a retired soldier and a tailer. Difference of age notwithstanding, it's difficult to escape the conclusion that this is Charles Cook, the husband of Elizabeth Ann Russell. Elizabeth Ann uses her married name, Cook, in the 1851 census at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, but in 1861 and 1871, again at Chesterton, reverts to her maiden name and presents herself as unmarried, even with her daughter present in 1861. In these documents she is shown as either a seamstress or a shirtmaker. Her economic existence would have been marginal at best. She does give her name as Cook when her daughter was born in August of 1854, though she does not name the father. She gave it as such again when her daughter died in 1871. As mentioned, however, the censuses of 1861 and 1871 are a different story. Whoever was the Charles Cook that married to Elizabeth Ann Russell, it doesn't seem reasonable that they met much before the early 1840s. Son Alfred was born in approximately 1844, so 1842 or '43 would be the approximate time of their marriage. A marriage record for Charles and Elizabeth Ann probably exists in a Canadian Anglican church repository, but has yet to be found. |
Children of Charles Cook and Elizabeth Ann Russell |
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| Last Edited | 24 Sep 2020 |