John Cocke (abt. 1675)

Born about 1675 in Thetford ,Norfolk, England

Descendants

Biography

There is likely that John Cocke, Deputy Recorder of Thetford in 1629, pretty certainly ancestor of Thomas Paine's mother, was related to Richard Cock, of Norwich, author of "English Law, or a Summary Survey of the Household of God upon Earth " (London, 1651). The author of "The Rights of Man" may therefore be a confutation of his own dictum: "An hereditary governor is as inconsistent as an hereditary author."

One Thomas Payne, of the Norfolk County family, was awarded £20 by the Council of State (1650) "for his sufferings by printing a book for the cause of Parliament." Among the sequestrators of royalist church livings was Charles George Cock, "student of Christian Law, of the Society of the Inner Temple, now [1651] resident of Norwich." In Blomefield's "History of Norfolk County" other notes may be found suggesting that Thomas was spiritually descended from these old radicals.

Sources

• http://www.american-buddha.com/paine.bio.a.htm