Unknown (Unknown) Cooke (abt. 1612 - 1645)

Updating her profile given name to "Unknown"; this is consistent with the narrative.--Gene.

First Wife should be listed as 'First Wife Cooke' or Mrs. Aaron Cooke Jr.

Andersons Great Migration Study: https://search.ancestry.com/collections/2496/records/45663 AARON COOKE ORIGIN: Dorchester, Dorsetshire MIGRATION: 1630 on Mary & John FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester REMOVES: Windsor 1637, Northampton 1661, Westfield 1668, Northampton 1678

BIRTH: Baptized Bridport, Dorsetshire, 20 March 1613/4, son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Chard) Cooke [TAG 11: 179-80). DEATH: Northampton 5 September 1690 . MARRIAGE: (1) By 1638 ___ ___ ; she died by 1650. [Probably did not exist. See Comments below.] (2) By 1650 Joan Denslow, daughter of Nicholas Denslow; she died Westfield in April1676. (3) New Haven 2 December 1676 Elizabeth Nash [NHVR 1:43]; she died by 1688. (4) Hadley 2 October 1688 Rebecca (Foote) Smith [Pynchon VR 224], widow of Philip Smith, daughter of Nathaniel Foote [Wethersfield Hist2:328); although not mentioned in the will of her second husband, she survived him and died 6 April 1701

CHILDREN: With first wife i. JOANNA, bp. Windsor 5 August 1638 [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Windsor 19 March 1656 Simon Wo'olcott [WiVR 42].

ii. AARON, bp. Windsor 21 February 1640[11 ?] [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Hadley 30 May·1661 Sarah Westwood (Pynchon VR 223].

iii MIRIAM, bp. Windsor 12 March 1642[/3?] [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Dorchester 8 November 1~61 Joseph Leeds [DVR20].

iv MOSES, bp. Windsor 16 November 1645 [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Windsor 25 November 1669 (as "Moses Cooke of Warronock") Elizabeth Clarke [WiVR 12].

v SAMUEL, b. Windsor 21 November 1650 [Grant 29], bp. Windsor 22 November 1650 [WiVR 33);

v1 ELIZABETH, b. Windsor 7 August 1653 [WiVR 33: Grant 29]; by about 1677 Samuel Parsons [NEHGR 148:219].

vii NOAH, b. Windsor 14 June 1657 [WiVR 44; Grant 29];

• • • • • • • • • • COMMENTS: Pope suggests that the first wife of Aaron Cooke was Mary, who was a member of Dorchester church in 1636; but the records of the Dorchester church do not include a Mary Cooke. In fact, the alleged first wife of Aaron Cooke (before he married Joan Denslow) may not have existed. There is no record which names the supposed first wife, and especially no death record. The records are consistent with the proposal that Joan Denslow was the first of Aaron Cooke's three wives, and the mother of all his children. The only problem is the will of Joan's mother, the widow Elizabeth Denslow, which names "my daughter Joan Cooke" and that daughter's children Elizabeth, Samuel and Noah. These are the three youngest children, born from 1650 on, after a five-year gap in the birth of children to Aaron Cooke.

The standard arrangement of assigning four wives to Aaron Cooke will be retained here, with the caveat the first two may be only one.

(Pope also gives Aaron Cooke an eldest child Nathaniel, but Nathaniel Cooke of Windsor married in 1649, which would make him too old to be a son of Aaron.)

Biography indicates that she is Unknown Unknown, but in the data section she is still "Mary Cooke Ford (disproven)."

Why has this woman's LNAB become "Unknown" when parents and siblings are shown here? If there is documentation of William and Martha Cooke being her parents, her surname should be restored. If not, they should be removed.

Unknown-197787 and Ford-3853 appear to represent the same person because: There is controversy among historians raised by Anderson whether Aaron Cook married a wife Mary at all. See Bio of Aaron Cooke for the discussion. But if he did, both these Mary's represent the same person and should be merged.

There is a pending merge for this profile that has been approved in the pending merges list.