Aaron Cooke

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 1523

Notes:

Birth:
baptism date

Family/Spouse: Mary Unknown. Mary was born about 1614. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Aaron Cooke was born on 21 Feb 1640 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 1556

Aaron married Elizabeth Charde on 2 Sep 1610 in Thorncombe, Dorset, England. Elizabeth was born about 1593 in England; died on 18 Apr 1643 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Elizabeth Charde Cook
• Reference Number: 2570

Notes:

Elizabeth Charde married Aaron Cooke in Thormcombe, Dorset (10 mi. NW of Bridport) 2 Sep 1610

At Bridport, 15 ½ miles west of Dorchester her first husband Aaron Cooke was buried on 28 Dec 1615.

Elizabeth Charde Cook, the widow of Aaron Cook, married Thomas Ford 19 Jun 1616 in Bridport.

At Bridport, are baptism records for children of Thomas Ford (her husband):

Joan, 8 june 1617
Abigail, 8 Oct 1619

The Holy Trinity Church of Dorchester contains the following Baptism Records for children of Thomas Ford (her husband):

Thomas, baptized 21 Sep 1623; buried 6 Oct 1623
Hepzibah, baptized 15 May 1625
Hannah, baptized 1 Feb 1628/29; buried 28 Mar 1629

We conclude that between 1619 and 1623 Thomas and Elizabeth moved from Bridport to Dorchester.

It is possible that Thomas Ford was a widower with a child when he married Elizabeth Charde. In Powerstock, which is 6 miles northeast of Bridport, we find two men named Thomas Ford. One married 29 Jan 1607-08 to Julian Dun and the other married 13 Dec 1610 to Joane Way. We find three baptism records for Florence (1608), Thomas (1610) and Julian (1615) which likely belong to the Thomas Ford married first. And we find two baptisms in 1612 of which one would likely belong to the first Thomas (married 1607/08) and the other likely to the second Thomas (married 1610). Mary, baptized 18 Aug 1612 and Sarah, baptized 6 Jan 1612/13. After 1613 only one Thomas was having children baptized in Powerstock. Joane Ford was buried in Powerstock on 10 May 1615.

It is possible that Joan Ford, first child of Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Charde was named Joan in 1617 in honor of the deceased first wife, which was not uncommon to do in those days. It is also possible that Henry Way, of Bridport, who also emigrated on the "Mary and John" at the same time as Thomas Ford, was related to Joane Way. Based on this reasoning, some have concluded that Thomas Ford probably first married Joane Way. I think "probably" may be too strong a word. I will go with Thomas Ford "may" have first married Joane Way and they may have had a daughter named Sarah or Mary.

We are unable to find record of parents of Elizabeth Charde. Numerous on-line records show Thomas Charde, but there is absolutely no record of this. There are some Charde wills and Charde tax records in Dorset, but even though the name of Thomas Charde does appear in some of these records there is nothing to indicate that he is a father of Elizabeth.

Thomas Ford, Elizabeth Ford, Joanna Ford, Abigail Ford, Hepzibah Ford and Aaron Cooke arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1630. In 1637 Thomas Ford moved to Windsor and in1672 to Northhampton where he died 28 Nov 1676.

Elizabeth Charde died in Windsor 18 Apr 1643.

Some have said that Thomas Ford has more descendants than any other male New England immigrant. I do now know if that is true or not, but he certainly has lots of descendants. He had three confirmed daughters who lived to procreation age. Joanne married Roger Clapp and they had 45 grandchildren. Abigail married John Strong, they had 16 children and 143 grandchildren. Hepzibah married Richard Lyman and had 8 children and 43 grandchildren. That is a total of 231 great grandchildren for Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Charde from only 3 daughters. Plus Elizabeth Charde has additional descendants through her son Aaron Cook. As each generation multiplies itself, with the kind of start their descendants had, it would be virtually impossible for a later generation to catch up to them in numbers. Some notable descendants of Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Charde include Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Princess Diana, Spencer Tracy, the Wright brothers, Samuel Colt, Rutherford B Hayes, Mike Huckabee, D.H. Lawrence, Sarah Palin, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Gary Boyd Roberts' books mentions these and many other prominent descendants.

Bibliography:
Thomas Ford of Dorchester, England, and Dorchester, Mass prepared by Donald Lines Jacobus from material obtained by Clarence Almon Torrey published 1939, The American Genealogist Vol 16 P41-43.

The Mary & John Series by Burton Spears-various volumes and pages

The Great Migrations Series by Robert Charles Anderson published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Notes:

Married:
TAG 1934 V11 P180