"Mary Singleton Chambers": The Error that wouldn't Leave...............

I have seen lots of info emerge about OUR Cookes ever since I first started researching and posting this info. Some of my errors, and some errors due to software, have been perpetuated, frustratingly, as FACT over the years. For example, some have "Mary Singleton Chambers" as a wife of my John Cooke Sr. This occurred some years ago when I postulated as to the surname of Mary, widow of John Cooke Sr. I listed her as "Mary Singleton? Chambers?", meaning, "was she a Singleton? A Chambers?".....
After uploading a GEDCOM to World Connect &/or Ancestry.com, the punctuation was removed and her name became "Mary Singleton Chambers".............
 
Granted, MY Cookes intermarried with Chambers, and the name Singleton does appear as a middle name generations later.
While I fully admit that she could have been either, or both, NO PROOF EXISTS that John's wife, Mary, was a Singleton or a Chambers.

In fact, she may have been related to Hezekiah Arnold (see land dispute in Buckingham b/w John Cooke and Benjamin Arnold). 

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Barbados Baptisms: (St Michael's Parish)
MARRIED March 10, 1654, John Cook to Mary HILL
                        Margery, dau of John & Mary Cooke, May 28, 1656 
                        Abraham, son of John Cooke, December 1, 1661
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The below comes from the Records of Old Rappahannock County, VA, King William records, Essex County records, and correspondence over the years with others (like Bob Baird, Dorothy Haislip, Clayton Heathcock, etc etc). It is a mish-mash:
Old Rappahannock County Records, 1682-1686
Old Rappahannock County Records, 1687-1690(now Totasky Cr, Richmond, Co.)
St Peter's Parish, New Kent, ca1690-1720's-death (now Hanover)
 
In St Peter's Psh Vestry Book, Mathew & Hannah were born to Abraham Cooke in 1690's. Abraham's wife, Martha, is believed to have been dau of William? Cleaton/Clayton & Hannah. After his death, Hannah (__?__) Clayton, widow, then married Andrew? MacAllister.
 
1704 King William Co., Hannah Mackalester appoints her "loving son in law", Abraham Cooke, her attorney in fact, to-wit:
Deed Book 1, page 287, King Wm County, VA Clerk's Office, dated 10/14/1704, recorded 1/20/1705:
Hannah Mackalester "of King William County"
                        TO
Abraham Cooke "of St Paul's Parish, New Kent";
Refers to him as "my loving son in law"; Makes him her attorney-in-fact to deal with a plantation in King William.
Witnessed by John Marr, Henry Webber, & Miles Burgens/Burgess.

 

From Bob Baird: "The POA authorized Cook to collect debts and sell or rent a plantation, apparently in New Kent.
Although it seems clear this was our Abraham Cook, it's not entirely clear who Hannah was or what the relationship was.  "Son-in-law" at that time meant any relationship created by legal means. It could have meant either a son-in-law or a stepson.  It could even have meant a stepson from a prior marriage." 
 
"Hannah" may have been "Hannah (__?__) Clayton-McAllister", widow of William Clayton, wife of a "MackAlester".  The name "Andrew McAllister" was recorded in the exant record of Hanover County, VA, a 1735 Order Book that somehow survives.
 
See also Old Rapp Deeds between William Clayton, (Junior) son of William Clayton, deceased, and wife Mary, to Abraham Cooke & wife Martha, from May, 1689, to deeds-out by Abe Cooke in 1690.
NOTE: the land in these deeds was 150 acres+/- on Totasky Creek, in present-day Richmond County.
100 acres of it was purchased by William Clayton Sr from William Landman, DB8,page 58;
50 acres belonged to "my mother's estate", meaning William Clayton, Jr's mother, also noted in DB8, p 58, dated 5/6/1689, recorded 9/4/1689.

 

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The Mystery of ABRAHAM COOKE'S' PARENTS - The Various Attempts at Solving:

 

10/1/1999- 

Recent email correspondence names William Cooke (bca1618-dby1669) & Hannah as parents of Abraham Cooke. 

[jecjr: "NOT YET PROVEN", source for this not yet found].
 

Info From: "The Davies Family"

[NOT PROVED / NOT CONFIRMED! I have been unable to contact the creators of this tree. While it all looks good, and seems to fit, I can find no evidence as to it's accuracy. However, I offer it up here as a possibility]:
http://www.craigandlaura.com/Geneolgy/thedaviesfamily/index.htm

Abraham (Jr) Cox.
He had the following children:  Mathew Cox.
Mathew Cox had the following children:  Hannah Cox.
William Clayton died By 1680. He married Hannah Cox on bfr 1665 in Virginia.
Hannah Cox married William Clayton on b4 1665 in Virginia. They had the following children:
               i. Martha Clayton was born about 1670.
               ii. William (Jr) Clayton was born about 1665.
               iii. Benjamin Clayton.
Abraham Cooke was born 1660. He died about 1720 in VA. Abraham married Martha Clayton. Residence: Old Rapp/Richmond Co (1689); New Kent(1704). Martha Clayton was born about 1670. She died in VA. They had the following children:
               i .William Cooke was born 1685 and died about 1752.
               ii  Benjamin (Sr) Cooke was born 1690. He died 1759 in Hanover County, Virginia.
               iii Abraham Cox Cooke was born 1690. He died 1748.
               iv John Cooke was born 1700. He died Sep 1775 in Cumberland County, Virginia, USA.
               v Robert Cooke.
               vi Matthew Cooke was born 1690.
               vii Hannah Cooke was born 1690.
William Cooke was born 1685 in England [?]. He died about 1752 in Hanover Co, Va. William married Anne Griffin. Anne Griffin was born about 1700 in England. They had the following children:
              i William Cooke was born about 1725 and died 1780/1781.
              ii Clayton Cooke.
William Cooke was born about 1725 in CULPEPPER CO., VA (Silver Creek). He died 1780/1781 in South Elkhorn, Franklin Co., Ky. William married Margaret Jones on 1750 in Lunenburg Co., VA. Margaret Jones was born about 1729. She died 1798 in Franklin Co., Ky. Margaret married William Cooke on 1750 in Lunenburg Co., VA.
They had the following children:
                i Rachel Cooke was born 17 May 1753 and died 3 Feb 1832.

 

MORE TO COME...............