Family:Thomas Cooke and Rachel Varney (4)

There is no known record of the marriage of Thomas Cooke and Rachel Varney, which most likely occurred in England. However the marriage is generally accepted based on indirect evidence. The first is the coupling of Thomas Cooke's name with William Varney in 1649, when they were both given liberty to reside in Ipswich, and when William stood bond for Thomas when he first appeared before the court for slandering the minister and for drunkeness. Rachel Cooke is named as Thomas's widow in a court record shortly after he had been presented for drunkeness but after his death, when she petitioned to have his fine remitted because of her poverty. Rachel was also named as his widow when she presented the inventory of Thomas's estate in court, an inventory that William Varney helped prepare. After Rachel's remarriage to Joseph Langton, when he was presented in court for abuse of his wife's child (her son John Cooke), the child was given to it's grandparents, William Varney and wife, until the next court session.^[1] Finally, Rachel and Thomas's son John Cooke is mentioned in the will of Rachel's third husband, William Vinson.^[2]

Footnotes

1. ↑ Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, Vol 1
2. ↑ Davis, Walter Goodwin Jr. The Ancestry of Charity Haley 1755-1800, Wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine. Stanhope Press, Boston, MA, 1916.