Family:Walter Cooke and Experience Holbrook (2)

Source:Chamberlain, George Walter. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, p. 3:174, has nothing about Walter Jr. However, he does cover the Holbrook family on 3:269. That coverage is based on the will of John Holbrook, He does not name his daughter Experience, but does names his grandchildren Joseph Edson, Josiah Edson, and Experience Edson. The coverage says John Holbrook's daughter "Experience, b. 23 May, 1661; m. Joseph Edson of Bridgewater".

Some sources (Source:Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts, p. 1761) identify the first wife of Joseph Edson as Experience Field prior to his marriage in 1686 his second wife Mary Turner, assigning wife Experience the children Joseph b. 1679, Josiah 1682, Experience 1685 (of these children, only Experience's birth is recorded). Comparing to the will of John Holbrook, it makes it clear this identification of Joseph Edson's wife is incorrect and Chamberlain's is correct.

The marriage of Joseph Edson to Experience Holbrook is given by Source:Vinton, John Adams. Vinton Memorial, Comprising a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648, p. 333; Source:Edson, Carroll Andrew. Edson Family History and Genealogy : Descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass, p. 47.

NEHGR, Vol. 128, p. 154, has a note that believes the Snow-Estes book corrects Chamberlains "supposed first wife Experience", pages 2:102-3. This is ironic since Snow-Estes appears to the very source of the error here. In fact, while it is true Snow-Estes only shows one wife Catherine, it says absolutely nothing to actually refute the aforementioned idea that he may have had a first wife, nor that Catherine may not have been the mother of all his children. In fact, Weymouth VRs, Vol. 1, p. 80, show the birth COOK, "---, d. Walter and Experience, Nov. 9, 1662", which appears to imply exactly those facts.

The note itself cites the will of William Brenton [GMB p. 220, says dated 9 Feb 1673/4], which refers to "my sister Katherine Cooke's children". It seems unlikely he would give to step-children of his sister, so this argues that Walter had at least some children with his wife Katherine (assuming it is the same Katherine Cooke, as additional probate papers are non-existent, meaning there is no specific list of who the specified children were.) Both Snow-Estes and Chamberlain list the child born in 1662 as daughter Experience, which raises the possibility that the published VRs have misinterpreted the name of the daughter as the name of the wife. On the other hand, Chamberlain and Snow-Estes do not agree on the children of Walter, but both show children with unknown birth dates, and if any were born after 1662, the 1662 birth record and 1674 will are not necessarily contradictory. So nothing seems proven.

The note points out that Walter Sr. left a will (it says his wife Catherine did too, but it is not found, and since she died before him, probably did not). That will does not mention son Walter Jr. So the son appears to have died before 18 Jan 1694/95 when the will was written.