The Coxon family appears to have its beginnings in Troutbeck in northern England, for according to AN ARMORIAL FOR WESTMORLAND AND LONSDALE (see bibliography), a Richard Cookeson (sic) owned land there in 1394, and it is likely that it is from that center that the Coxons (also Cookeson and Cookson) spread into Westmorland, Cumberland, and Durham.

I have been unable to research our family before 1639 because the parish register for Martindale goes only that far back. However, after studying the index for Kendal, Westmorland, available at the Mormon Genealogical library, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, I believe that the John Cookson of “Nicklethorns,” the ancestor who begins this account, is the son of a William or John Cookson of Kendal parish, but this must yet be proved.

John Cookson owned “Nicklethorns” (originally spelled “Knittlethornes”), a farm in the village of Martindale on the Ullswater, Parish of Barton, Westmorland, England. His will (signed with an “X” in the presence of witnesses) made November 20, 1686, mentions his wife, Amy; his son, John, named executor; and his son, Thomas, to whom he leaves “Nicklethorns.” Along with this will is an inventory, barely readable.

His son, Thomas, in a more elaborate will of June 30, 1727, appears to have increased the family fortune. He, like his father before him, seems to have been mainly a sheep farmer. Attached to this will is the inventory of his estate, which included a much prized possession of that era, a feather bed, and a letter of administration naming sons James Cookson and Thomas. Cookson as joint administrators. Both of these men could write.

James Cookson married Annis Harrison, the daughter of Edward Harrison of Hellingbank, at Barton church on February 24, 1722 (see Martindale parish register, page 54, marriages). They have three children, of whom “John of Howtown. was the eldest. James Cookson, buried January 11, 1753, is listed in the Martindale parish register as being "from Howtown in Martindale.”

“John of Howtown” Cookson married Elizabeth Mounsey at Martindale, Barton parish, on June 7, 1750. Their first born, James Harrison Cookson, is our direct ancestor. Daughter Agnes was born in 1754, two years after James, and baby Elizabeth was born in the fall of 1756, her father having died only a few months earlier. He died suddenly, leaving no will. Although John of Howtown left no will, there exist letters of administration and tuition for young James, where he petitions the Bishop of Carlisle that his mother, Elizabeth, be made his guardian. The widow, Elizabeth Cookson, eventually lived with her younger daughter, Elizabeth, who married a John Jackson of Dalehead. In the Martindale burial register for 1812, Elizabeth Cookson, widow, age 89, is listed as buried on January 29, 1812.

James Harrison Cookson graduated from Sedbergh School in Cumbria, which is a county in northern England, and proceeded to Queens College, Oxford, from which he took a B.A. and M.A. (see Foster, ALUMNI OXONIENSES 1715-1886, Vol. 1, page 291 (London, 1887). Note that James is referred to as a gentlemen, this designation meaning its literal armigerous sense, entitled to have heraldic arms. Upon completion of his education at Queens College, Oxford, James Cookson assumed the living left to him by a cousin, one Rev. Thomas Harrison in 1766 as Rector of Colmer (also Colemore). Young James' cousin, Rev. Thomas Cookson, kept the rectory warm for his cousin from 1766 until 1775. The Martindale Church Notes report that Rev. Thomas Cookson's name never appears in the parish registers as performing any duty whatsoever.

Rev. James Harrison Cookson was rector of Colmer and Prior's Dean from 1775 to 1835. He was also Master of Churcher's College, Petersfield, England. When he died in 1835, he was the oldest living magistrate in the County of Hampshire. Colmer parish is 5 3/4 miles southwest of Alton, and the church is St. Peter Ad Vincula. This church is no longer is use but receives aid for upkeep and historical preservation from the Redundant Church Fund and is open to the public. Rev. James Cookson, with the permission of her father, Bryan Robinson, married Sarah Robinson of East Tistead, a parish since 1538, 4 112 miles southwest of Alton. Their firstborn, James Harrison Cookson, junior, is our direct ancestor.

Rev. James Cookson, senior, is well documented in the DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, Vol. XII, page 106 (London, 1887). A copy of his UNIVERSAL FAMILY BIBLE is to be found at the Philadelphia Historical Society, the only copy on exhibit in the United States.

Rev. James Cookson, Senior, died at Petersfield on January 6, 1835, and is buried in the chancel of St Peter Ad Vincula. His wife, Sarah, and several of their children are also buried in the churchyard. There is a 19th" century large stone memorial to the family on an inside wall of the church.

Rev. James Cookson, Junior, also graduated from Sedbergh School, and was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, in June, 1805. He is listed as a pensioner, which means that he paid his own fees. (See Venn's ALUMNI CANTABRIGIENSES, Part II, Vol. 2, page 122 (Cambridge, 1944). James, junior, was ordained priest on December 17, 1809 at Farnham by the Bishop of Winchester.

At the National Archives, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, I was able to read the minutes, transcribed in a beautiful longhand, of a general meeting of the Venerable Society of the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (known as the SPGFP) held at St. Martin's Library, Westminster, on March 19, 1819:

"A letter from the Rev. James Cookson, expressing a wish to be employed as a Missionary in the Service of the Society and Requesting the appointment to the Mission at Hampton, New Brunswick, and his testimonial produced, signed by three beneficed clergymen and countersigned by the Bishop of the Diocese,

"Agreed to adopt Mr. Cookson and to appoint him to the Mission of Hampton, N.B., with a salary of 200 Ibs and 100 Ibs in aid of the expenses of his voyage."

Rev. James Cookson and family arrived at the port of St. John, New Brunswick, on June 14, 1819. In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury of July 19, 1819, Rev. Cookson described the voyage as ''tedious and tempestuous.”

James Cookson was the first rector of St. Paul's Church, Hampton, New Brunswick, and his first sermon preached June 27, 1819, was from the text Luke 15, verse 10: "likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

Rev. Cookson presented the parish with three books for the registering of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, as well as a surplice.

     Accompanying James Cookson on the voyage to New Brunswick were his wife, Mary Amey Cookson, who he married October 24, 1809, at Ringwood, England; their firstborn (once again!) James Harrison Cookson, baptized December 28, 1810, at Ringwood; and their second child, George Bryan Cookson, baptized twice: first at St. Thomas, Winchester on March 2, 1817, and again at Colmer by his grandfather on April 13, 1817. These four made the voyage, and five months after their arrival in New Brunswick, North America (Canadian Confederation was not until 1867), James and Mary became parents of a daughter, Charlotte Jane Anderson Cookson. She, subsequent brother John, born 1821, and sister, Sarah, born 1823, are listed in their father's own hand as all being, baptized privately. (See Hampton Parish Register of St. Paul's Church, New Brunswick Archives, Fredericton, N.B.),

The average congregation at Hampton Church was reported at 300 on Sundays.

In 1829 Rev. Cookson resigned from St. Paul's. His sons James and George purchased a farm in Greenwich parish (now Hatfield Point, N.B.), and Rev. Cookson reported to the Bishop of Nova Scotia is 1833 that his sons managed the farm and he himself had set up a school. We also know from annual diocesan reports that Rev. Cookson assisted Rev. Scovil at Kingston and ministered to nearby parishes.

Mary Amey Cookson died at Greenwich, Kings County, North America, on January 3, 1848. She is buried in lower Norton, N.B., in the churchyard cemetery of the Church of the Ascension. The stone bears this inscription:

“In memory of Mary, relict of Rev. James Cookson, late rector of Hampton, who departed this life Jan. 3, A.D. 1848 at the 63 years Of her age."

Sometime in 1851 Rev. James returned to England, and for a time he lived with two of his sisters at Portsmouth. He died August 31, 1857, on the Island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. The funeral was held on September 4, 1857, Entry No. 122 in the Burial Register of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church at St. Peter Port. A Rev. Carey conducted the funeral.

George Bryan Cookson, the second son of James and Mary, is next in line of direct ancestry. In the St John marriage records for 1850, which may be seen at the New Brunswick Provincial Archives, Fredericton, N.B., George Bryan Cookson, bachelor, married Jane Maria Jones of Greenwich parish on January 9, 1850, by B. G. Gray with witnesses Daniel Jones and Emma Jones present. The 1871 Canadian Census Microfilm No. C-10, 378, Parish of Springfield Census at the National Archives, Ottawa, revealed George as a "Calvinist Baptist Farmer," residing in Belleisle, N.B., year of birth as 1817, England. His wife, Jane M. Jones, also born in 1817 in New Brunswick, is listed as of Scottish descent. The only facts that George's two grandaughters, Miss Mary and Miss Ina Cookson of St. John, N.B." could recall when I talked with them in September of 1963 were that George died suddenly and that he often said, "I read my Bible.. George and Jane lived on the farm after their marriage, but sometime before April 12, 1884 they moved to St. John. George and Jane conveyed a piece of property to one James Titus by Deed No. 37,603 on the date given above. George is listed in the deed as "Gentleman," and Titus is .Yeoman." George died March 31, 1888 at St. John; Jane died at St. John on May 22, 1891. They are buried in Hampton Rural Cemetery, Hampton, N.B.

Of the three children born to George and Jane, Albert Ernest is the eldest and our direct descendent. Albert was born in 1851 according to the 1871 census mentioned above.

Albert Ernest Cookson married Leah Appleby on January 6, 1875, with W.A. Corey, a Baptist minister officiating (see Kings County Marriage Register, Vol. 111 (1867-1884), page 230, Provincial Archives, Fredericton, N.B.). Albert was a carpenter and a tinsmith by trade. In 1882 the family moved to the Boston area (Needham-Wellesley). My father told me that Leah Cookson returned home summers to her parents' home on Darlings Island on the Kennebecasis River in Hampton, just opposite and in view of St. Paul's Church. It is beautiful countryside..

My grandfather, Frederick Ethelbert Cookson, was born at the Appleby homestead on Darlings Island in 1878 and was four years old when the family emigrated to the United States. Fred Cookson was a carpenter, tinsmith, and knew the plumbing and heating business. He married Mary Grace Fay (or Fahey) at the age of 22 (she was 18) on May 28, 1900 at Waltham, Massachusetts, with Rev. Francis E. Webster officiating. They lived in Needham, Mass. on Melrose Avenue for many years. They also had a summer home at Barnstead, New Hampshire, purchased from the Marston family, from about 1928 to 1950, where we as grandchildren tasted the simplicity and joy of country life.

Frederick Appleby Cookson, the second son of Frederick E. and Mary Grace Cookson, was born in Natick, Massachusetts on April 3, 1902. He became a funeral director and owned his own business at 318 Union Avenue, Framingham, Mass, from 1924 to 1950. He married Andrena Christine Knight ("Rena") on September 2,         1929  at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Framingham. Their first daughter, Carol Knight Cookson, was born August 29, 1931, followed by a second daughter, Jessie Grace Cookson (named for both grandmothers), born August 20, 1935.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AN ARMORIAL FOR WESTMORLAND AND LONSDALE by R. S. Boumphrey, M.A. and C. Roy Hudleston, R.S.A., and J. Hughes, printed for Lake Museum Trust and Cumberland Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1975.

Martindale Parish Register, transcribed by Henry Brierley, published by Strowger & Son of Wigan (1907) from the Archives Department, Cumbria Record Office, County Offices, Kendal, Cumbria, England LA9 4RQ.

John Cookson of Nicklethorns will of 1686, courtesy of the Archives Department, The Record Office, The Castle, Carlisle, Cumbria, England CA3 8UR

Thomas Cookson's will and letter of administration of 1727, courtesy of the Archives Department, The Record Office, The Castle, Carlisle, Cumbria, England CA3 8UR.

Elizabeth Mounsey Cookson's letter of administration and tuition and guardianship of James Harrison Cookson, also courtesy of the Archives Department, The Castle, Carlisle.

See also Mormon genealogical records, Salt lake City, Utah, Batch A456295, Serial Sheet 0251 T; see also East Tistead parish register at Hampshire Record Office, 20 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire, England S023 9EF.

See National Archives, Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for the records of The Venerable Society of the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPGFP) , specifically Journals Vols. 32, 33, 34 on Reel A 159; Vol. 35, 36 on Reel A160; Vol. 39, 40, 41 on Reel A161; also Box 1b/13 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Folio 165, D.11 P. 106-108 Fredericton, 1850-59, Call No. MG17 B1.

Provincial Archives, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Roll #A 1591-Contents: Anglican Church Records, Parish of Hampton.