Genealogy Chat

Im getting rather frustrated. My grandmother married my granddad in Smethwick in 1953. Her name was Olive Irene Cooke (born 1926) and his was Samuel Element (born 1926). They had 6 children - 5 boys and 1 girl. But the problem I am having is I cannot find any records of her parents. I have tried to look for their marriage record but had no luck. As far as I know (from my auntie) her dad was John Henry Cooke (apparently born in Stratford/Gresham) and her mother was Ella Pratt (apparently born in Harborne, Birmingham). I have no idea when they were born and have no idea if my nan had brothers or sisters. I just do not know where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How do you know when they married if you can't find a marriage record? Have you checked the full indexes on Ancestry and not just the FreeBMD ones? To look for siblings you need to search the birth indexes for all Cokoe children born with the mothers maiden name of Pratt (assuming that these are her parents names). Sam x

You are obviously not looking in the right places - the marriage is on Ancestry: Element Samuel - Cooke - Smethwick - 9b 1085. Q1 of 1953. I'll have a look for the births now. Sam x

There nothing coming up in 1926 for an Olive MMN Pratt Julie

Thank you. I know I must sound really stupid but my auntie told me when they were married. I must have been doing something wrong because i could not find the record.

Olive's birth: Cooke Olive I - MMN Pratt - Birmingham S - 6d 420 - Q1 1927. If you get her birth certificate, it will confirm the names of both her parents. Was Olive the eldest child do you know? Sam x UPDATE: I think you will definately need the birth cert, I have search 1916-1927 for a marriage of an Ella Pratt to a Cooke but there is non listed.

Thank you for that. I believe she had at least one sister and I think her name was Margaret (I could be wrong) and as far as I know she was older than my nan.

Davina, And from freebmd a possible marriage: Marriages Jun 1905 BRISBOURNE Cyril York King's N. 6c 759 Church Florence Maude A King's N 6c 759 Cooke John Henry King's N. 6c 759 Pratt Ella King's N. 6c 759 But don't forget that just because they are listed on the same page we don't know if Ella Pratt was married to Mr Brisbourne or Mr Cooke.

Looks like that is the marriage: Siblings? Births Dec 1915 Cooke Doris M Pratt Kings N 6d 224 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Dec 1917 Cooke Ella M Pratt Kings N. 6d 156 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Dec 1919 Cooke James _ Pratt Kings N. 6d 224 Rose

Ella 1891: 1891 England Census about Ella Pratt Name: Ella Pratt Age: 4 Estimated birth year: abt 1887 Relation: Daughter Father's name: George Mother's name: Emma Gender: Female Where born: Harborne, Staffordshire, England Civil parish: Harborne Ecclesiastical parish: St John Town: Harborne County/Island: Staffordshire Country: England Registration district: Kings Norton Sub-registration district: Harborne ED, institution, or vessel: 8 Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age Ella Pratt 4 Emma Pratt 38 George Pratt 53 George Pratt 8 Rose

Births Dec 1886 (>99%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pratt Ella Lawrence King's N. 6c 464 Rose