The Mystery of the Cooke of Kilmacow

By Sean Patrick Adams

The Coke/Cooke Coat of Arms

A brief history of the Cooke family

This story begins when apparently Cromwell and his men were working their way across Ireland and the Coke family that lived in Painstown changed their name to Cooke. This was the same name as the Chief Justice of Britain at the time who was a close friend of Cromwell so when the newly named Cooke’s claimed to be related, Cromwell let them keep their lands and property. In Carlow, Ireland there is a tomb there that belongs to the Cookes but the coat of arms that is above it is the Coke coat of arms. The Cooke’s have played very important roles in history. It appears it is possible James ll of Britain, Oliver Cromwell, and the Cooke’s of the Cavaliers have all played a part in the Cooke history.

To validate this account two lines of Cooke descendants changed their name to Coke in the 1800′s.

The announcement in the Times of 1884 for one of the descendants read:

I, the undersigned Arthur Coke, hitherto known as Arthur Cooke give notice that I have assumed my original family name of Coke, which was changed previously in 1723 to Cooke, by my ancestor Charles Coke, descendent of Clement Coke of Paynstoun, County Carlow, Ireland sixth son of Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

My Grandmother on my mother’s side was Bridget ( Bridie) Ann Cooke. She was born in Narrabane, Kilmacow, County Kilkenny in Ireland. She was from a large family being one of eleven children born to John Cooke and Joanna Kelter. My grandmother’s father was John Cooke who was born in Ullid, near Kilmacow in 1858. His father was Patrick Cooke, and his father was Thomas Cooke. Supposing that they were around thirty five when the children were born that would put Thomas as born around 1775.

There is an old Shankill church graveyard in Paulstown with the inscription,

“Erected by Michael Cooke in memory of his father Thomas Cooks, late of Kellymount, died 16 December 1801 at age 70”. I feel this is the father of Thomas (1775) and connects the Cookes and Cokes.The Cokes had to change their name to keep their property and they came from British Nobility based around Norfolk.

One Tragic Day

Many years later my grandmother Bridget Cooke (1896 -1948) married a man named

Michael O’Rorke who was a civil servant at the time and they lived in Waterford City. Life was good until one tragic day when Michael her husband died I have been told from Pneumonia and left her alone with 3 children. Without a husband Bridie left Waterford City and went back home but young single mothers in Ireland had a hard road ahead of them. Things got worse and my grandmother was forced to give her 3 children to the church and they were put in convents.

Hoping for the best Bridie left Ireland with a friend and went to England.She began working in the hotel industry and eventually became a chef at the Eastcliffe . She remarried a man named William Taylor and passed away in Bournemouth, England in 1948.

The 3 sisters from Michael O’Rorke ( 1876- 1929 and Bridget Cooke (1896 -1948) are Breeda (1929), Mary (1927) and Patricia (1926).

Patricia Helen and Sean Patrick

Present Day

To many children that are put up for adoption life is sometimes not very fair, kind, or forgiving.

My mother was born in Bournemouth , England in February of 1939 with WW2 looming on the horizon. Like many children she was adopted and never knew of her family except for a twist of fate until right before she passed. I was adopted also and grew up not knowing of my mother or father until I was almost 50 years old. For many children that grow to be adults that mystery remains with them for the rest of their lives and becomes a huge hole in their hearts.

Fortunately with technology that is present today that was not available in the past, that no longer has to be the case. Searching the internet and through DNA we are now able to connect the dots in ways that were never available before.

A few years before my mother passed we got to meet and talk for the first time ever after we connected on a social media page. I went to visit her and while there she showed me some photographs and papers. Totally by accident In her birth certificate I found the clues that led me on an incredible journey of discovery. Through research and perseverance I was able to discover her and my story but not without much due diligence and the occasional journey down darker and less spoken about places.

It is to my mom, to my family, and the undying thirst that consumes us when we dare to ask a few simple questions in the pursuit of the purest truth that I raise my glass.

The Mystery

So you might ask yourself how does my mother Patricia born in (Feb -1939) fit in to all this?

The other Patricia was born in (1926). To answer that I must refer back to what I previously mentioned that when I met my mother after all those years I had found a something helpful. To solve this mystery we are going to need that clue or clues.

My mother’s birth certificate shows Bridget Cooke as her mother. My mom is shown as Patricia Helen O’Rorke on her birth certificate but Michael O’Rorke who was presumed the father had been dead almost 10 years so he could not be the one.

The Plot Thickens.

Recent DNA test have been done and it is conclusive that my mother was Bridget Ann Cooke’s biological daughter. I also spoke with a 1st cousin and my mom’s nephew who is a DNA match and confirmed that we shared the same grandmother Bridie Cooke. He informed me that he believed Bridget had another child a few years before my mom. I was told that he was a boy named Michael O’Rorke also. He would have been born in 1937 or about a few years or so before my mom. Michael O’Rorke Sr. had been dead about 10 years so he could not be my mom’s father. By process of elimination he could not be Michael O’Rorke Jr.’s father either.

So who was the real father?

Using triangulation, recently acquired information and after speaking with many DNA matches to my mom and myself on Ancestry.com and Facebook and other social media sites it is undeniable that a gentlemen named Richard John Sanders from London and Wales was my mom’s father. I have not been able to learn much about him yet as I recently found out it was him. I will elaborate further in the future if I have anything more to share.

One of several questions that will remain unanswered at least for now is was he Michael Jr.’s father also or did Michael Jr. have a different father? I do not know if Michael Jr. was adopted or placed with immediate family. A few short years later having little choice my grandmother was yet again forced to give up one of her children and put my mother up for adoption also. I have found nothing yet using DNA to connect to any known relative or descendent of Michael O’Rorke Jr.’s other than the lines we already know of so maybe that is a clue. Fate is a weird thing you never know when or where the next clue will appear.

In Conclusion

My mother never had a chance to speak with her mother or father and it was a few years before she passed that she saw a picture of her mother for the first time. This was something she never thought she would have a chance to do. But before she passed she was able to connect with her birth family and learned many things she did not know. Moms surviving relatives abroad have not been too happy to hear that grandma had gone on to have more children specially out of wedlock. The bitterness that was already created when Bridget gave her daughters to the church had taken its toll on the family and they never really forgave her . Being years in advanced age and failing health the families chose to not tell my moms sisters about my mom before she passed as they felt it would be too much for them. It is sad to think that in these times of technology and wonders of advancement in so many areas that some things never change. Because of that decision they will never know what a wonderful and amazing person my mom was and perhaps in the process repair a bridge that long needed to be mended.

R.I.P mom I love you and will see you after all my chores are done.

I still have too much work to do.

Your loving son,

Sean Patrick

Patricia Helen

Bridie Cooke

Bridget Cooke

Bridie Cooke

Andrew Cooke was in the Royal Navy for a long time, he served in the second world war, and I have been told that he received an OBE for his service and may have lost an arm in an attack in the north atlantic. Another brother, Thomas, was killed in the second world war. Pierce Cooke was also killed in WW2. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Thomas Cooke

Pierce Cooke

Andrew and John

Andrew and Paddy

This blog is dedicated to my mother Patricia Helen Cooke / O’Rorke Feb , 1939 - Nov, 2017