Family name changed from Williams to Cook (General)

by Jim Moore , California, Friday, April 07, 2006, 11:25 (6798 days ago)

I am a descendant of the Moore/Hopkins/Meek/Baggatt/Bright families of the Forest of Dean. George Moore, my great granduncle, of Plump Hill (1841 - 1904) married Louisa Cook of Cheltenham or Plump Hill (1846 - 1919) on 17 Feb 1866 in the Forest Church (Drybrook, Holy Trinity). In tracing the parents and siblings of Louisa Cook, I discovered that the family name was initially Williams (1851 and 1861 Censuses) and later changed to Cook (1871 - 1901 Censuses). I do not know why the family name changed. The family resided in the same vicinity (Mitcheldean/The Plump/Abinghall/Flaxley/East Dean) for the time period of the 1851 - 1901 Censuses. Louisa Cook's father was a blacksmith, James (Williams) Cook, born about 1816 in Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire. Her mother, Ann (Williams) Cook, was born about 1820 in Mitcheldean. Louisa had seven siblings: Eliza (1837), George (1849), Emmaline (1851), James (1854), Timothy (1857), William (1860), and John (1863). The five older were born in Mitcheldean; the two younger in East Dean.

Between 1861 and 1871, the family name, for some reason, changed from Williams to Cook. Any ideas on why this family would change their name from Williams to Cook?

If only one census (1851 or 1861)had the last name changed, I would suspect a transcription error. To have this family name reported as Williams in two consecutive censuses, however, does not support a "transcription" error.

I live in California and recently visited (September 2005) relatives in Cinderford who gave us a VIP tour of the Forest of Dean. We plan to make a return trip in 2007.