HEAD family (Wilts) in Littledean 1851 (General)

by Richard Holyhead , Forest of Dean, Sunday, April 16, 2006, 10:41 (6796 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks for the assistance with my research, Griffith Cooper / Margaret Woolford are the parents of William Cooper. You are quite correct that Williams wife was Rachel Head, I have not followed the Head line yet but the details you have found match what information I have so far.

William Shepherd (often with different spellings) met Sarah Watkins I suspect at Guns Mill as William was a papermaker and Sarah a domestic at Guns Mill (from the census) so you would be quite correct with your assumption.

The problem I have with my research at present is I am not 100% sure of the parents of Benjamin Cooper my Great Grandfather. According to his marriage certificate William and Sarah are listed as his parents but I have been unable to find his birth certificate. I have all the birth certificates of his brothers and sisters but cant find his. Sources in the family have told me that thee is a Welsh connection and possibly Abergavenny, with this in mind I applied to the Pontypool registrar but nothing was found. What confuses the issue is that another Benjamin Cooper was born in the same year to Williams cousin but I have never found the two on the same census year? Thanks for your help, Richard