A birdsnest and a Magicienne

My great-grandmother, Eleanor Eliza Cook, was born 141 years ago tomorrow on 21 September 1874.

I have written about her before but it bears repeating.  

I have found some new information this evening which I need to record as well.

Eleanor's birth certificate shows that her father James was a Gunner on the ship the Monarch and that her mother was Caroline (nee Jefferies).  They lived at 25 Orange Street Portsea.

Eleanor was the eldest of many children.  According to the 1891 Census they were living in 120 Queens Road and the children were listed as follows:

1. Eleanor E aged 16
2. Emma M aged 14
3. Beatrice L aged 10
4. Mabel aged 9
5. James T.R aged 8
6. Walter D aged 7
7. Albert H. aged 3
8. Frederick W. 2
9. Winifred I. 1

Caroline, Eleanor's mother was 39 years old at the time of the Census.

According to the 1901 Census there were two more children:

Grace L aged 9 and
John F aged 7

A big family indeed.

At the age of 17 Eleanor married Edwin Conner on 24 May 1892 at the Parish Church in the Parish of Portsea.  (Number 319 on the register)  She was then living at 3 Queen's Road.  Edwin was an Engine Room Artificer at 31 Regent Street.  

Their first child Constance was born in 1893.

Here is the article I found today about Eleanor's younger brother Walter.

Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle Saturday 30 June 1894

Of course this is a very sad story but it does add more detail to our knowledge about the Cook family. It's interesting to note that Cook was spelled with an "e" on the end in this article.  I haven't seen the name recorded this way before. The article also provides us with a new address for the family - 101 Leesland Road Gosport. 

I wonder who the two children in the perambulator were that James was minding?  Perhaps Winifred and Grace. I wonder how they transported Walter to the Landport Hospital - by boat?  Not being familiar with the area, I'm not sure what would have been possible.  

I wonder where James Cook, Eleanor's father and Caroline's husband was at the time.  It says he was abroad.  

If I go back to look at his record of service from the National Archives it says that he was on the Magicienne from August 1893 to November 1896.

This article mentions where the Magicienne was at the time:

Hampshire Telegraph 30 June 1894 page 8

I think that the Blewfields that the article refers to is in Nicaragua.  

Things were just about to escalate there as this article in Wikipedia outlines...when Nicaragua annexed the Mosquito Coast.

By the end of July, the Magicienne was reported to have arrived safely in Halifax Nova Scotia in the Portsmouth Evening News on 28 July.

I wonder how long it was before James found out about the death of his second son Walter.  Lots to ponder here.