The Master is come and Calleth for thee
The inscription continued...Also James Cordell, father of the above, late of Ubberley, who died November 16th., 1869, aged 73 years. Also Ann, wife of the above, who died May 9th., 1825, aged 27years......It went on...Also Martha Barratt, daughter of the above, who died June 25th., 1891, aged 71years......and just for good measure....In Loving Memory of Mary, the beloved wife of William James, of Cope Barn Farm, Rownall, who died July 21st., 1896, aged 39years.
That's why we never got back. James Cordell, was really James Cordall, Barbara's great great grandfather!! At this point you had better have a quick drink, probably a strong one. If you thought the Hawkins saga went on a bit then you're in for a big shock! We probably should have come back you know, if only for a rest! However, the Master had called! Once again we had taken the bait! We had no idea, couldn't have imagined, what we were to find! I'll start at the beginning.....we'll never get back at this rate!!!!
Well, Barbara had always said that she had once seen her grandfather's Birth Certificate before it went missing and she was sure that the name on it was not Cordall, but Corden, so we had to find out if that was the case. This was serious, we already had three different spellings and we hadn't put pen to paper yet. Where to start? The census returns of course! Back to the Archives....
The 1881 census had an index, so we started there. It didn't take too long to find a John Corden in Bucknall, at 95, Werrington Road. There was no other, neither Cordall, nor Cordell. John was just 8 months old. The family consisted of George Corden, 31yrs., his wife Harriett, 31yrs., and their children, George, 13yrs., William, 10yrs., Henry, 5yrs., Emma, 7yrs., Joseph, 3yrs., and little John himself. We worked out John's year of birth and Barbara duly applied for his Birth Certificate. It was Corden, John James Corden, father George, mother Harriett, nee Williams. So in one fell swoop I had lost my wife, for I had married Barbara Cordall, not Corden. What was going on? How on earth had it happened. I had a bad feeling about this!