| George and Harriett were married in December, 1870, at St. Mary's, of course and the name on the Certificate was Corden. George's father, James, was also a Corden. George was a coal miner, as many were in these parts at that time. There were pits everywhere and the landscape was completely different to that of today. Things were different too, most people were illiterate. I should think that almost everyone went to church. During the beginning part of the 19th. century dozens of chapels were built, it's sad that most of them are now just keep fit clubs or carpet warehouses. Churches then would have looked magnificent, houses were small and churches were BIG! It was a busy time, railways were being built and there were sidings all over the place to cater for the collieries. Back to the tale.. I returned to the Archives to find George,12yrs., on the 1861 census. I found him at Ubberley with his parents, James and Hannah CORDALL would you believe? James was 68yrs., his wife Hannah was 53yrs., and there were two other sons, William, 19yrs., and James, 15yrs. So Barbara really was a Cordall, or was she?....It started to get worse again!! Could it get any worse? Yes, most definitely! I travelled back to the 1851 Census to find the family again. There they all were, waiting for me with the next bombshell! Listed in "Ubberley Lane" was James and his family, and just to irritate us further his name was now James CORDON! I was beginning to think that we had done something seriously wrong during our travels, disturbed a few souls or something like that, and that they were punishing us! James was 58, Hannah said that she was 30, but for some reason her age never seemed to be correct. With them were William, 8, James 5, George 2, Sampson, 22, John, 20, and Hannah, age unreadable. Well, there's only one census left, 1841, and sure enough they were there just waiting for us to show up. Listed at "Ubberley Hall" was James CORDAL!! just one L! So now we've had Corden, Cordell, Cordall, Cordon and Cordal, in that order. So what was it really? James was 45, and Hannah this time was 30, a bit of a time traveller herself, she aged 17years in the 10 year gap between the census returns. With them were Joseph, 20, Ann, 15, Harriett, 14, Sampson, 12, John, 10, Hannah, 9, and James, 4yrs. In respect of Hannah's age, remember that she was James' third wife, younger than him. We should, I think, now give some thought to the name, to try and understand all the changes. We must remember that most people at that time were illiterate, had no conception of spelling, and probably had nothing written down to go from. Think of how the name is spoken, and think of it spoken in a different dialect. When the first records started, the vicars who wrote down the names and events probably wrote the names as they thought they should be spelled. Families who remained in the same area would have had their names recorded with the same spelling consistently, but I have noticed that even really common Bucknall names, such as Deaville, often changed to Deavil, so it seems that any name can be changed for a variety of reasons. |
| The Cordall Story. Part Three |
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