| The records of St. Mary's Church commence in 1762 and the first record of anyone with a similar name is the marriage of John Cauden and Ann Pyatt in 1778. There follows a succession of baptisms of children, the parents of whom are obviously John and Ann, as follows; 1770-Martha, of John Cauden/Ann Pyatt; 1773-James, of John Cauden/Ann Pyatt;1778-Joseph, of John Cauden/Ann Pyatt; 1784-Sampson, of John/Ann Caldon; 1786-Hannah, of John Calden/Ann. The spelling of the surname is beginning to change, and over the successive years it ranges from Cauden, Corden, Cordon, Cordal to Cordall itself. John Cauden's death is recorded as the death of John Cordal of Ubberley, 79 years old in 1826. During the latter part of the 18th. century there are no records of any other family with a similar name. If you are still awake I would like to stay with James Cordall for a while. During our research he came to be something of an enigma, surrounded by events both amazing and mystifying. Just as with James and Phoebe, he became a special character, supplying us with plenty to think about and plenty of amusement. His baptism is recorded at St. Mary's in 1792, he was named James Cauden, parents James and Ann Cauden. CAUDEN!! He eventually became a potter's slipmaker. He didn't seem too interesting at first until he started to get married two or three times. He first married Ann Deavil on Christmas Day, 1815, would you believe, at Norton Church. Why Norton? Why not Bucknall? It is said that couples sometimes travelled elsewhere to be married in those days, and made it a sort of a day out in the country. On Christmas Day? Who knows? Anyway, one of the witnesses was Sampson Cordal....CORDAL!!...his brother.....Remember the name! Interestingly, the vicar decided to write the name "James Caldwell", but the signature read "James Cordal"....so he could write, well, his name anyway. Unfortunately Ann died in 1825, and her burial was recorded as that of Ann CordELL, just for a change. What's in a name? James and Ann had three children, Joseph, Martha and James. Remember Martha? .....On the headstone? James got married again, this time to Eliza Goodfellow, in 1831 at St. Mary's in Bucknall. At this point he had become James Corden, a widower. I don't know what James did to her, but Eliza died in the following year, leaving James a widower again. Now this is where it gets interesting. His brother Sampson also died in that same year! You have got to really concentrate now, it becomes somewhat confusing. Sampson had been married to Hannah Goodfellow, Eliza's sister, so in that year, Hannah became a widow, and her brother in law, James, became a widower again. In 1834, James Cordal, a widower, and Hannah Cordal, a widow, were married, and this time he chose Wolstanton Church! It takes some sorting out, doesn't it? James married his dead brother's wife, who was also his late wife's sister, his sister in law!! Remember, no shiny cars....just horses! |
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