| We had no choice but to keep going, tired as we were, and longing to return to the real world (or were we?). John Cordon b. 1708, we found his parents....William and Ann Cordon. William Cordon, b. 1681, we found his parents....Timothy and Jane Cordon. Timothy Cordon, b. 1648, we found his parents....Uriah and Ellen Cordon. Uriah Cordon, b. 1622, we found his parents....Uriah and Elizabeth Cordon. Uriah Cordon, b. 1590, we found his parents....Richard and Margaret Cordon. Richard Cordon, b. 1557, we found his parents....Uriah and Margaret Cordon......PHEW!....That's it....the end of the road! We had actually reached the early 1500's, we were really lost now! Just a word about Ipstones before we start back. The church of St. Leonard is ancient, as is St. Mary's at Bucknall. The Parish records contain many references to the name Cordon in addition to the ones we were interested in. In the 1820's one Uriah Cordon purchased two pews at the church, probably for the use of his family. The history of Ipstones has many references to Cordons, they appear to have been moderately well off landowners. The last thing to say about the place is that we found that in 1662, Edward Cordon was paying Hearth Tax, and guess what? He also fought for Cromwell in the Civil War....Captain Corda?? Ring a bell? Mysteries! We had had enough of them. Let's go home! We threw all our stuff together, the masses of cerificates, documents, pictures etc., and started out on the long journey back. Why, whenever you are in the Past is it always wet and gloomy? We had been to so many places! It was hard to remember sometimes exactly where we had been, lucky we wrote it all down. We were making good progress until we reached Kingsley, half way between Ipstones and Bucknall. They tried to get us! They were waiting for us to find them so that we would never get back! William CORDAL and his wife, Sarah stepped out and blocked our path. What now? We found that William and Sarah had four children, Ann, b. 1820, Henry, b. 1822, Michal, b.1823 and Mary Ann, b. 1825. Why were there Cordals in Kingsley? Another mystery! We didn't stop, I just bundled them all up and we carried on, puzzled! If I could have got my hands on that inner tube it would have been dead! The wind was howling now, seemingly at our departure, and the rain poured from a black sky. We could smell the Potteries smoke and we were eager to get back, and then something strange happened, just for a change! We were just crossing Cellarhead crossroads when I dropped a few boxes of files. I bent down to retrieve them and as I stood up I saw a man standing in front of me, just looking at me, not speaking. He looked familiar, I couldn't think why. I turned to see that Barbara, who had fallen a few yards behind, had caught up again. When I turned around, the man had gone. I suddenly remembered! I knew who the man was, or had been! "What's happened? You look like you've seen a ghost!", said Barbara. I didn't answer. Not at once anyway.A tingle went down my spine! I couldn't believe it, so close to home. The man had been Elijah! Elijah Goodwin, my mum's brother and my uncle! He died in 1947, when I was born, in a tragic accident at this very spot! Oh no! I knew then that I was set to return to The Past, very soon, but let's just get home first, Charlie probably needs his meat! |
| The Cordall Story, continued.... |