HOCKEN of Camborne circa 1600

[donne]

Noting the HOCKEN interest elsewhere, I was wondering if the collective could offer any advice on the HOCKEN family of Camborne (or maybe St Erth).

I know from Paskow DUN's will of 1625 (proved 1630) that he had a daughter Alce who married a John HOCKEN. The HOCKEN family received small bequests in Paskow's will and John HOCKEN was one of the witnesses to the will. I know that Paskow was originally of Camborne moving to St Erth probably circa 1610. I assume that this HOCKEN family were of Camborne since there don't seem to be HOCKENs appearing in the St Erth records at this time.

Looking at the Cornwall OPC site, there are a number of HOCKEN baptisms at Camborne over the period 1601 to 1625 who are attributed to father John and which could relate to the children of Alce mentioned in Paskow's will but not named.

I've also noted that on Sally Cann's OPC site for Camborne, her transcription of the Camborne registers includes a burial entry for 'Alce HOCKEN wid.' dated dated 27 Mar 1659 (this doesn't seem to be included in the Cornwall OPC database). I've also noted a prior burial for a John HOCKEN dated 26 Jan 1658/59.

All this is conjecture, and I would be very interested if you HOCKEN researchers could shed some light on this HOCKEN/ DUN connection.

[donne]

Apologies for answering my own post, but I just wanted to acknowledge the email I received from Roy (white) with details of Vinsant HOCKEN of Camborne, who was a contemporary of the John HOCKEN I am investigating.

Trawling through the BMDs transcribed by Sally Cann on her own website and also on the Cornwall OPC site, there appears to have been several HOCKEN families producing children over the period 1600 to 1620, fathered by Robert, Ralph, Vinsant, James. George, Nicholas, John and William. It is tempting to think that they all come from a common root. However, in a previous generation, say 1570 to 1600, there are still several separate HOCKEN families: Myhel, Richard, John, Phelip and Rafe. The earliest family recorded in the transcript is Antonye HUCCHIN, who produced 5 children baptised over the period 1547 to 1559, and there is a clue to another contemporary family with a baptism of a John HOCKIN in 1566 to father Rafe.

One of the indicators of early families in the parish of Camborne is the list of churchwardens which is remarkably complete, going back to 1534. I have a transcript as published in Cornish Studies 6 (1978), and glancing through that, the earliest HOCKEN I can spot is Raffe HOCKIN, 1557, Warden of the Light of the Parish of Meriask (along with William Symon).

Later on, pre-1600. there is Rawe? HOCKIN & Alexander Pendarves, Wardens of the Box, 1570;
John HOCKIN & Sander Luke, Wardens of the Box, 1579;
Thomas Boswyn & Richard HOCKIN, Wardens of the Communion, 1587
Richard HOCKIN & Thomas Doufe?, Wardens of the Communion, 1588;

(Presumably these all represented people who were fairly well off since it cost money to fulfill the duties of warden and people could be fined if they chose not to accept the appointment.)

Considering that Camborne at this era was an agrcultural parish and not the town it later became with the development of the mining industry, I find that this concentration of similarly-named families to be remarkable.

[keet]

Looking at your Hocken traces at Camborne I have traced my THOMAS family line back to 1540. In1620 a James Thomas marrie Thamsine Hockinge (I wonder if the similar name could be a connection) also you mention a RAWE and previouse to James Thomas christened 1596 his parents were Nicholas Thomas and Katharine RAWE.

Just a chance there may be a connection?

keet

[donne]

Hi Keith, sorry to have been inattentive. I picked up the repeat of your message in the feedback from my GEDCOM site, but I thought it more appropriate to answer it here. I don't think that I have listed any RAWE families as such. In the churchwarden list which I quoted, Rawe was used as a given name as in the 1570 entry for Rawe HOCKIN and even there the transcriber followed it with a question mark to indicate that it wasn't clear. I've never come across Rawe used as a given name before and I wonder if it was not Rafe (Ralph) or something similar. As for Thamsine HOCKINGE then clearly her surname is one of the many variant spellings for HOCKIN and she forms one of the Camborne clan. However, I don't know how she would fit in. I haven't done any extended research on the Camborne HOCKINs of this era, and indeed the reason behind my original post was to try to find more information on the link by marriage of John HOCKEN to the DUNN family of Camborne/ St Erth. Unfortunately nobody seems able to provide any enlightenment!