Thomas Hocken of Lelant, Praed's Arms Inn

[zibetha]

I have long been searching for the identity of my 4th great-grandfather, Thomas Hocken. Thomas was a maltster and the proprietor of the the Praed's Arms Inn at Lelant. He only appears on one census -- the 1841-- which estimates his birth as being in 1777. That would make him about 10 years older than his wife, Mary Richards whom he married by license in Lelant in 1809. Possibly not his first marriage?

Thomas experienced hard times when the mining industry was failing and his clients couldn't pay their tabs. He declared bankruptcy and went to Bodmin jail in 1943. He died in Gwinear 3 years later.

After Thomas' death, his son, Thomas, took over the family business and inn which was later run by his sister, Ann.

I do not know if Thomas (Sr) was born in Lelant and have no clue as to his parents. The OPC for Lelant, Chris Uphill, did indicate that his wife's parents were probably James Richards and Dorcas Edwards. Thomas and Mary did name a son James, and it seems like the name Dorcas went out of style.

Any help/input appreciated!

Zib

[Cornish Terrier]

Thomas and Mary did name a son James,

Hi Zib - this family is also of interest to me primarily because of the later connection to James Saundry Trewhella. I have just been working through the marriage and children for Thomas and Mary to try and get a better picture but I really have to wonder about your comment above.

There are two baptisms for James to Thomas and Mary within the time they were having children but those two baptisms were both over at Camborne where another Thomas and Mary had been baptizing children from at least 1803 through 1814 and I think that is where both James belong.

The list of children I have arrived at for Thomas and Mary of Gwinear are:-

Henry - baptized 14th October 1809 at Lelant (Hocking)
Thomas - baptized 2nd December 1810 at Lelant (Hocking)
Mary - baptized 24th May 1812 at Lelant (Hosking) (BTs) - she married William Harvey at Gwinear in 1838
Ann - born about 1814 but no baptism found. She appears in the 1841 Census with her parents.
Henry - baptized 5th May 1816 at Gwinear (Hocking)
William - baptized 11th October 1818 at Gwinear (Hocking)
John - baptized 6th August 1820 at Gwinear (Hocking) bu. 10th February 1822 Gwinear
Elizabeth - baptized 11th January 1824 at Gwinear (Hockin)
John Trevithick - baptized 3rd December 1826 at Gwinear (Hocking)

For the baptisms of Henry, William, John and Elizabeth the occupation of their father was 'maltster' yet with John Trevithick it was 'miner' so I am not 100% positive that he belongs here. The only problem is that I can find no other logical place for him.
John Trevithick Hocken lived until January 1901 having married probably in the March Qtr of 1852 to a Mary Ann Thomas. Unfortunately I have no details of this marriage so cannot confirm details of his father and John also cannot be found in the Census until 1861.

On the face of it and with available records it looks like Mary may have been the daughter of James and Dorcas Richards. I cannot say I am fully convinced but if she were then none of the children were named for them.

Nothing more useful found so far.

CT

[zibetha]

Oh, dear.

I have Mary and Thomas' children as Thomas, Mary, Ann, Henry, William, Emma, James, Elizabeth, and Emily. I have been trying to build out my tree through 7x great grandparents to back up my DNA matches and don't have too far to go.

Mary Jr born about 1812 married my 3x great grandfather, William Harvey, and their children were Martin, Mary Hocken, Eliza Jane, William, Edward my gggf, Ann Richards, Thomas Hocken Trewhella, Wilmot and Thomas Hocken.

Zib

[Cornish Terrier]

I don't know that there is too much damage done. Elizabeth, Emma and Emily belong with the family of Thomas Hockin and Mary Berriman who married at Phillack in 1812. The children I have for them were all baptized at Phillack - Mary 1813, John 1814, John 1816, Thomas 1818, Emma 1821-1822, Elizabeth 1822 and Emily 1824 - James does not belong here either. Thomas was a miner and the family was at Bodriggy for all baptisms.

When Mary married William Harvey in 1838 she was of Carnhell Green and her father's occupation is clearly recorded as 'maltster'. Richards was used as a second given name for one of their daughters which is another link to the marriage of Thomas Hocken and Mary Richards of Gwinear.

Mary daughter of Thomas Hockin and Mary Berriman was baptized at Phillack 20th June 1813 'of Bodriggy' but I have not been able to find a baptism for Mary at Gwinear.

Three more things I just found:-
1. Thomas Hocken of Carnhell, Gwinear age 78 was buried at Gwinear 27th January 1847 (husband of Mary Richards)
2. In the 1851 Census Mary Hocken, widow, is still living at Carnhell along with daughter Ann age 34 and son John age 24
3. Mary Hocken in the 1851 Census gives her age as 63 and birthplace as Phillack so she was apparently born about 1787/8 as previously thought but in 1861 her birthplace was given as Lelant.

This second item suggests that John Trevithick Hocken certainly belongs to this family as he was baptized at Gwinear in 1826 and matches the 1851 entry.

CT

[zibetha]

Ugh. I had him (Thomas) buried January 1846. This is not good.

[zibetha]

.

[Cornish Terrier]

Ugh. I had him (Thomas) buried January 1846. This is not good.

Don't worry, I reckon I have found at least two similar errors in my database recently! The problem is the way the pages in the PRs are presented by the scribe. When this type of error occurs it is usually because the page is headed (in this case) 1846 with the first entries for the following year (this time 1847) beginning with the second or third entry on the page. More often than not the page is not clearly marked where the entries for the new year begin.

CT

[zibetha]

I have strange DNA matches on this side of the family (Hocken) that seem to connect to the Quaker religion in the USA. I will post if and when I know more. Your information does link up with what I have for Thomas Hocken.

Zib

[zibetha]

I do show a daughter Elizabeth as I have her as an assistant to her sister, Ann, innkeeper on the 1861 Census along with their mother and nieces and nephews. Ann succeeded her brother Thomas as proprietor. I seem to be missing the 1851 Census.

I fear Elizabeth was a murder victim lelant.info/inns.htm

Zib

[Cornish Terrier]

There were actually two Hocken girls from the Praed Arms Inn who were buried at Lelant in 1870:-

Mary Ann Hocken of the Praed Arms Inn Lelant age 24 buried 14th March 1870 (daughter of Thomas Hocken jr and Mary Harry)
Elizabeth Hocken of the Praed Arms Inn Lelant age 46 buried 11th July 1870

I don't see anything in the attachment to suggest Elizabeth was murdered. Although there is mention of the murder of Elizabeth Richards in 1831 in the first item under the heading 'BADGER'. It is also mentioned a little further down in the chronology.

CT

[zibetha]

I Will get back to you re: the murder of Elizabeth. John Trevithick Hocken?? I would say no to that one. Sorry. Just no.

Zib

[Cornish Terrier]

John Trevithick Hocken?? I would say no to that one. Sorry. Just no.

Maybe you should not be quite so hasty with that comment ………. especially as the odds appear to be swinging in my favour.

I have just spent the last couple of hours rechecking all the Thomas/Mary Hocken/Hockin/Hocking possibilities. To do that I took a checklist of baptisms from the OPC and created a word.doc to work with. I then checked possible marriages and then highlighted each child that could be confidently attributed to the marriages of Thomas Hockin/Mary Berriman and Thomas Hocken/Mary Richards. (John Trevithick Hocking was left out initially)
From there I went through the baptism checklist again and eliminated all baptisms at Camborne/Illogan etc. that clashed with events in Phillack and Gwinear. At the end of this I was left with one baptism at St Erth which proved to be a HoSking and one baptism at Gwinear - John Trevithick Hocking!

I largely ignored the spelling as the Vicar was a little arbitrary - Thomas HOCKIN married Mary Berriman and all their children were baptized as HOCKING except for Emily as HOCKEN. Likewise Thomas HOCKEN married Mary Richards yet five of their children were christened HOCKING, one as HOCKIN and one as HOSKING!

At the end of the day John Trevithick son of Thomas and Mary Hocking was left high and dry. There had been no events for Thomas and Mary at Illogan since 1805, at Camborne since 1814 and the only other places involved were Phillack and Gwinear.
Thomas Hockin and Mary Berriman had two sons named John - the first in 1814 was buried in January 1816 and the second baptized in 1818 married Catherine Michell at Zennor in 1844 so was obviously still living. In 1841 only Emily was living at home with her parents.

After all that the ONLY place it would seem that John Trevithick Hocking could fit would be as the last child of Thomas Hocken and Mary Richards. Furthermore in every event after his baptism (except 1851 when I have not found him) his surname appeard as HOCKEN. John was buried at Redruth in 1901 age 74.

Further 'coincidences' to add to the list:-
1. John Trevithick was born at Gwinear as well as having been baptized there
2. in 1851 John was living at Carnhell, Gwinear with his widowed mother and elder sister Ann
3. his first three children were all born/baptized at Gwinear
4. his residence at the time of those baptisms was Carnhell Green where Thomas and Mary had been living and where Thomas died in 1847
5. in 1855 and 1856 John Trevithick Hocken was recorded as a 'shop-keeper'
6. in 1858 and 1860 when sons Charles and William were baptized he was an Inn Keeper at St Day and in the 1861 Census he was at Illogan as a 'retired Innkeeper'
7. in 1871 John was a 'hay dealer and beer seller' at Redruth and in 1881 was back to 'Beer House Keeper'

I won't rule out absolutely that there might not be another piece of evidence hiding out there somewhere to prove me wrong but at this point in time I see no other alternative but to suggest John Trevithick Hocken was indeed the son of Thomas Hocken and Mary Richards.

The only other item I have not been able to check is his marriage record. John HOCKEN and Mary Ann THOMAS married in the March Qtr 1852 Redruth Registration District. From my attempts at creating spreadsheets of marriages not otherwise available I determined that the Page number comes within the range for the Illogan Parish Register which is unfortunately unavailable at the moment. But that does make sense as Mary Ann Thomas was born at Illogan about 1826/7. Getting a look at that marriage record would hopefully solve the problem.

CT

[Cornish Terrier]

Zib - I wonder if the reason we are having trouble identifying Thomas Hocken might be something to do with his age. I was just going over a few things again and noticed something about his burial that hadn't struck me before.

Thomas Hocken of Carnhell, Gwinear age 78 buried 27th January 1847 Gwinear

In the 1841 Census his age is recorded as 64 so we have assumed all along that he was born sometime around 1776/7 BUT his age when buried at the beginning of 1847 would push his birth back to about 1768! That would bring the following clearly into the picture.

Thomas son of Thomas Hockin and Sybella his wife was baptized 6th December 1767 at St Erth

If Thomas Hocken's baptism is recorded and it is not the above then we are left with 1775 Illogan son of William and Jane, 1777 Camborne son of Thomas and Charity (but this is HANCOCK in BTs), 1778 St Hilary son of Richard and Margaret or 1778 St Hilary son of Thomas and Catharine.

Also - I think Mary Richards may have been baptized at Phillack 26th December 1787 daughter of Thomas and Ann Richards. Unfortunately I cannot find a marriage record for Thomas and Ann but they possibly had two more children at Gwithian. One of those was a Nicholas Richards in 1792 who possibly married Alice Banfield at Lelant in 1818. He also was a 'maltster'.

CT

[zibetha]

Quite a lot to think about here, Ct.

I have found the 1861 Census. Don't know why John Trevithick Hocken was not on the 1841 Census with the family--- that's a bit off. I have a note of the death of Elizabeth from a newspaper article, but my records are boxed up and out of site due to a remodeling protect. Other than the OPC defining the parents or Mary Richards, I have no clue. So whether she was from Lelant or Phillack, I truly cannot tell. I am not particularly attached to her parents being James and Dorcas from Lelant. There was a James born 1821 Phillack that I thought might be the son of my Mary and Thomas. However, his parents were named as "Hooken.

Zib

[Cornish Terrier]

There was a James born 1821 Phillack that I thought might be the son of my Mary and Thomas. However, his parents were named as "Hooken.

Maybe another OPC database error which I will have to check. But looking at the Parish Register itself the entry reads:-

1821
July 1st - James son of Thomas and Mary Hosken of Ventonlege, husbandman

This is most likely Thomas Hosking and Mary Cathew who married at Phillack in 1810. In the 1841 Census there are still at Ventonlege and having just checked the OPC records I see they do have the name as Hosken also.

Mary Richards - her birthplace as recorded in the Census varies between Lelant and Phillack and I'm like you - James and Dorcas simply don't fit. The Phillack/Gwithian scenario for Mary is certainly worth more thought and investigation.

CT