By Maureen Storey
In this journal we welcome new member Steven Dupoy, who is researching the family of his grandmother Alice May Bull, nee Soall. Alice was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, in 1902 and was the sixth of the eleven children born to Joseph John Soall and Eliza Kirkham. Our records for this family go back to Alice’s 2xgt grandparents William Soall and Clementina Benson, who married in Shoreditch, Middlesex, in 1775. We have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to identify William’s birth family for a number of years – we know of a few candidates but William is a very popular given name and as we have no idea where he came from, it has not been possible pin him down. We’re hoping that autosomal DNA will give us a clue but we’re still looking for more family members who have taken a DNA test and are willing to help.
Ann Geddes contacted The Society to see if we had any information on the family of her grandmother Florence Julia Brownjohn, nee Sole (b 1879, Stoke Newington, Middlesex). She had information about Florence’s mother (Phillis West) and her sister (Letitia Phillis Lydia Sole, b 1878, Islington, Middlesex) but was keen to learn more about Florence’s father (Walter Sole) and his origins. Walter was born in Long Stratton, NFK, in 1849 and was the youngest of the 10 children of James Sole and Letitia Turner. The Society’s records for the family go back to the marriage of William Sole and Hannah Staff who married in Tivetshall, Norfolk, in 1775. The marriage register records that William was of Dickleburgh, Norfolk but we haven’t been able to trace William’s origins. It’s possible that DNA might prove useful in identifying William’s birth family, but again we need to find family members that have taken a DNA test.
I came across Mathew Ferguson’s family research while looking for Sole family trees on Wikitree. If you haven’t come across Wikitree before, it describes itself as the place ‘where genealogists collaborate.’ Unlike Ancestry, findmypast etc. it doesn’t publish datasets, just the family trees that its contributors have researched. And unlike Ancestry etc. it requires that sources are given for events in the tree, so its trees are usually less prone to error. Mathew’s ancestor Thomas Sole was born in England in about 1818 and emigrated to Canada. When he died in Canada in 1909 his birth date was given as 1 Mar 1819 and his parents were recorded as Richard Sole and (illeg) Wilds. From this evidence it would seem that he was the Thomas Sole, son of Richard Sole and Mary Ann Viles who was baptised in Throwley, Kent, in 1828 (either this was a late baptism or perhaps more likely his birth date was 10 years out in later records). Our records for Richard Sole’s family at present only go back to his parents Edward Sole and Ann Summer but Mathew believes that the family can be traced back to the Sole family who lived in Chartham, Kent in the 18th century and if so it probably then links back through another two generations to Nicholas Sole and Elizabeth Dixon, whose children were baptised in Denton, Kent, in 1630s and 1640s. From Mathew’s research we have been able to add the Canadian branch of the family to our data.
In addition Mathew has taken an Ancestry DNA test and has given us a list of his Sole DNA connections to help with our DNA project.
The photo of the gravestone was sent us by Christina Davis, who spotted it set in the floor while looking around Charterhouse in Clerkenwell.
Charterhouse was originally founded as a Carthusian monastery after the Black Death, then after the Dissolution of the monasteries was first converted into a luxurious mansion and then finally in the seventeenth century to an Almshouse for 80 poor men and a school for 40 boys. Charterhouse School moved out of the building during WWII but the Almshouse remains. Christina has no Sole connections but she was curious about the unusual forename Cockin.
An internet search led her to The Sole Society and she kindly sent us the photo for our archive. Our records show that Cockin Sole, was the son of Thomas Sole and Mary Cockin, who married in Sittingbourne, Kent, in 1688. According to England’s Topographer: Or a New and Complete History of the County of Kent, Volume 4 (1830) Thomas was a boatbuilder of Milton, Kent. Cockin became a barrister, being admitted to the Inner Temple as a student in 1711 and was called to the Bar in 1715. He married Catherine Gisborne in Bobbing, Kent, in 1727. The couple had three children: Dorothy Ann b 1728 (whose gravestone is pictured), John Cockin, b 1733, and Catherine b 1735. John Cockin Sole served as the High Sheriff of Kent in 1755-6. He married first Catherine Lushington (1754) and then Sarah Martin (1768) and as far as we know had only one daughter (Catherine, b 1756). John Cockin Sole died in about 1790.
