NeddieR on Family Tree Circles

John Cocking married Anna Maria Whitmore 20 June 1816 in London or Surrey. They had 10 or 11 children names Ann, Anna Maria, Ellie, John William, William, Peter, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Lydia, Emma and Charles Henry. Charles Henry is the only one who was born in Braidwood NSW Australia. I have found John Cocking recorded as being a draper in Surrey in 1831. In 1835 there is record of Anna Maria arriving in Sydney on the "Margaret". However between England and Australia the family changed their name from Cocking to Roberts. Records of the "Margaret" show Maria Roberts with nine children and Robert Roberts and his wife Mary arriving in Australia. There does not appear to be a John Roberts arriving at the same time. Robert Roberts was also a Cocking his occupation was a shoemaker and his wife Mary's maiden name was Chatterton.

John Cocking aka Roberts moved to Wellington in New Zealand leaving all his family behind in Australa. He changed his name again to Robert Jenkins and he died there in November 1859.

His family settled in and around Braidwood and Goulburn and members of the family continue to live there.

I have not been able to find out the origins of John Cocking's family or who his parents were.


On searching the Whitmore side of the family I have found a Valentine Cocking linked to the family as a witness to a Will. Anna Maria Whitmore's father's name was John Whitmore occupation silk merchant and he married Ann Pontin 10 July 1794 at St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London. It is on one of the Pontin wills that Valentine Cocking's name appears.

However I have no knowledge of the origins of John Whitmore silk merchant.

I am looking for any information that may shed some light on these 2 families

John Cocking aka Roberts aka Robert Jenkins came from England and initially settled in Australia. It appears that he may have come out to Australia before or after his wife and family who arrived in Sydney in 1835 on the "Margaret". They settled in the Braidwood area of NSW and was by this stage known as John Roberts. At some stage he left his family and moved to Wellington in New Zealand changing his name to Robert Jenkins. He had a family with a Maori woman (name unknown). The children's names were Mary Ann, William, Charles and Jethro. John Cocking aka Roberts aka Robert Jenkins died in Wellington in 1859. If any one has any information on this Jenkins family I would be very interested.

John Cocking married Anna Maria Whitmore in London, England in 1816. His English origins are unknown to me although they appeared to have lived in Blackfriar Road, Southwark, Surrey when the children were born. If any one has any info on this I would also be interested.