Cook left Ednam to "better himself," but he would take with him a
"testificate of church membership" which might possibly, but not
probably, still exist. Attracted, perhaps, by the number of Scotch people
who flocked into the north of Yorkshire to follow the alum trade, then at
its height, James Cook settled down and married; and the first positive
information to be obtained is that he and his wife Grace (her maiden name
has so far escaped identification, though she is known to have been a
native of Cleveland) resided for some time at Morton, in the parish of
Ormsby, and here their eldest child, John, was born in January 1727. Dr.
Young says that James Cook had a superstition that his mother's farewell
was prophetic of his marriage, for her words were "God send you Grace."

BIRTH-PLACE.

Shortly after the birth of John, the Cooks left Morton for Marton, a
village a few miles away, and the similarity of the two names has caused
some confusion. At Marton the father worked for a Mr. Mewburn, living in
a small cottage built of mud, called in the district a clay biggin. This
cottage was pulled down in 1786, when Major Rudd erected a mansion near
the spot. Afterwards, when the mansion was burned to the ground, the site
of the cottage was planted with trees, and was popularly known as Cook's
Garth. Dr. Young was shown the spot by an old shoemaker whose wife's
mother was present at Captain Cook's birth, and he says there was a
willow-tree occupying the site, but no vestige of the walls was left. Mr.
Bolckow, the present owner of Marton Hall, says: "The cottage was found
destroyed when my uncle bought Marton in 1854, but we came across the
foundations of it when the grounds were laid out." A granite vase has
been erected on the spot. The pump which Besant says still exists, and
was made by Cook's father to supply his house with water, was "put there
after Cook's time," and has disappeared.