Can't tell you where in Ontario he came from, but I can give you the following extract from the book "Heritage: Neepawa Land of Plenty, 1883-1983" compiled by the Neepawa History Book Committee. You may already have this information. Kind Regards, Patricia Sherman --- quote --- pg. 705: JOHN SIMPSON by Catherine (Simpson) Milne John Simpson was born in 1853 in Ontario. He spent his boyhood there, then had the urge to come west. Money was scarce, however he managed to get to Manitoba. He had a cousin in the men's clothing business in Portage la Prairie. Funds being very low, he walked from Winnipeg to Portage la Paririe, probably getting the odd ride along the way. In Portage he worked with his cousin and it was here that he met his wife, Jane Bailey. They were married in 1886 and while in Portage the two eldest children were born - Stuart in 1887, and Ruby in 1888. The family lived above the store in rather crowded quarters. There was one disastrous fire while they lived there. Everyone jumped to safety. After Mr. Hammond saw that they were all out safely, he threw out a feather tick. On this he landed softly and safely. Jane had a bad knee for the duration of her life as a result of the early fall. It was decided to move further west, so Neepawa was selected and the family settled there in 1890. John Simpson was a cabinetmaker by trade. he built and ran a furniture store as well as a hardware. being a cabinetmaker he was the natural person to make the caskets when the early settlers died. As a result he became the local funeral director. The two brick business blocks are still in use. At first, the family lived above one of the stores. here the boys had chores to do. it was no easy task to carry wood and haul water up a long flight of stairs, especially on wash day, which was always on Monday. Soon the family got larger and the brick house was built on First Street. The house is still there, but the grounds are much smaller, and many of the evergreen trees that Mr. Simpson planted are now gone. There were seven children in the family, three boys and four girls, namely, Stuart, Ruby, Margaret, Roderick, John, Verna and Velma. Of these Velma survives. There are four grandchildren - Catherine (Simpson) Milne; margaret (Wemyss) Laurence; Robert Wemyss and Jean (Simpson) Rotton. The Simpsons attended the Methodist Church, which later became the United Church. They had their own special pew with a padded seat. Anyone who inadvertently sat in that seat was frowned upon. John Simpson was a member of the Oddfellows and masonic Lodges. He was also a Shriner and participated in many of their functions. Jane Simpson died in 1937. John lived to the age of 97. --- end quote --- Delores Kruse wrote: > > Hello List: > > I am trying to find the death date of John SIMPSON, b. 16 June 1856 in > Ontario (R)what does the R mean? He lived in Neepawa and was a furniture > dealer and I believe he made caskets and had a funeral home. His wife was > Jane BAILEY and she was born in Ontario 30 Jan 1858. Where did she die? Does > anyone know where in Ontario they were born. > > Any help on this would be greatly apperciated, thank you. > Delores > > ==== CAN-MANITOBA Mailing List ==== > Manitoba GenWeb Project > http://www.rootsweb.com/~canmb/ > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 -- [email protected] or [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~geneseeker http://members.internorth.com/~wiccan/personal/foyer_p.htm *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* In perpetual quest of elusive British and Canadian ancestors *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*