Earlier this summer I mentioned to the list that we (Penetanguishene Museum & Archives) had a visitor from Belfast, Ireland who was looking for information about a great-uncle who had lived in Simcoe County. I am pleased to say that we (some listers and I) were able to discover a fair amount of information about his ancestor and it was mailed to our visitor last week. Samuel James Best and his sister Margaret Olive May Best were both born in County Down, Ireland. Samuel in 1897 and Margaret in 1900. They were two of three children born to an unwed woman named Nellie Best. The third child remained in Ireland and eventually became the grandmother of our visitor. Early census returns and family lore indicate the family had a difficult time of it, often living with relatives. Samuel and Margaret were sent by the Barnardo Home to Canada in 1908 in a group of 327 children under their care. An 8 year girl and an 11 year old boy shipped from Ireland to Liverpool to Montreal to Toronto and then to a farm in Tiny Township to live with complete strangers. Alone. Samuel lived with the Downer family on the 1th concession of Tiny and Margaret, not too far away, on the 13th concession with the McConnell family. Both were considered "adopted" but who knows what that meant. Samuel enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1915 and was eventually sent overseas. He did not list the Downers as his "next-of-kin" but rather the sister who had remained in Ireland. He gave her married name and current address so presumably had contact with her. We have obtained his service record (55 pages) and now know that he was wounded, contracted the usual diseases of a young man in a foreign country, was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. Four years after returning, he met and married Mary Brownsward in Guelph, Ontario. His residence was given as Toronto. What happened to Samuel James Best after 1923? Margaret Olive May remained in Simcoe County and married Victor Dorman Tomlinson in Midland in 1919. I hope she lived happily ever after but we do not know her fate. If anyone can fill in the later years, I'd like to hear from you. Samuel's story will be part of the museum's display for Remembrance Day this year - a Home Child and a soldier. This year we will be adding some little known information about soldiers and life in Penetanguishene/ Midland during World War 2. And, of course, we will have the service records, photos and uniforms of soldiers of WW1 and WW2. Paul Robbins gave us a wonderful enlargement of a 1919 wedding photograph that will be on display. It was a large wedding and all the men are in uniform. As some are unidentified, it would be nice if a visitor could give us names of these veterans. If you know something about these families, get back to me ASAP as Samuel, hopefully, will be the subject of a newspaper article. Pam