Hi List Nice to see the usual friendly banter on this most helpful list! I've been "away"for a while...Actually a seniors moment as I unsubcribed when going away on the March break and then I forgot to resubscribe on my return... ANyway I have been researching my Cooke line dealing more with Leeds Grenville than Simcoe. I have not yet found a connection to any Simcoe Cooke families. Here is the result of my Cooke quest . Its an interesting yarn My GGGF was Robert Cooke of County Cavan Ireland, bn about 1793. He became a gardener on the estate of Richard Griffith in County Kilkenny. Griffith was a very wealthy member of the Irish aristocracy and he did not take kindly to gardener Robert eloping with his 16 yr old Daughter (Sarah) Jane Griffith! ( Richard was the author of the Griffith Evaluation in Ireland) She was immediately disowned for marrying beneath her class and we remain totally ostracised by that family to this day. Married in Ireland, Robert and Jane Griffith Cooke fled to Leeds Grenville, Elizabethtown Tp., Upper Canada along with some of Robert's family, some of whom may have preceded them to Brockville area. Ca 1827. Never entirely discount family stories! An ancient cousin , 1898-1992, told of a daughter who had run off with a family gardener . No names were remembered but the story persisted anyway. Well now we can attach names and the story is now confirmed as truth. I had treated the rumour with skepticism! Our Irish Cookes intermarried with the Story family in Leeds and maybe in Ireland with 2 marriages known to me. There maybe more. The Storys were from County Cavan as well. There are both Cooke and Story famillies in and around Orillia but I have not found any connection yet . Robert and Jane had 5 children as recorded in the records of St Peter's Anglican Church, Brockville including my GGM (Sarah) Jane Cooke born Feb 4th 1836. These 5 records were the only evidence I was able to find for some time. I now know that Robert and Jane lived in Brockville just behind the now City Hall and Robert was a worker at Charles Jones Potash Works . But alas Robert died young about 1840 of TB leaving Jane destitute. Her appeals to the Griffith family were ignored and she quickly remarried an American and went to the USA leaving her 5 children. The children were farmed out to Cooke relatives in the area. Jane apparently had 2 more children of the second marriage. I can not find a marriage record/surname for the second marriage but it appears Jane did NOT keep up contact with her children in Leeds Grenville. It is not much wonder that I could find nothing on Robert and Jane! I find it very strange that a mother would leave young children in that manner. So I have had success on the Cooke side but I am still flat smack against brickwall GGF John McGinn or maybe McGuin/McQuin/McQueen who married Robert and Jane's daughter S Jane Dec 6th 1854 in Leeds. He is supposed to be UEL stock but the earliest I can find him is 1849 in Escott Tp . John was born in Upper Canada about 1830 ..All I Know! John and Jane McGinn moved their young family to Orillia in 1869 where John was a shoemaker/merchant. He was very active in the Methodist Church, now St Pauls and in the business community of the village. In 1884, John McGinn and 2 other gentlemen left Orillia on a trip to Victoria BC. There are no details as to why they went but John would have returned full of stories and maybe he influenced his young adult family as they ALL (except Bill) headed west to Alberta, Seattle and Vancouver where the family exists to this day. John and Jane left Orillia about 1891 taking their then young adult childen to Toronto and leaving their oldest son William or Bill McGinn to take over the shoe store on Mississaga St. William m Emily Eliz. Smith May 14 1884 and they raised 3 childen in Orillia 1891 to 1900 born. Emily was of Sharon Ontario and d/o Geo Peter Smith and Sarah Downes Sutcliffe both born England. Jane McGinn died 1900 and John in 1905 and they are both in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. William and Emily stayed in Orillia until about 1922 and William kept a waterfront cabin near Cedar Island after that. The McGinns were related to the Meredith Clan in Orillia through the Smith family. Just thought I would update in case somebody sees a Story or Cooke connection possible. Also looking for photos of John McGinn to compare to one taken by Whitton in Orillia late 1800s . I can not proove the old photo I have is John although anecdotal evidence suggests the image is that of John. Rob McGinn