Hi Everyone, It is great to see all the activity on the list. I want to second what several others have said and that is, please participate in the Cook DNA project, if you have not already. My father contributed the DNA for our Cook family in the project. We are kit #10399 in Group 11 on the Cook DNA Project Results page: http://www.cookfamilygenealogy.com/DNA/results.html. The family's ethnic origins have alternated being stated as Dutch or German. A long-time genealogist cousin of mine, who passed away 3 years ago, spent a lot of time trying to prove a connection to the family in Group 17. The DNA project was very helpful to us in ruling out any connection to this other Cook family. Interestingly and confusingly, we have matched up DNA with a family named BOTTERON, whose origins are in Switzerland. Our Cooks lived in Canada in Ontario and Saskatchewan and descendants live all over Canada, New York, Illinois, and California. Our furthest back Cook ancestor and brick wall is Matthew Cook, who was born in 1808 in Ontario, died 1876 in Chesterville, Dundas, Ontario, though he lived and had a farm in Finch, Stormont, Ontario at the time. His wife was Catherine Herrington b. 1871 Osnabruck, Stormont, Ontario, d. 1895 Smith Twp, Peterborough, Ontario. In a history book of Dundas County, there is a person mentioned who read news from England, whose name was Matthias Cook, said to be a long-time resident at that time in the 1830s, but we don't know if and how he may have been related to Matthew or if he was Matthew. Matthew Cook and Catherine Herrington had children Melinda, Cyrus, Alexander, Susan, Gertrude Eliza, Sarah Jane, Charlotte Rebecca, Matthew, Samuel Ira, and Joseph Albert. There is a tendency in the family that continues on through the generations to go by middle names rather than first names. Melinda Cook married John Best, is in St. Lawrence County, New York, by 1870, later widowed with 3 children in Brown County, Wisconsin in 1880. Cyrus, Alexander, and Susan Cook seem to disappear from the record. I'd love to hear from anyone who has any information on whether they lived to adulthood and whether they had family. Gertrude Eliza Cook marries George W. Davis in Chautauqua County, New York, lives and dies in Frewsburg and Jamestown in 1885. Her sister Sarah Jane marries George Davis's uncle John T. Davis, also lives and dies in Chautauqua County, New York in 1899. Charlotte Rebecca Cook marries Allen Daniel Crysler in Finch, Stormont, Ontario in 1882. He dies in 1883. She does not remarry. She later settles in Kennedy, Saskatchewan, where she dies in 1917. Apparently, Matthew Cook died young, date unknown. Samuel Ira Cook marries twice, first to Mary Margaret Rombough, who died in 1882, then in 1884 to Helen Rosina Rogers, who was born in England. Samuel is buried in Kennedy Cemetery in Kennedy, Saskatchewan. His daughter with Mary Margaret Rombough, Mary Margaret Cook b. 1878, went to live with Gertrude Eliza Cook Davis in New York, and in 1900 married John Frank Sadler, and they settled in Elmira, Chemung, New York. Joseph Albert Cook, my great-grandfather, married Rebecca Eunice Boyce in 1880. They moved progressively west through Peterborough, Muskoka, and Nippissing, until they eventually settled in Windthorst, Saskatchewan, not far from Kennedy, Saskatchewan, where Rebecca died in 1919 and Joseph Albert Cook was buried in 1947. Sorry to have gone on and on. Michele Chavez Palmdale, California in the High Desert