Hello listers, I have some really wonderful news ! ! ! A cousin, a real life, honest-to-goodness COUSIN, has E-mailed me ! ! ! I now have my Great-Great Grandfather's name and year of birth as well as some info I'd never hoped to be able to collect. i.e. The circumstances surrounding his death and info about his other son, Abraham COOK. God Bless you, Mary! If there are more cousins there in R.I.County who're tempted to E-mail me, please do! Mary and I have a lot to discuss and info to swap back and forth and probably some 130 years of family history to get up to speed on... This is just TOO good! My personal thank you to all who made suggestions about where to try next and the kind souls who have been so patient with my stupidity. I've only been working on the Family's Tree for a few months and have made more progress than I believed would be possible prior to my eventual demise. You've been absolutely wonderful and I love you all!! I'm not about to leave so you can look for a bit a messaging as I lurk here in the Cyber-shadows and see if there is anyone I can help as I work on getting more information about the COOK Clan. Part of the problem all along has been a transcriptional glitch I had not forseen that has been in the family since 1899. For some reason GrtGrandpa Zachariah decided to add, or a clerk did somewhere along the way, a final "e" to the end of our surname when the marriage took place between he and Melissa CRAWFORD in 1899. That single stroke of the pen, created more stumbling blocks than I'd have imagined. It sent me on a wild goose chase that has lasted a few months and suddenly with her ever so fimble ningers, Mary has cleared the fog and guess what? There is sun shining out there in the distance. Please... PLEASE... Whaever you do, don't give up and so be as narrow of focus as I've been. Try different spellings and be a 'doberman' about your search. Having taken that advice from another, I had the fortitude to arrive at this particular stop and there is still a long journey ahead but the way is now cleared for some distance and the largest single stumbling block has been removed. With just a little more info I can now set my sights on the United Kingdom and begin to 'fire for effect' in making requests for information there. Bless you one and all, and you too 'tiny Tim', Merry Christmas, late, to everyone. I could not possibly have gotten a better present than to make connection with family I only suspected might exist!!!! Gary E Cooke E-mail: gcooke@meonline.net