Hi Rhonda: I have a possible longshot connection: William Blackwood - (born ? ca. 1865? died ?) Married Lizzie Simpson or Elizabeth Simpson. He was involved in the invention of ginger ale and was a partner of his father-in-law, Harvey Simpson, a rich landowner and MP for one of the Manitoba federal ridings who raised a regiment and served as its quartermaster in the First World War. William launched a soft drink business in Manitoba, then went to Ontario, where he was involved in the startup of Canada Dry. He apparently took the recipe for his Belfast-style ginger ale in 1904 to pharmacist and chemist John J. McLaughlin, who had opened a plant to bottle soda water in Toronto in 1890, and had been working for years to achieve the perfect ginger ale formula. In 1907 the name Canada Dry was given to the concoction, and in 1919 the company began to ship Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale south of the border to New York City. Two years later, the company opened the first Canada Dry plant in the United States, on 38th Street in New York. In 1930, Canada Dry added Tonic Water, Club Soda, Collins Mix and fountain syrup to the product line. In 1936 Canada Dry International was organized and a bottler was awarded a licence in Lima, Peru. The company also pioneered the use of aluminum cans in 1953. RJR/Nabisco eventually acquired the firm, selling it to Cadbury Schweppes of England in 1986. A bottle from the original Winnipeg plant for Blackwoods Royal Edinburgh Ginger Beer came up for auction in Winnipeg in 1996. There was also some sort of Blackwood pickle company listed in Winnipeg in the 1909 business directory. There was also a Blackwood Brothers brewery, which became the Manitoba Brewing and Malting Company, and the Blackwood brothers were bought out by the Pellisier family around 1970. His Wife: Elizabeth Simpson or Lizzie Simpson (born 1869 died ?), She was one of 13 or 14 children, mostly born in the Ottawa Carleton area, may have been the youngest sister of Harvey Simpson and Rhodella Irwin Armstrong. Their Child: 1. Daughter - Kathleen Blackwood (born ? died ?). Married a man named McAllister, lived in Calgary. ---------- Does Elizabeth Simpson fit in anywhere? William Blackwood is said to have swindled Harvey Simpson out of his socks for many years before running away to Toronto. dennis bell in british columbia gary and rhonda simpson wrote: > I have 4 Simpson brothers who came at various times in the early 1900's to Winnipeg. I have found descendants for 2, but am at a loss for the others. > Is anyone researching the following: > James Walker Simpson b 1867 Keith Banff or Fintray Aberdeen (registered in both)