I am researching the ancestry of a friend's family - WINN from Port Colborne, Welland County, Ontario, Canada.

John Winn, of Port Colborne, married a widow, Christina Barnhart (born 1798, Pennsylvania) and with her came a son from her first marriage to an 'Unknown' Barnhart, Jeremiah Barnhart born about 1832 in Clarence Centre.

Christina moved to Port Colborne prior to 1837 most likely about 1832 when Jeremiah was a baby, with her husband who died of cholera at the Tavern Inn outside of Port Colborne. About 1837, she married John Winn.

She, purportedly, was related to the Hoover family of Port Colborne and I wonder if her maiden name may have been Hoover.

Subsequently, she had two children with John Winn, Silas D. Winn and Elizabeth Winn. Silas Winn became a very prominant, influential and wealthy man in Port Colborne.

Can anyone shed any light on Christina's first husband, a Barnhart? Through a couple of newspaper clippings, it is known she went back to Clarence for visits, presumably to see her husband's family.

Any information about the Barnharts or the Hoovers would be most welcomed as I have been mulling over files looking for more information on Christina for about 4 years now.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide.

Regards,

Heather Holdgate
Whitby, Ontario, Canada
(verdun1950@rogers.com)