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"A Home for All" ~ Mid-Century: 1840s - 1850s would have been considered stylish and showy in the 1840s. The combination of these styles, not to mention their expensive and therefore exclusive details, would have been quite a sight in a rural village in British North America. The 1851 census described it as a "2 storey brick castle," while an Ellis descendant in 1916 called it "a palatial residence for those days... beautifully appointed and was justly esteemed as now one of the show places of the district." The house showcased a grand winding staircase in the great hall, six fireplaces, two huge pillars supporting the second storey, and a kitchen in the rear, equipped with ovens capable of baking 50 loaves of bread. Finally, a widow's walk adorned the top of the house. It provided a "view of Brantford" and Abraham permitted the local school children to view it once a year as a special treat. It was without doubt a home suited to a gentleman of Cooke's stature. As Byers and McBurney explain in their history of the Governor's Road, locals described Cooke with "parochial hyperbole" as "Mount Pleasant's Merchant Prince," probably because of his imposing house. As we have seen, Cooke had achieved for himself a prominent position in the community as storekeeper, postmaster and