This site contains family histories for my husband Marvin Cook (including Cook, Lamb, Cudworth, and Charlton) and for me, Leah Hutten Cook (including Hutten, Kaplan, Banner, and Herzog families).

My interest in family history dates to September 11, 2001.  This was the day that Bin Laden and his terrorists bombed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  I had relatives in New York City (my nephew) and I was really scared.  That day I decided it was imperative for me to get to know ALL of my family and to make sure that we stayed connected in this scary modern world.  In the early 1980's I had learned from my uncle, Abraham Banner, that my grandfather Moses Banner had a brother named Fischel Banner.  Fischel was the first Banner to come to America, and my grandparents, aunts, and uncles, all went to live in Fischel's home in the Lower East Side of Manhattan when they immigrated to America. I was amazed to learn that I had a great uncle and hundreds of Banner relatives that I had never met.  But at the time, family was not my highest priority.  I kept notes from my visit with my uncle, but didn't think about this again until 2001.  I have since learned that none of my grandfather's descendants had seen any of Fischel's descendants since 1929.  So after September 11, I was determined to knit these two branches of the family back into one.  In 2002 I started searching for my relatives, both direct descendants of my grandfather, and Fischel's descendants.  I was also interested in learning where we came from and what made us the unique and special people we are today.  Since 2001 I have been an active genealogist.  I have published a number of papers and have placed family trees on geni.com and ancestry.com.  To date, I have mainly researched the Banner family.  I have some information about the Herzog family (my maternal grandmother), but very little about the Hutten and Kaplan families (my paternal grandparents).  Now that I have committed to creating this website, ourfamilyheritage.com, hopefully I can start filling in the gaps about the rest of my ancestors.

In 2009 I offered to work on my husband's family history.  Collaborating with one of Marv's cousins, I made some incredible discoveries. I have also constructed family trees for other family members and friends.  There have been so many incredible stories along the way, which will be added to the site.  It has been a fascinating and fulfilling journey.