I wish I knew what Mary Cook's maiden name was! I have been trying to determine that since 1986! Quite possibly she may have been a Boyd. Because her nephew's name was May, I have considered that May was a possibility, if the boy was Mary's brother's son. Did Mary Cook have a brother? I don't know. If so, was he killed during the civil war? Was that why the nephew lived with Mary? I have so many unanswered questions! At this point, every lead has turned into a "brick wall ". Mary Cook was the wife of Benjamin Cook, who was a watchmaker,jeweler, and silversmith in Livingston, Alabama from 1850 until 1876( I think) when he was killed by robbers while bringing a shipment of bulk silver back to Livingston. He had two daughters: Mattie married Dr. Francis Loper in 1878 and moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Anna, theolder daughter, marries L.S. Watts in 1893. Anna was a schoolteacher in Livingston. Sons James and Thomas Cook were farmers in the Livingston area. My grandfather William Cook moved to Texas in 1899, working for the Cotton Belt Railroad. Does any of this concide with any of your information pertaining to James May? If not, at least we tried, didn't we? These brick walls are so exasperating! Lois