Hi~ I just joined the list, and I was hoping for a little help with one of my brick walls. I'm currently researching the family of my husband's 3rd great aunt, Julia Cook (married names: Shepard, Frayer & Robinson). I have very little information on her first marriage, but according to the obituary of their son, Dale Hiawatha Shepard, Dale was born in Buffalo, Erie, New York. The obituary says that he was born in 1862, and other sources say he was born in 1859. The obituary lists his father as D. Shepard, and the marriage index entry lists him as A. E. (though some of the D's in those old records could easily be mistaken for As!). What I'm hoping for is that someone who has access to the Buffalo city directories for the time period from 1859 to 1862 (or even more before and after that time) could check and see if they were listed at all. I've been trying for a long time, and without much success, to find out his full name and to do more research on him since the only place I've ever seen him mentioned is the marriage index and the son's obituary. Julia remarried in Nov 1864 in Marshall county, Iowa, so D. (or A. E.) Shepard had either died or been divorced by that time. I suspect he may have been in the Civil War, but I have nothing to back that up either. Hopefully, this isn't too jumbled and confusing! If you have any questions, I would be happy to clarify anything here. Any help would be very greatly appreciated! Thanks, and take care! "-) Justina "-)