Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/373 Surname: STODDARD, TWITHEL ------------------------- Susan, Happy to get your response. Perhaps we should switch this conversation from Niagara Co. to Erie Co. I'll copy this and enter it as a query on that siteas well. I think there is a possibility that we do have ancestors in common. I was in Erie Co. for a short while in October and was able to take a look at an extract from the 1855 NY state census. I found my g-grandfather, Ivory Stoddard, in both and I noticed that a Shepard Stoddard was also there in the same town (Newstead). That caught my attention because my grandfather's name is Earl Shepard Stoddard, and I wondered if he had been named for an uncle. Ivory and Shepard are within seven years of each other and are the only ones of the Erie Co. Stoddards to be living in Newstead. I recently replied to a post on the Erie Co. site from a woman who is listing Ivory, one of his sons, and his mother. http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Erie/1671 If she is correct, then Ivory's mother's name was Lydia, and he Shepard were probably brothers. According to the 1855 census, Shepard was born in Orleans Co. Byron is actually in Genesee Co. but close to the Orleans/Genesee line. If you don't have this 1855 census, let me know and I'll scan it and e-mail it to you. I don't think I know any of your people (Shepard's) descendants. My grandfather was part of Ivory's second family in Michigan. I'm just recently beginning to find out about his first family in NY. I live in Iowa City, IA, so I don't often have a chance to do research in Erie Co. Do you live in that area? Hope to hear from you. Richard