Warren's three children, Alton IL

Warren & Mary Ann Leverett, & daughter, Alton IL

reunion

This picture shows a reunion of some kind in Council Bluffs, I believe, where James Walker Leverett (center, middle, bearded) lived before he died. I am not sure who the other people in the picture are, but I intend to find out. I am also not sure where I found the picture, as I posted it on Facebook a few years ago (and remembered that, and retrieved it) - I am unhappy that I apparently cut out a few people that I am now interested in. I do know, however, that I never threw it away; it's around somewhere, and it can be found and used, I'm sure, before it's over.

Update

Sheltered in place, at home in the mountains of New Mexico, I have finally finished the second Leverett book (below) and am ready to work on the third. I do not expect it to be a huge seller, and in fact, I think people in my family kind of expect me to give them one, which I will probably do, eventually. It will become part of a series; Puritan Leveretts is first; Eighteenth Century Leveretts is second, and Pioneer Leveretts will probably be third. Pioneer Leveretts will be based roughly on the condensation of memory sketch by James Walker Leverett, below.

The story of James Walker Leverett is in itself a little incredible, and that's why the next book will focus on him. Unlike his father, who was more of a true pioneer, he was a teacher, and a writer, and didn't really settle down that much. Toward the end of his sketch you see him moving - Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Council Bluffs - what's up with that? I hope to find out. But I will also document the time his wagon was robbed by Wild Bill Anderson (who failed to get his money) and his homesteading attempts in Salem, Nebraska, which were basically ruined by the fact that the Civil War passed through that corner of Nebraska/Kansas/Missouri, and it just became too dangerous out there.

Part of the documenting of that era, particularly in that part of the plains, includes the documenting of the outlaws like Jesse James and Anderson, who generally took the side of the South, anti-government, anti-system, anti-everything, and didn't mind robbing northerners if they had to. I guess I'm not really sure of that, so I'll have to just look into it.

Much of his life was centered on Warren, Illinois, too. So I'm off on a new journey of exploration. See the picture in the post above - he's the guy in the lower center, with the big white beard.

Eighteenth Century Leveretts

paperback on Amazon $8.40 + shipping
on kindle $4.99

Tells the story of an incredible family - actually several families - that lived through the times of hardship in Boston before the Revolutionary War. It was an uncertain time - some records may have been lost during the witch trials, and again during the revolution itself, but this book tells how the families intertwined and finally came to leave the city.