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.