Hello, 2025

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

Happy New Year! 

I did a lot of research last year, but only managed thirteen blog posts. Five of those posts were about James S. Piper. I still need to finish that series of posts. I've brought him to the brink of the Civil War when his story really starts to heat up, so I need to get back to that project. 

There were 63,414 page views this year, bringing the total to 268,456. However, there were a lot of bots trolling the internet last year, so that number is probably not reflective of human readers.

The three most popular posts were as follows:

1. The Dendys and the Fatal Accident. This post explores the idea that my great-great-grandparents were in a horrific accident that killed one of their daughters. Because she was born and died between census years, her name is unknown. I believe this is the event that prompted the Dendys move from Wood County, Texas to Bowie County, Texas.

2. Capt. James S. Piper, 1846. This is the first post in the James S. Piper series. Yes, I'm feeling guilty for not getting all of the posts in the series written and posted. 

3. John Deloss Brown, Candidate for Sheriff. Through newspaper articles, I have been able to flesh out many of the details of John D. Brown's life.

While popular, these are not the posts that represented breakthroughs in my research. Those posts are as follows:

1. Solomon Nevill Sr's Last Years. My research turned up information that proved Solomon Nevill Sr. had a wife after Barbara Walton and that a divorce occurred between Solomon and Barbara. Solomon spent his last years with his second wife and then with his son E.W. Nevill. He died in Gibson County, Tennessee, not Montgomery County, Tennessee. There were a lot of surprises and family drama in this information.

2. Lodowick and Nathaniel Thompson - Greenville Co., Virginia. This post is a bit skimpy, but it links Lodowick Thompson to another adult Thompson, who may be a family member. 

3. Spencer P. Lewis, son of John and Susan Lewis. I don't get a lot of credit for this "discovery." I was able to confirm my hunch that Spencer P. Lewis of Anderson County, Texas was the son of John D. Lewis. Another researcher's contributions to Family Search provided proof of Spencer's birthdate, birthplace, and parentage. This is a key piece of information in the quest to identify John D. Lewis's own origins and information about his wife or wives.