© Kathy Duncan, 2026
By 1870, James S. Piper was in Marion County, Texas, with his new family:
Not surprisingly, James Piper's occupation is that of a contractor. He had $600 in real estate, and I have seen a deed record for James S. Piper in Marion County. His new wife, Mary A. Piper, is 45 years old and born in Tennessee, and their implied daughter, Laura, is 3 years old, also born in Tennessee. I estimate that James S. Piper and Mary Ann were married in about 1866. Where is currently unknown. Did James and Mary Ann meet in Georgia or Tennessee? Mary Ann would have been 41 at the time of their marriage. At that age, it is very likely that she had been married previously.
I have not identified George Dyke. Was he an unrelated boarder or a family member? It's possible that he was a son of Mary Ann's.
My cousin's family was told that James S. Piper and Mary Ann were Laura's grandparents. The only other candidate that I have for her father is James S. Piper Jr.
In 1870, James S. Piper, Jr. was still in Carroll County, Maryland:
He was boarding with Theodore F. Engler, who was the first cousin of Ezra Engler, who provided testimony as to Mary (O'Hara) Piper's noncupative will in 1867. In 1870, James S. Piper was a 21-year-old farm laborer. In 1867, when Laura L. Piper was born, he would have been 18. He would have spent the previous year fending for himself after the death of his mother. On closer examination, he seems like an unlikely candidate to be Laura's father. I wonder if the Lennon family story was that James S. Piper and Mary Ann were old enough to be Laura's grandparents?
In 1870, Horatio N. Piper was in Baltimore working as a bookkeeper. William H. Piper was serving with the 23rd Infantry in either Portland or Vancouver.
In 1871, James S. Piper, Sr., was living in a house on the Gillespie survey in Marion County, Texas. That year he was also sued by the state of Texas for obtaining money under false pretenses.
He appeared on the Marion County, Texas tax rolls from 1871 through 1874. Then he disappeared from their tax rolls.
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