Sincere apologies to everyone who has supported this site over the years, and to new visitors who may have been wondering if it has gone dead. 2025 was a very bad year for me personally, but I think I have my head back above water and can start afresh with the new year, once again posting research news, queries, and Magruder news.

Let this be a reminder to those of you who persist in believing that Magruder’s Landing has staff. Oh, don’t I wish! Maybe a professional genealogist, maybe a correspondence editor? No, friends, it’s just me–my obsessions, my curiosities, my hope to help those looking for ancestors and the contexts in which they lived.

Despite not posting, I have tried to keep up on messages and approving comments. If I missed you, please write again. And please keep the messages coming.

As you’ll see in my next post, it has been a hard road, as well, for the whole McGruther / McGruder / Magruder community. We have lost three trailblazers, visionaries who were also indefatigable researchers. They have given us the foundations, so let’s work together to keep the discoveries coming.