Nearby Recently Sold Homes. When Clark and Jefferson were informed of Lewis' death, both accepted it as suicide, but his family contended it was murder. 111 on September 16, 1808. . His party affiliation didn't hurt, either. Supposedly, Theodesia pleaded with Meriwether to decline the journey and marry her, heavily encouraged by her father. Clark and Lewis were both relatively young and adventurous and had shared experience as woodsmen-frontiersmen and Army officers. Without her help, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark might not have been successful on their expedition. He died, apparently of bullet wounds to the head and abdomen, shortly before sunrise the next day. If you click the change tab you can see that this is an excellent example of collaboration! One of these was Parson Matthew Maury, an uncle of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Other murder theories range from the scandalous (the innkeeper discovered Lewis in flagrante with Mrs. Grinder) to the conspiratorial (a corrupt Army general named James Wilkinson hatched an assassination plot.). Despite warnings that they would all be drowned, the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition paddled toward the ferocious rapids. Meriwether Lewis' Immediate Family and their Descendents Lucy Meriwether was born at Cloverfields on February 4, 1752. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Why Did Meriwether Lewis Die. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806. At the time of his death Lewiss depressive tendencies were compounded by other problems: he was having financial troubles and likely suffered from alcoholism and other illnesses, possibly syphilis or malaria, the latter of which was known to cause bouts of dementia. It was in Georgia that he met Eric Parker, who was the first to introduce him to the idea of traveling. Was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. However, when a Yankton (or possibly Teton) Sioux man and his family presented themselves for baptism on June 18, 1872, Joseph DeSmet Lewis (abt.1805-abt.1889) age 68, gave as his place of birth Yankton Agency, his father's name as "Capt. He established roads and was a strong proponent of the fur trade. Because of bureaucratic delays in the U.S. Army, Clark officially only held the rank of Second Lieutenant at the time, but Lewis concealed this from expedition members and shared the leadership of the expedition, always referring to Clark as "Captain".[4]. [3], The new family soon moved to Georgia and Meriwether spent his time learning outdoorsman skills. 44 in Albemarle, VA between 1796 and 1797. She said that during dinner Lewis stood and paced about the room talking to himself in the way one would speak to a lawyer. Single Family Residence - Monroe, NC 3004 Meriwether Lewis Trail, Monroe, NC 28110 This lovely single-story home features 3 spacious bedrooms and 2 modern bathrooms. Jefferson selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the proposed expedition, afterward known as the Corps of Discovery. Geni requires JavaScript! - If the inscription on the. A monument erected in 1848 now stands in his honor near the place the tavern occupied, and is under the care of the National Parks Service.[11]. Conflicting information from sources indicate he was either rather ill (speculation runs from alcoholism to syphilis or possible psychological issues) or had trouble with hypochondria, and visited his mother in hopes of some care. The National Park Service, which controls the land where Lewis is buried, repeatedly has stalled the Lewis family's efforts to exhume the remains for scientific examination and to provide a proper Christian reburial. Lewis departed Pittsburgh for St. Louisthe capital of the new Louisiana Territoryvia the Ohio River in the summer of 1803, gathering supplies, equipment, and personnel along the way. Meriwether Lewis dies along the Natchez Trace, Tennessee On October 11, 1809, the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances in the early hours of the morning after. Obviously, Theodesia's pleas fell on deaf ears. discoveries. A reenactment of Lewis' entry into Grinder's Stand was an official concluding event of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Lewis was a Freemason, initiated, passed and raised in Door To Virtue Lodge No. Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 - October 11, 1809) Was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Fielding Lewis (July 7, 1725 - December 7, 1781) was an American merchant, member of the House of Burgesses and a Colonel during the American Revolutionary War. The next morning, she sent for Lewis's servants, who found him weltering in his blood but alive for several hours. At some point in the night she heard multiple gunshots, and what she believed was someone asking for help. They dropped the inquiry for lack of evidence or motive. A year after his death, John Grinder, in whose home Lewis died, was brought before a grand jury on a warrant of murder. It covers the descendants of Robert Lewis (1607-ca.1645) and his wife, Elizabeth, who emigrated from Wales to Gloucester County, Virginia in 1635. A cave, Lewis and Clark Caverns between Three Forks and Whitehall, Montana. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Generation Create a FREE Account. Patrick Gass, a carpenter and architect of wooden forts, and one of the 33 members of the Corps of Discovery. By the age of eight, he was already showing the characteristics of courage and resourcefulness that stood him in good stead when he later commanded Jeffersons great expedition to explore the Missouri and Columbian Rivers from 1804 to 1806. On October 7, 2009, about 2,500 people (Park Service estimate) from more than twenty-five states met at Lewis' grave on the 200th anniversary of his death. The explorer was buried not far from where he died, honored today by a memorial along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Lewises also won a gallant record in the War of 1812, the Mexican War and in the Confederate States Army. They settled along the Broad River in the Goosepond Community within the Broad River Valley in Wilkes County (now Oglethorpe County). John and Elizabeth Lewis were parents of Elizabeth (mother of Captain Richard Ashcraft) and Colonel Robert (father of Captain William Lewis who fathered Meriwether Lewis). Lewis was a good administrator, but due to quarreling local political leaders, approval of trading licenses, land grant politics, Indian depredations, and a slow-moving mail system, it appeared that Lewis was a poor administrator who failed to keep in touch with his superiors in Washington. The Department of Interior granted . If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. The Lewis and Clark expedition is often called America's national epic of exploration. A bronze bust of Lewis commissioned for the event was dedicated to the Natchez Trace Parkway for a planned visitor center at the grave site area. She gave the property to her daughter as a wedding gift. The intrigue surrounding the famous explorers untimely death has spawned a cottage industry of books and articles, with experts from a variety of fields, including forensics and mental health, weighing in. She never explained why, at the time, she didn't investigate further concerning Lewis's condition or the source of the gunshots. This wasnt just anybody who kicked the bucket. Besides, how could an expert marksman botch his own suicide and be forced to shoot himself twice? Capt. Your Privacy Rights )," and his mother's name as "Winona. He and William Clark, born August 1, 1770, accompanied each other on a dangerous expedition. This page has been accessed 22,092 times. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. In 1793, Lewis graduated from Liberty Hall (now Washington and Lee University), joined the Virginia militia, and in 1794 he was sent as part of a detachment involved in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion. The murder advocates point to five conflicting testimonies as evidence that her testimony is fabricated and the suicide advocates point to her testimony as proof of suicide. Some scholars arent so sure that an exhumation will clarify matters. $252,000 Last Sold Price. Lucy Meriwether was born at Cloverfields on February 4, 1752. Death of Capt. The District of Columbia and governors of twenty states sent flags flown over state capital buildings to be carried to Lewis' grave by residents of the states associated with the Lewis and Clark Trail. It was in Georgia that he met Eric Parker, who was the first to introduce him to the idea of traveling. Obviously, Theodesia's pleas fell on deaf ears. His mother taught him how to gather wild herbs for medicinal purposes. The expedition was the first point of Euro-American contact for several Native American tribes; through translators and sign language, Lewis conducted rudimentary ethnographic studies of the peoples he encountered, even as he laid the groundwork for a trade economy to ensure American hegemony over its vast new interior territory. He was the son of Lt. William Lewis of Locust Hill (1733 November 17, 1779), who was of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether (February 4, 1752 September 8, 1837), daughter of Thomas Meriwether and Elizabeth Thornton who were both of English ancestry. Descendents of the family point to this legend as a reason why Meriwether men take a long time to get married. Meriwether Lewis was born on the family plantation in Virginia. Lewis had known president Jefferson since he was a boy, "he had grown up on a plantation in virginia a few miles from Monticello, and they had went on to make a relationship working together in the White House." These sources are attached to each ancestor so that you can personally judge their reliability. Explorer and U.S. Army officer, Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) has been saluted as America's foremost explorer. Meriwether was the firstborn son of Lucy Meriwether and William Lewis. Our Family Tree: Branch: Ray's Extended Family Tree : View. As Thomas Jefferson's letter to Meriwether Lewis said, "It may better those who may endeavour to civilise and instruct them." . Lewis departed St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchasevia the Ohio River in the summer of 1803, gathering supplies, equipment, and personnel along the way. When Jefferson began to formulate and to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. He came back from this trip with new knowledge of the Louisiana Territory proving that the Louisiana Purchase benefitted the whole country. [3] When Jefferson began to formulate and to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. The Natchez Trace was the old pioneer road between Natchez, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. These are fantastic!!! In 1801, he was appointed as an aide by President Thomas Jefferson, whom he knew personally through Virginia society in Albemarle County. 1. At thirteen, he was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. About 1725, Jane married Robert Lewis (abt 1704-1765), son of Councilor John Lewis (1669-1725) of Warner Hall and his wife Elizabeth Warner (1672-1719) the daughter . Son of Lt. William Lewis and Lucy Lewis The mission of the Corps was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory for the United States before European nations. FORUM ARTICLES SEARCH. Lewis's record as an administrator is mixed. In later years a court of inquiry explored whether they could charge the tavern-keeper with Lewis' death. Their other children included Jane Meriwether (Lewis) Anderson (1770-1845), Reuben Lewis, and Lucinda Lewis (1772-) (who died as an infant). However, the subsequent inhabitants of the home have made so many changes that the structure does not really resemble the original house. For many years, Lewis' legacy was overlooked, inaccurately assessed, and even tarnished by his alleged suicide. He also showed an interest in plant knowledge, and his mother, an herbalist, encouraged that interest. Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809 Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) Clark, William, 1770-1838 Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, to Captain William Lewis (1712 1781) who was of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether (1751 1837). Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him. She observed his face to flush as if it had come on him in a fit. Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 - October 11, 1809). . Interestingly, John Guice, one of the most prominent critics of the suicide theory, uses a very different astronaut comparison. Library of Congress, https://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/mtj/mtj1/029/029_0175_0184.pdf. Gary Stella. He withdrew from public circles for several months, staying with his mother in Albemarle County, where he was probably treated by her and his physician [sic] brother Reuben. (Dary, p. 80) By March 1808, he had arrived in St. Louis to assume his duties as governor of the Louisiana Territory. p. 108. He is honored today by a memorial along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Login to find your connection. Lewis, who had not been publicly mourned when he died, was honored on that occasion with his first public memorial service. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson acquired from France's Napoleon Bonaparte territory that became known as the Louisiana Purchase. At the end of his life he was a horrible drunk, terribly depressed, who could never even finish his [expedition] journals, says Paul Douglas Newman, a professor of history who teaches Lewis and Clark and The Early American Republic at the University of Pittsburgh. The exact details of his death have never been learned because the early morning events were not directly witnessed by anyone. One of his traveling companions, who arrived later, buried him nearby. 44 in Albemarle, Virginia, between 1796 and 1797. On August 2, 1808, Lewis and several of his acquaintances submitted a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in which they requested a dispensation to establish a lodge in St. Louis. An American icon, Lewis was also a human being, and the expedition was the pinnacle of Lewiss life, Newman says. Meriwether Lewis died on his way to Washington, DC in October, 1809. This much we know: on September 4, 1809, Lewis, then governor of Louisiana Territory, left St. Louis for Washington, D.C., to take care of some personal and professional business. Explorer. Ex-partner of Ikpsapewin "Winona" The expedition started in St. Charles, Missouri. He then joined the regular army and achieved the rank of captain at the age of 23. In October of 1809, while en route to Washington, D.C., Lewis died of violence at a wayside inn called Grinder's Stand outside Nashville, Tennessee. When explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark blazed a trail through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific . Augustine arrived in Virginia in 1628 at the . At first, Pierre blamed Blackfeet Indians for the injury, but after the Corps found no sign of Indians, he admitted the accident. To resolve these issues, Lewis began a trip to Washington City to plead his case to the administration in person. The Cherokee lived in antagonistic proximity to the white settlers, but Lewis seems to have been a champion for them amongst his own people. In the course of the journey, Lewis observed, collected, and described hundreds of plants and animal species previously unknown to science. One of these was Parson Matthew Maury, an uncle of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Home > Forum > Surnames > Woodson. Descendants of Slaveholder . ISBN 978-0275990114. Jefferson believed the former, while his family continually maintained the latter. She said that during dinner Lewis stood and paced about the room talking to himself in the way one would speak to a lawyer. Among the families are direct descendants of William Clark and collateral descendants of Meriwether Lewis. 15th cousin 6 times removed via Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 13th cousin 6 times removed via Katherine Pabenham, 13th cousin 7 times removed via Sir Reynold de Grey, 11th cousin 6 times removed via Sir Henry Percy, 12th cousin 6 times removed via Sir Reynold Grey, 16th cousin 5 times removed via Margaret of France, 15th cousin 5 times removed via Sir Robert de Holland, 14th cousin 7 times removed via Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 12th cousin 5 times removed via Sir Humphrey Stafford, 12th cousin 5 times removed via Sir Reynold Grey, 13th cousin 6 times removed via Sir Richard FitzAlan, 10th cousin 7 times removed via Sir Lionel de Welles, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Henry I, King of England, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Muitchertach O'Toole, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Enna MacMurrough, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Sir Robert de Beaumont, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Richard Fitzgilbert, 10th cousin 2 times removed via Sir Reynold Grey, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Simon I de St. Liz, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Robert FitzHamon, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Ranulf de Briquessart, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Ralph de Gael, 17th cousin 1 time removed via Alan of Galloway, 20th cousin 1 time removed via Walter of Salisbury, 20th cousin 1 time removed via William Talvas III. However, the two men were quite different in education and temperament. He was the son of William Lewis, of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether, of English ancestry. Parson Maury was a son of Charles Goodyear Maury who was Thomas Jefferson's teacher for two years. Both Reuben and John (II) grew up to become doctors, taking after their mother's medicinal abilities. The deadline for applications is Dec. 31. Lewis was nominated and recommended to serve as the first Master of the proposed Lodge, which was warranted as Lodge No. Captain Meriwether Lewis was President Thomas Jefferson's chosen leader for the Corps of Discovery Expedition into the expansive territory of Louisiana, acquired from France in 1803. It was also in the Broad River Valley that Lewis first dealt with a native Indian group. Historians still dispute whether the explorer and then-governor of Louisiana committed suicide or was murdered. Originally, he was to provide information on the politics of the United States Army, which had seen an influx of Federalist officers as a result of John Adams's "midnight appointments." Edward J. Lanham 2/07/05. Examples of plants Lewis discovered on the expedition were also brought from the Trail states and laid on his grave to honor him. Retail Stores ; Book Vault ; Merchandise ; Login; $0.00 (0 Items) View Cart. Meriwether Lewis was the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that was commissioned by President Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Territory. She started the Locust Hill Graveyard in 1810, probably on the hopes that she could have Meriwether's body re-interred there from Tennessee, and because her son-in-law Edmund Anderson and a neighbor died that year and needed to be buried. Here his heavy drinking persisted.[6]. He died on October 11, 1809, at the age of 35, under mysterious circumstances that have been the subject of much speculation and debate. 1,420 Sq. After Jane's death in 1845, her son, Dr. Meriwether Lewis Anderson, inherited Locust Hill. Two hundred years later, debate continues over whether the famous explorer committed suicide or was murdered. Lewis was a Freemason, initiated, passed, and raised in Door To Virtue Lodge No. Before he left St. Louis, Lewis had given several associates the power to distribute his possessions in the event of his death; while traveling, he composed a will. He and Clark had finished their expedition three years earlier; Lewis, who was by then a governor of the large swath of land that constituted the Upper Louisiana Territory, was on his way to Washington, D.C. to settle financial matters. - Meriwether Lewis was an honorable man before taking on his role as a significant explorer.-Before fame, he spent his childhood in Georgia hunting and spending most of his time outdoors. Letter Dated April 20 1803, Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, Locust Hill, Ivy, Albemarle County, Colony of Virginia, Grinder's Stand, Lewis, Tennessee, United States, Meriwether Lewis in Indian Dress (Shoshone), Jane Meriwether (Lewis) Anderson (1770-1845), Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meriwether-Lewis, http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/lewisandclark/biddle/biographies_html/lewis.html, Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Meriwether Lewis and His Son: The Claim of Joseph DeSomet Lewis and the Problem of History. Maybe there is an answer beneath the monument to help us understand, says James Holmberg, curator of Special Collections at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Ky., who has published work on Lewiss life and death. Help. She started the Locust Hill Graveyard in 1810, probably on the hopes that she could have Meriwether's body re-interred there from Tennessee, and because her son-in-law Edmund Anderson and a neighbor died that year and needed to be buried. He also initially made arrangements to publish the Corp of Discovery journals but for some unknown reason never hired an editor or provided any text for the promised publications.
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meriwether lewis descendants