Lucy Lewis, née Jefferson (October 10, 1752 – May 26, 1810) was a younger sister of
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
and the wife of
Charles Lilburn Lewis.
Early life and education
Born in
Tuckahoe (plantation), she was the eighth of
Peter Jefferson and
Jane Randolph Jefferson's 10 children.
She was nine years younger than her brother
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
. She was born into an elite planter family and would have been educated at home by her mother, together with her sisters. Their father died when they were young.
Marriage and family
At age 16, Jefferson married her first cousin, Charles Lilburne Lewis, on September 12, 1769.
He was related to
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, 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 ...
, who would help lead the
Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The couple eventually had eight children: Randolph,
Isham, Jane Jefferson,
Lilburne, Mary Randolph, Lucy B., Martha, Ann (Nancy), and Elizabeth .
Her brother, Thomas Jefferson, did not seem to be close to Lucy after her marriage. He was not close to the men in the Lewis family and disliked Charles Lewis' sister, Elizabeth Henderson.
Jane and Mary had married before 1806 and established their own households. The remainder of the Lewis family moved to
Livingston County, Kentucky, in 1806 or 1808, following their grown sons Randolph and Lilburne and their families.
Charles and Lucy Lewis built a plantation called "Rocky Hill" near the present-day town of
Smithland. Lucy's older brother Thomas Jefferson took an interest in the education of her sons, and encouraged them in their studies.
Lucy Jefferson Lewis died in 1810. She was buried on the grounds of the Rocky Hill plantation, but the gravesite has been lost. The estate is now in ruins.
In 1812, the year after Lucy and her son Randolph died, the brothers Lilburne and Isham Lewis
murdered a slave named George. The men tried to hide the youth's remains, but his skull was revealed by the collapse of a chimney during the second
New Madrid earthquake. The brothers were arrested but received bail.
[Stewart, David, and Knox, Ray, ''The Earthquake America Forgot''](_blank)
Marble Hill, Missouri: Gutenberg-Richter Publications, 1995, pp. 25–31 Before the trial, Lilburne urged Isham to join him in a
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
pact, but died almost by accident while preparing, and Isham did not go through with it. Held as an accessory in his brother's suicide while it was investigated, Isham escaped from jail and disappeared. The murder of the slave and suicide by Lilburne brought the entire family into disrepute.
Commemoration
*In Livingston County, a monument honoring Lucy Jefferson Lewis was erected by the
Daughters of the American Revolution at the intersection of
U.S. Route 60 and
Kentucky Route 137.
*A few miles south of the monument, a bridge named in her honor, the Lucy Jefferson Lewis Memorial Bridge, spans the
Cumberland River on U.S. Route 60 at Smithland.
*An obelisk in her memory was placed in the Rocky Hill Cemetery by the local chapter of the DAR, which was named for her.
See also
*
Ancestry of Thomas Jefferson (also Lucy's ancestors)
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Lucy Jefferson
1752 births
1810 deaths
American people of English descent
American people of Welsh descent
Jefferson family
Randolph family (Virginia)
People from Albemarle County, Virginia
People from Livingston County, Kentucky