Lucy Jefferson Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lucy Jefferson October 10, 1752 |
| Died | May 26, 1810 (aged 57) |
| Known for | Sister ofThomas Jefferson and wife ofCharles Lilburn Lewis |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 10, includingIsham Lewis,Lilburne Lewis |
| Parent(s) | Peter Jefferson Jane Randolph |
Lucy Lewis, née Jefferson (October 10, 1752 – May 26, 1810) was a younger sister ofUnited States PresidentThomas Jefferson and the wife ofCharles Lilburn Lewis.
Born inTuckahoe (plantation), she was the eighth ofPeter Jefferson andJane Randolph Jefferson's 10 children.[1][2] She was nine years younger than her brotherThomas Jefferson.[a] 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.
At age 16, Jefferson married her first cousin, Charles Lilburne Lewis, on September 12, 1769.[4] He was related toMeriwether Lewis, who would help lead theLewis and Clark Expedition.[5] The couple eventually had eight children: Randolph,Isham, Jane Jefferson,Lilburne, Mary Randolph, Lucy B., Martha, Ann (Nancy), and Elizabeth .[4][6]
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.[7]
Jane and Mary had married before 1806 and established their own households. The remainder of the Lewis family moved toLivingston County, Kentucky, in 1806 or 1808, following their grown sons Randolph and Lilburne and their families.[4] Charles and Lucy Lewis built a plantation called "Rocky Hill" near the present-day town ofSmithland. 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.[8]
In 1812, the year after Lucy and her son Randolph died, the brothers Lilburne and Isham Lewismurdered 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 secondNew Madrid earthquake. The brothers were arrested but received bail.[9] Before the trial, Lilburne urged Isham to join him in asuicide 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.[9]
Jefferson was related to the Lewis family by marriage, and from the time he first heard about Meriwether Lewis' death, he believed that the man had committed suicide as a result of an inherited tendency toward depression and mental disturbance. Subsequent events likely reinforced Jefferson's feelings, for at the time he wrote a sketch of Meriwether, the former president was reeling from the news of a scandalous murder committed by his nephews Lilburne and Isham Lewis.
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