ISBN 978-0275990114. He chose Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition, who in turn solicited the help of William Clark. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. As a young boy Meriwether enjoyed hunting in the woods . The US Navy Polaris nuclear submarine USS Lewis and Clark was named for him and William Clark. Due to his shy personality, Lewis never married. [4] Six months later, his mother married another Army officer, Captain John Marks (abt.1750-1800), who managed a 1,000 acre plantation about 10 miles from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. In 1795, he joined the regular U.S. Army, as a Lieutenant, where he served until 1801, at one point in the detachment of William Clark, who would later become his companion in the Corps of Discovery. Meriwether Lewis was involved in the westward expansion of the USA. With regards to her cooking, Thomas Jefferson reportedly remarked "Merriwether Lewis' mother made very nice hams-better than even Monticello could produce." His father fought in the Revolutionary War and died when Meriwether was only five years old. 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. In 1793, Lewis graduated from Liberty Hall (now Washington and Lee University), joined the Virginia militia, and in 1794 was sent as part of a detachment involved in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion. In the course of the journey, Lewis observed, collected, and described hundreds of plants and animal species previously unknown to science. She is reported to have notable culinary and intellectual skills as well. As governor, Meriwether was traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with officials when he died in 1809. . For one thing, with mitochondrial DNA samples hes already taken from several of Lewis female descendants, scientists can confirm that the body really is Lewiss (corpses were not uncommon on the Natchez Trace). Why is this image showing up as a background image ? Captain Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774, at the Lewis family estate, Locust Hill, in Albemarle County, Va. His family had many decorated soldiers, including his father, William Lewis, who served in the Continental Army as a lieutenant. Captain Meriwether LewisWilliam Clarks expedition partner on the Corps of Discoverys historic trek to the Pacific, Thomas Jeffersons confidante, governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory and all-around American herowas only 35 when he died of gunshot wounds sustained along a perilous Tennessee trail called Natchez Trace. A reenactment of Lewis' entry into Grinder's Stand was an official concluding event of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Virginia gentleman: Born in 1774, in Albemarle County, Virginia, Meriwether Lewis was the first child of Lucy Meriwether and William Lewis. On April 1, 1801, he was appointed as an aide by President Thomas Jefferson, whom he knew personally through Virginia society in Albemarle County. Lewis was born in Albermale County, Virginia on August 18, 1774, to Lt. William Lewis and Lucy Meriwether. (Davis, 1951). James Waddell, a blind parson, and Parson Matthew Maury. One of his traveling companions, who arrived later, buried him nearby. He attempted marriage but never followed through, and started drinking excessively, which negatively affected his relationship with Jefferson. When Jefferson began to formulate and to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. [2] 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." His father served in the Continental Army as a lieutenant and died of pneumonia in November 1779 while his mother was a famous herb doctor. [2] Their other children included Jane Meriwether (Lewis) Anderson (1770-1845), Reuben Lewis, and Lucinda Lewis (1772-) (who died as an infant). The original house burned down but it was rebuilt in the same style as the original. When Jefferson began to formulate and to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. And now Lewis, the consummate adventurer, suddenly found himself stuck in a desk job. He was also a second cousin once removed of Washington's on his father's side. 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. Ancestors of Meriwether Lewis Generation No. Interestingly, John Guice, one of the most prominent critics of the suicide theory, uses a very different astronaut comparison. Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark's Exp. Lewis, who had a better education, possessed a philosophical and speculative outlook and was at home with abstract ideas. 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. Please note: The ancestor reports on this website have been compiled from thousands of different sources, many over 100 years old. The 14 different profiles you use on Facebook all sound like royal linage societies, but anyone can see that is all the same person ,Janice Lynn Lewis, selling the same false narrative .please don't do that here. Several years after his biggest accomplishment, Lewis was dead. 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". 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Create a FREE Account. A day use campground at Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, north of Helena, Meriwether Picnic site. Marks raised Meriwether and his two siblings along with his own two children with Lucy, John Hastings Marks and Mary Garland (Marks) Moore (1787-1864). Reenactors who participated in the official bicentennial marched to Lewis' grave in period uniform accompanied by drum and fife. Even into old-age, she thought nothing of riding several miles to go treat an ill acquaintance. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Sr. (January 10, 1809 - October 28, 1881) was an architect, civil engineer, politician, and a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. But rather than feeling alienated, he would have been busy enjoying a level of Buzz Aldrin-like celebrity. John Lewis was grandfather to Richard Ashcraft and G-grandfather to Meriwether Lewis. Scholars have reconstructed lunar cycles to prove that the innkeepers wife couldnt have seen what she said she saw that moonless night. Item(s) successfully added to the cart! (Davis, 1951) In 1807, Jefferson appointed him governor of the Louisiana Territory; he settled in St. Louis. We could do the DNA to find out the color of his hair.. At thirteen, he was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. Lewis resided in the White House, and frequently conversed with various prominent figures in politics, the arts, and other circles. At some point in the night she heard multiple gunshots, and what she believed was someone asking for help. People want ownership of the story, and then they feel a part of it.. 111 on September 16, 1808. However the two men were quite different in education and temperament. Lewis was indeed like a man coming back from the moon, Guice notes. These sources are attached to each ancestor so that you can personally judge their reliability. What were his experiences? He later served as governor of Upper Louisiana Territory. While modern historians generally accept his death as a suicide, there is some debate. The Lewis and Clark families, along with representatives of St. Louis Lodge #1, past presidents of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, and the Daughters of the American Revolution carried wreaths and led a formal procession to Lewis' grave. Lewis served as the co-leader of the expedition with William Clark and is credited with mapping much of the western United States and helping to open up the West for American settlement. For many years, Lewis' legacy was overlooked, inaccurately assessed, and even tarnished by his alleged suicide. Thomas Jefferson recruited Lewis as his secretary-aide that same year and he soon became involved in the planning of the Corps of Discovery expedition across the Louisana Purchase. After he excused himself from dinner, he went to his bedroom. Meriwether Lewis Pedigree Chart | Meriwether Lewis | Ahnentafel No: 1 (4953) Master Surname Index Home > Meriwether Lewis Genealogy > Pedigree Chart Ancestry of Meriwether Lewis Lewis and Clark Expedition Look Click or tap a name to see more details including sources or famous kin. Parson Maury was a son of Charles Goodyear Maury who was Thomas Jefferson's teacher for two years. (804) 448-4664. Besides being the mother of the famed . $252,000 Last Sold Price. 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. The expedition took almost three years and solidified the United States claims to land across the continent, and acquainted the world with new species, new people, and new territory. In the early 1790s, Lewis briefly served as President Washington's personal secretary and manager of Mount Vernon. He registered for military service in 1861. In 1801, he was appointed as an aide by President Thomas Jefferson, whom he knew personally through Virginia society in Albemarle County. She returned to Albemarle for good, and Locust Hill became her property after Meriwether's mysterious death in 1809. Later in his life, he was a captain in the military and served as Jefferson's . He died in 1862, leaving the home to his children Charles and Mary Anderson. Explorer. Lewis resided in the presidential mansion, and frequently conversed with various prominent figures in politics, the arts and other circles. Meriwether Lewis's death has been a source of speculation for many years, often with the mistaken notion that "great men" do not take their own lives, and that suicide blights the memory of a great life. Servants found Lewis badly injured from multiple gunshot wounds. He was the second child and first son of William Lewis (abt.1738-1779) and Lucy Meriwether (1752-1837). IE 11 is not supported. 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. Lucy Meriwether gave birth to Jane Meriwether Anderson, Meriwether Lewis, Lucinda Lewis (who died in childhood) and Dr. Reuben Lewis while married to William Lewis and John Marks and Mary Garland Marks while married to Captain John Marks. Not so, says Sandra Hargrove, a member of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Descendant Certificate Project. Even at his early age he was interested in natural history, which would develop into a lifelong passion. The bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Pacific Ocean has spurred interest in the descendant project, which was launched in 1999. An error has occured while loading the map. Mrs. Grinder, the tavern-keeper's wife, claimed Lewis acted strangely the night before his death. After he retired for the evening, Mrs. Grinder continued to hear him talking to himself. There were five colonels in the RevolutionColonel Nicholas, Colonel Fielding, Colonel William, Colonel Charles and Colonel Joeland quite a number of majors and captains. The buffalo robe that he lay on was soaked with blood and Lewis was barely hanging on to life. The expedition started in St. Charles, Missouri. Meriwether Lewis After the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was made, Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land and the territory beyond the "great rock mountains" in the West. William Clark is known for his expedition to explore and discover the land west of the Mississippi River, the land that the United States brought from the French in 1803. Shaun proudly stood in front of his class at Candalaria Elementary School and offered a framed certificate to prove it. An American icon, Lewis was also a human being, and the expedition was the pinnacle of Lewiss life, Newman says. He was the second child and first son of William Lewis (abt.1738-1779) and Lucy Meriwether (1752-1837). He died shortly after sunrise. Despite warnings that they would all be drowned, the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition paddled toward the ferocious rapids. After returning from the expedition, Lewis received a reward of 1,600 acres of land. Certificates are awarded only to families proving their lineage to one of 33 members of the expedition that traveled the full distance from what is now North Dakota to the coast and back, including the Shoshone Indian woman Sacagawea and the black slave York. However, the two men were quite different in education and temperament. 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. Examples of plants Lewis discovered on the expedition were also brought from the Trail states and laid on his grave to honor him. [7], Meriwether needed someone else to help him lead the expedition. More Replies: Re: Meriwether Lewis/Woodson Connection. They had 9 children: Anne Eliza, Meriwether Lewis Anderson and 7 other children. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. Jane married Edmund Anderson in 1785, at age 14 at marriage place, Virginia. At home in Albemarle County, he pursued his studies with Dr. Charles Everitt, a physician, and then Rev. His opportunity for the graceful exit arrived when Jefferson asked Lewis to command an expedition to find an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, and study the land along that route. Ex-partner of Ikpsapewin "Winona" He had so much to live for, says Guice, professor emeritus of history at The University of Southern Mississippi and the editor ofBy His Own Hand? The Natchez Trace was the old pioneer road between Natchez, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. On August 11, 1806, near the end of the expedition, Lewis was shot in the left thigh by Pierre Cruzatte, a near-blind man under his command, while both were hunting for elk. The Meriwether Lewis Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation will host the event, called Courage UndauntedThe Final Journey., On June 4, 2009, collateral descendants of Lewis launched a Web site aimed at garnering public support for exhumation and scientific study of the explorer's remains to determineonce and for allthe cause of his death. (Thornton was the daughter of Francis Thornton and Mary Taliaferro). Lewis never married he killed himself in 1809, three years after the expedition ended so he has no known direct descendants. Whether Lewis committed suicide or was murdered remains a mystery to this day. No completely satisfactory explanation for his death has ever been found. 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. Lewis' descendants have asked the National Park Service to exhume the body for clues. Geni requires JavaScript! 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. When theres so much uncertainty and doubt, we must have more evidence. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen with a biography of Meriwether Lewis, 1813The explorer was buried near present day Hohenwald, Tennessee, near his place of death. Please try again. [5] 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. They said I could buy it at any store, Shaun said. )," and his mother's name as "Winona. Generation No. [7], At the time, Meriwether Lewis was described as a lean man of six feet in stature. In 1795 he joined the U.S. Army, as a Lieutenant, where he served until 1801, at one point in the detachment of William Clark, who would later become his companion in the Corps of Discovery. He commissioned this the Corps of Discovery Expedition . The year after his wife's death in 1820, Clark married Harriet Kennerly Radford, a widow with three children, and . [10] He was also a second cousin once removed of Washington's on his father's side. He was never married, but family legend shares that he courted Theodesia Burr, the daughter of Aaron Burr. Cookie Policy Jane Brereton , Richard Cotton, Blanche de BRIENNE , Guillaume de FIENNES, Isabel PERT , Robert CONYERS. [3], Meriwether's father, who served in the Continental Army, died from pneumonia after his horse fell into an icy stream in 1779.