Susan Elizabeth Elmore

Susan Elizabeth Elmore

• Father: John Archer Elmore b. 21 August 1762, d. 24 April 1834
• Mother: Mary Ann Martin b. 7 August 1786, d. 17 November 1855

• Susan Elizabeth Elmore was born on 23 December 1805 in South Carolina.
• She married Dixon Hall Lewis, son of Francis Lewis and Mary Dixon Hall, on 11 March 1823 in Autauga County, Alabama, and Dixon's brother Hamlin married Susan's sister Mary.
• Susan Elizabeth Elmore became a widow at the 25 October 1848 death of her husband Dixon Hall Lewis.
• Susan Elizabeth Elmore appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Pine Flat, Dallas County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Francis Maxey Lewis, Dixon Hall Lewis Jr. and William Henry Lewis.
• The following appeared on 30 December 1852 in The Democrat (Huntsville, Alabama); FROM TEXAS: -- By the steamship Perseverance, Capt. Forbes, we have our Texas exchanges. Galveston dates are to the 10th instant.
       Mr. Dean, of Galveston, has received information of the arrival in Polk County, of some families from Alabama who have been severely attacked with cholera. The heads of the families are Hamiln F. Lewis, brother of Dixon H. Lewis; Robert Scott, brother-in-law [sic] of Hamlin H. Lewis; John E. Scott, nephew of Robert Scott, and Mr. Snow, all from Lowndes county, Alabama, together with the negroes of the widow of Dixon H. Lewis - the negroes in all numbering some 300 or 400. A letter to Mr. Dean, dated Cold Springs, December 2nd, says: "One of the Alabama company, Mr. Snow has died of cholera, together with eight or ten of his negroes." Mr. Dean was also informed, from other sources, that Mr. Hamiln H. Lewis, Mr. Robert Scott, and Mr. John E. Scott have also died of the same disease, together with some 40 or 50 negroes, belonging to Mr. Hamlin H. Lewis, Mrs. Dixon H. Lewis and Mr. Scott.
• On Sunday, 17 August 1856, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Mrs. Lewis and her granddaughter [likely Eliza Elliot "Ella" Scott] returned home."
• Laura Ann Lewis appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas. Other members of the household included Susan Elizabeth Elmore, Eliza Elliott Scott, Clariinda Vernon Scott, John Archer Scott, Robert Lindsey Scott Jr. and William Henry Lewis.
• Dixon Hall Lewis Jr. and Sarah Ann Hill appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Lynchburg PO, Harris County, Texas, and three domestic servants.. Other members of the household included Susan Elizabeth Elmore, Hamlin F. Lewis, John Hill Lewis, Sarah Elmore Lewis and Mary Hill Lewis.
• Lorenzo Clarke Fisher and Eliza Elliott Scott appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Galveston, Texas, at 364 Post Office Street. Other members of the household included Susan Elizabeth Lewis, Laura Lewis Fisher, Ella Scott Fisher, Lucy Campbell Fisher and Laura Ann Lewis. Also in the household were two domestic servants.
• Susan Elizabeth Elmore died on 16 May 1889 at age 83 in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas.
• She was interred at Waverly Cemetery, Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas.
• The following appeared on 29 May 1889 in the Montgomery Advertiser: Mrs. Susan E. Lewis died at the home of her son Capt. D. H. Lewis in Waverly, Texas, on the 16th instant in the 84th year of her age. The following interesting sketch of her life is from the Galveston News:
       Mrs. Lewis was the daughter of General Elmore of South Carolina, a Revolutionary Soldier. Her brother, Franklin Elmore, succeeded John C. Calhoun in the United States Senate after the latter's death, but only survived that illustrious statesman a few months. Her brother John A. Elmore was a most distinguished lawyer at the Montgomery, Ala. Bar. Another brother, William A. Elmore, was Supt. of the New Orleans Mint during Mr. Buchanan's administration. Her eldest sister married Benjamin Fitzpatrick, who was three times Governor of Alabama and was United States Senator from that state at the time of the Secession.
       Deceased was the widow of Dixon H. Lewis, a distinguished member of the United States Senate from Alabama, and chairman of the Finance Committee of that body at the time of his death, which occurred in New York.
       Perhaps no woman in modern times has seen more of life in all of its vicissitudes or known intimately more distinguished people then Mrs. Lewis. Her husband was the intimate and trusted friend of John C. Calhoun and James K. Polk and a contemporary of Webster, Clay, Benton, Cameron, and Lincoln.
       During the entire life of her husband, which extended for a period of twenty-seven years, she was his trusted counselor and friend. She never saw him or his party defeated in all of this stormy period, beginning with Nullification and ending with the annexation of Texas, the close of the Mexican War and the adding of the Pacific Slope to the National Union. During her residence at Washington, she was a friend of Mrs. Polk, who still survives her. In 1854 she moved from Alabama to Texas with her only surviving daughter, Mrs. Laura A. Scott, and her two sons, F. M. and D. H. Lewis. During the War Between the States, her younger brother, Col. H. M. Elmore commanded a Texan Regiment on the Southern side, and her three sons all enlisted for the war in the same cause. The one was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness, the other two still live.
       The life of this woman was spent in unostentatious deeds of good. She was always wise, modest, discreet, and her death was as her life. Like Caesar, she had always desired a speedy death rather than lingering tortures of disease, and her wishes were granted by nature. In the full possession of all her faculties at the ripe age of 84, death called, and found her prepared and ready to join the innumerable throngs of saints, heroes and martyrs who had gone before. Her life was noble - her death accorded with her life.

• Last Edited: 25 Aug 2014