In large measure, we have Isaac Elston to thank for the creation of Lew Wallace’s Study. Isaac was Lew’s father-in-law and Lew and Susan Wallace inherited about 5 acres from her father along Wabash Avenue in the 1860s. Isaac Elston (1794-1867) was born in New Jersey and began his life […]
People Lew Knew
25 posts
“I resolved to give up the dream. Still it haunts me. At this day even, I cannot look at a great picture without envying its creator the delight he must have had the while it was in evolution.” This quote from Lew Wallace conveys his appreciation for the arts and the […]
Over the years, there have been questions as to whether or not Lew Wallace and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) ever crossed paths. There is anecdotal information that perhaps they did, but no clear and definitive proof. In 2002, a message was left on our museum answering machine from a fellow […]
Edward Allen Hannegan was one of the most prominent and charismatic politicians in Indiana from the 1830s through the 1850s. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1807 and moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky as an infant with his family. He was admitted to the bar in 1827 after […]
One of the great Hoosier authors of the early 20th century was Gene Stratton-Porter. Her literary career began its ascent at the turn of the century and continued until her death in 1924 when her limousine was hit by a streetcar in Los Angeles. Always a trailblazer, she had moved to […]
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Viscount of Clandeboye, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC. A long name and list of titles for a man who met, worked with, and liked a fellow with a short name—Lew Wallace. Lew Wallace met and impressed Lord Dufferin during their shared […]
James Whitcomb Riley was born in 1849 in Greenfield, Indiana, to Reubin A. and Elizabeth Riley. Like Lew, Riley disliked school but loved to read; he left school at age sixteen. He read law with his father for a time, but apparently had little inclination or talent for it, and […]
Lane Place holds a secure spot in the history of Crawfordsville because of its association with Henry Lane and his wife Joanna Elston Lane. For Lew Wallace and Susan Elston it held a special place in their hearts because it was where they first really came to know each other […]
For Presidents Day, we thought we would talk about some of the US Presidents Lew knew during his life. Former curator Joann Spragg was once asked about the Presidents that General Wallace knew—beginning with William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, she began listing them. Wallace probably knew (and had opinions about) […]
In 1876, Lew was on a train headed for a reunion of Union soldiers. Also on the train was Robert Ingersoll, a noted agnostic. During the trip, the two men began a conversation on the divinity of Christ and other religious issues. In his efforts to sway Lew with his […]