There is a saying that behind every great man is a great woman. Lew Wallace would likely agree wholeheartedly with that statement. Even as a young man, before he was aware of Susan Elston, he pondered how his life would play out. Ever the romantic, Lew wrote: “I have always […]
Susan Wallace
10 posts
Although Susan Wallace traveled with her husband Lew quite a bit, she didn’t always enjoy the experience.
Susan Elston Wallace was one of the nine children born to Isaac & Maria Elston. One of her sisters was Helen Elston Blair, who built the Gothic Revival home at the corner of Wallace and Wabash in Crawfordsville. Helen had a niece named Rose Blair Marsh. Rose came to know […]
With Memorial Day weekend being a popular weekend for cookouts and picnics, we thought we would share some of Susan’s recipes. Methods of cooking may have changed over the years, but people still need to eat. Susan might have made one of these recipes when they celebrated Decoration Day in […]
The Angel of Grief by William Wetmore Story is one of the most evocative stone carvings of the late nineteenth century. It became so famous that the term has become synonymous with many grave stones erected in Story’s style. William Wetmore Story William Wetmore Story was born in 1819 in […]
We spend most of our time here talking about Lew, but Susan was also an accomplished individual. She published six books and numerous articles and poems. Several of her poems are about special occasions. She wrote this poem for Lew, and we thought it would be a good one to […]
This poem by Susan was written Christmas Eve, 1868, and published in the Crawfordsville Journal.Christmas Song for ChildrenOh, could I have my wish this Christmas night,Some fairy should fly through the cold starlight,And bear you away on her gentle breast,To gardens enchanted, where all that’s best,Sweetest, and best, from every […]
Lew’s wife Susan contributed several recipes to cookbooks over the years. This one is from the 1913 Sunshine Cookbook. Baltimore Sandwiches: 2 tablespoons of sugar 1 teaspoon of salt ½ pint of vinegar 2 large tablespoons of melted butter 2 teaspoons of mustard 2 large coffee cups of boiled ham minced […]
It took Lew Wallace almost 30 years to write and publish his first novel, The Fair God. He started working on it at about the age of 19 in the 1840s and published it in 1873 at age 46. After the success of his first book, it took him approximately […]
As a couple, Lew and Susan had a long and loving relationship. Married over 50 years, they had both a public and a private partnership that worked very well. In public, Lew acted as the leading partner, as might be expected in a Victorian marriage. In private, Major General Lew […]