We’re pleased to invite the public to join us on Thursday, September 8, at 7 p.m. for a very special evening with Carol Wallace, Lew Wallace’s great-great-granddaughter! Carol has written more than twenty books, including most recently a historical novel, Leaving Van Gogh. She is the coauthor of the New York Times […]
Wallace family
Lew Wallace called two women mother in his life, and for Mother’s Day, we’d like to talk a little about both of them. Esther Test married David Wallace in 1824, and they had four sons: William, Lew, John, and Edward. Lew described her in his autobiography as a woman who […]
“The destiny of the whole race is comprised of four things: Religion, education, morals, politics. Woman is a religious being; she is becoming educated; she has a high code of morals; she will yet purify politics.” – from “Women’s Ballot a Necessity for the Permanence of Free Institutions” by Zerelda […]
While there have been six official residences for Indiana’s chief executive, only five have been occupied by a Hoosier Governor and the first two in Indianapolis had a checkered history. Indiana’s first official Governor’s Residence was located in Corydon, the first state capital. This home stood on a small rise […]
Off Wabash Avenue on the east side of Crawfordsville is Canby Avenue. It is one of the few local reminders of E.R.S. Canby, a local boy, friend of Lew Wallace, and one of Crawfordsville’s five Civil War generals. The Canby family settled in Crawfordsville in the 1830s and lived in […]
When Lew Wallace courted Susan Elston in the late 1840s and early 1850s, he was pursuing a daughter of one of the richest men in Indiana. By all accounts, Susan adored Lew and was thrilled by his attention. Her very business-like father, however, was not so enamored. Lew had something […]
Helping with the care and maintenance of the grounds of the Lew Wallace property by incoming freshmen at WabashCollege is not a recent phenomenon. These young men have been helping the museum for years and actually helped General and Mrs. Wallace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. […]
During a visit today from Nicholson Elementary second-graders, we showed a few artifacts relating to Lew Wallace’s occupation as an author. One object was a notebook Wallace used to jot notes, keep accounts, and draft correspondence. Below we have included images and transcriptions as we read them (General Wallace’s handwriting […]
This bit of Wallace family history is in honor of Veterans Day. Lew and Susan Wallace had one son, Henry. Henry and his wife, Margaret Noble Wallace, had two sons. Their eldest was named Lew Jr. and their second son was named William Noble. Both grandsons would have made their […]