By Topic: Thomas Jefferson

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks Exhibit at Jefferson Library

I visited Charlottesville in late May, 2009 to give a book talk on our new book, The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation, which I co-authored with James E. Starrs. While there, I had the pleasure of meeting Lewis family members, Howell Lewis Bowen and his wife Janice. They took me to visit the Jefferson Library near Monticello to see an exhibit on the life of Meriwether Lewis’s mother, Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks, Virginia Planter and Doctoress (1752-1837). Howell is a five times great grandson of Lucy Marks. Lewis family members have launched a website, www.solvethemystery.org asking for an exhumation of Lewis’s remains to determine the cause of death and provide for a Christian reburial. Our book also has a website, www.deathofmeriwetherlewis.com  In this book I discuss “The Case for Murder” and present my theories as to who did it and why. But this blog is about Lucy Marks, who had another theory.

Lucy Marks always believed that her son Meriwether was murdered, and she suspected that Lewis’s servant, John Pernier, who brought her the news, was the murderer. In this she was undoubtedly wrong, but what excited her suspicion is unknown. Pernier was present at the death scene, but supposedly (according to the report of Indian Agent James Neely) did not hear the two gun shots. He and Neely’s servant were sleeping in the stable loft and had to be awakened by Mrs. Grinder, the tavern keeper. Neely adds that both servants came in  “too late to save him.”
Pernier also brought the news to Presidents Jefferson and Madison. Pernier,  a free mulatto of mixed French and African descent, had been a servant in the Jefferson White House. He went with Lewis to St. Louis as his personal valet, and was still owed $271.50 in back pay after Lewis’s death.While he was in Washington D. C. attempting to get his pay, he met an untimely death on May 1, 1810. Though “wretchedly poor an destitute” he had obtained a quantity of laudanum (tincture of opium) and died of an overdose. The circumstances surrounding his death are certainly suspicious.
The Jefferson Library has over 10,000 books and other materials in its collection. The exhibit was handsomely mounted and featured two portraits of Lucy Marks, one painted from life by John Toole, and the other by a contemporary artist, Janet Brome. She did a lot of research in creating this painting, even learning how to use paints made from plant dyes. I thought the portrait was quite lovely.  The exhibit also features many  botanical drawings by contemporary artists. Altogether, it was a fine exhibit in an absolutely beautiful library. To see the paintings featured in the exhibit, in nice detail, visit the Jefferson Library website www.monticello.org/library, where there is a link to the online exhibit. The website has many interesting links and features.


  The Jefferson Library near Monticello

Interior of the Jefferson Library

Lucy Marks by Janet Brome

Lucy Marks by John Toole

Posted by Kira Gale on 07/09/2009 at 01:48 PM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • Kira Gale • DEATH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS • Murder theory • PEOPLE • Meriwether Lewis • Thomas Jefferson • (1) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Monday, June 22, 2009

Was Meriwether Lewis at the Aaron Burr treason trial?

A reader of my blog, Earl Weidner, has raised a couple of interesting questions. The blog in question is “Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 2.” Weidner asks if there is any definitive evidence that Lewis attended the Burr trial?—a question that has plagued historians for years. It was sometimes stated that he did (Stephen Ambrose and Richard Dillon both said this), but no source for the information was provided. Thomas Danisi, the co-author of a new biography Meriwether Lewis has found confirmation and cited his source. It is a letter from General James Wilkinson to President Thomas Jefferson, dated September 15, 1807.
It begins: ” Sir: I did intend to transmit you a copy of Capt Pikes report by Governor Lewis, but have been too occupied to fulfill my purpose—I shall have the honor to hand it to you in person at the seat of government.” Danisi is to be congratulated for doing the obvious and researching Wilkinson’s letters to Jefferson, which may be seen online at the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson papers website.
Another question Weidner raises is whether Lewis’s relationship with Jefferson cooled because of attending the trial and discovering that Jefferson “wasn’t exactly the man Lewis thought he was.” I don’t think so. Lewis understood more than anyone the dynamics of Jefferson, Wilkinson, Burr and the possible establishment of a second country west of the Mississippi. His first assignment from Jefferson was to root out suspected Burrites from positions of power and influence in Louisiana Territory. I think the lack of letters from Lewis to Jefferson in 1808-09 may actually reflect sabotage and interference from his enemies—that he wrote some letters, but Jefferson didn’t receive them. He wrote in one of his last letters (to Secretary of War William Eustis, dated August 18, 1809) that “I have reason to believe that sundry of my letters have been lost, as there remain several important Subjects on which I have not yet received an Answer.” Another reason for Lewis to go to Washington and deal with matters face to face.

Posted by Kira Gale on 06/22/2009 at 03:15 PM

PEOPLE • James Wilkinson • Meriwether Lewis • Thomas Jefferson • (1) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us