By Topic: Kira Gale

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

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Death of Meriwether Lewis book talk at Charlottesville

We launched our book tour for The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation at Virginia's oldest bookstore, the New Dominion Bookshop,in downtown Charlottesville. Charlottesville is Meriwether Lewis's hometown, as he was born a few miles outside of town at Locust Hill, his family's plantation, in Albemarle County. Co-author James E. Starrs and I had never met before this book talk. Thankfully, we had no trouble in sharing the presentation, and I think it made it more interesting. We gave another talk at Barnes & Noble bookstore at Baltimore's Inner Harbor a few days later.

PODCAST: Before I left Omaha to fly to Charlottesville I did an interview with radio host Coy Barefoot on Charlottesville--Right Now, a talk show on radio station WINA.To listen to the 19 minute interview, in which you will learn whom I think murdered Meriwether Lewis and why, click here.

I also met Howell Bowen, a Lewis family member, and collateral descendant, who grew up in his native Albemarle County hearing stories of "Uncle Meriwether." Howell and Tom McSwain are leaders of the Lewis family's efforts to have the remains of Meriwether Lewis exhumed in order to determine the cause of death. Starrs, an emeritus professor of forensic science and law at George Washington University, will lead the exhumation team if and when the National Park Service grants the family's request.

The family has launched a website, www.solvethemystery.org and our book has a website, www.deathofmeriwetherlewis.com  Join the mailing list to receive monthly email newsletters with Lewis and Clark news from around the country.

I have visited Charlottesville several times, but never had the opportunity to see the famous George Rogers Clark, Conqueror of the Old Northwest, statue. It turned out I could see it right across the street from my motel window at the Red Roof Inn. GRC, as he is called, was an older brother of William Clark. He won the Old Northwest Territory for the United States by capturing the British fort at Vincennes, Indiana. There is a massive memorial for him there.

Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and George Rogers Clark are all native sons of Albemarle County.

Posted by Kira Gale on 07/08/2009 at 02:53 PM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • James E. Starrs • Kira Gale • DEATH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS • GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Virginia • PEOPLE • George Rogers Clark • (0) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Monday, June 22, 2009

Death of Meriwether Lewis Book Expo of America podcast

James E. Starrs and Kira Gale, the co-authors of The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation were interviewed on a Book Expo of America podcast. To listen to the five minute podcast, click here.

Posted by Kira Gale on 06/22/2009 at 01:04 PM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • Book Expo of America • Kira Gale • DEATH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS • Podcasts • (0) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Friday, May 16, 2008

How I got started writing Lewis and Clark Road Trips

Years ago, in 1991, I acquired my first computer, a little MacIntosh with a 160 megabytes of memory. Now my computer has 465 gigabytes of memory. I can’t even do the math to compare it. That little computer was wonderful because it had copy, paste and delete functions and it could do images. I was in heaven! I decided to do a book of local history.  It was going to be called Exploring History in Omaha-Council Bluffs: from Prehistoric Times to 1854. It featured 50 places to visit that were related to the history of that time period, the time before Nebraska Territory was established. 

Even then I knew that Lewis and Clark were special and I gave them a chapter all of their own. My other chapters were prehistoric Indians, Indians, the fur trade, and the Mormon-Oregon-California historic trails. I identified 50 places to visit, and had lots of fun doing so, and even found a couple of lost trading posts (that is, lost to the present day historic record). I was inspired by serving as a tour guide for the national meeting of the Oregon-California Trails Association which was held in Omaha at that time. I think we all have a natural curiosity about learning “what happened here.” Dorothy Dustin and Charles Martin had created the tour guide scripts. I checked out their history, and they were right on target. I discovered that due to our location, Omaha and Council Bluffs had been a center of historic events of national importance, and that many famous people were associated with our history. 

Lewis and Clark Study Group

The years went by, and gradually my book was taking shape, but I could see that the Lewis and Clark bicentennial was going to happen. In 2001 decided to work on a national book project, and started the Lewis and Clark Study Group at the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs. My partner was Darrel Draper, who also needed to study the complete set of the modern journals of Lewis and Clark edited by Gary Moulton. Darrel went onto impersonate George Drouillard, and I went onto write Lewis and Clark Road Trips, with over 800 destinations around the country. 

Study Group is now in its eighth year.We are part of the Mouth of the Platte Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. I served as the first president of the chapter, and received the 2007 Meritorious Achievement Award of the national foundation last year. We meet weekly on Tuesdays from 9-11 during September through May, and during the summer we are touring the area. 

This photo is taken during our visit to the Glenwood, Iowa public library where we are examining books written by Donald Jackson, a native a Glenwood, and editor of the Letters of Lewis and Clark, among many other major publications. Jackson called the old Carnegie Library his own "personal Library of Congress."

The Glenwood earth lodge

We spent the day in Glenwood and also visited the Mills County Historical Museum and the Glenwood earth lodge, and dined at the Oasis cafe. It brought back many memories for me. The first attraction in the local history book project was going to be the reconstructed earth lodge at Glenwood, Iowa. I used to go over and visit with its builder, D. D. Davis, who had spent a lifetime roaming the Pony Creek area of the Loess Hills, acquiring prehistoric artifacts that are on display at the Mills County Historical Museum. D. D. told me that boy scouts had figured out the technique for building an authentic earth lodge—throw the mud to make the walls of the earth lodge! The earth lodge, which has a life span of 15-20 years, has since been rebuilt by Glenwood volunteers, and they are still using this technique.

To learn more, please visit the Study Group page of my website at http://www.lewisandclarkroadtrips.com.  We also took along our Lewis and Clark Buddy Bear, sometimes called Biddle. There are several bears out roaming the Lewis and Clark Trail and posing for photo ops. If you want to have your own bear, please contact me.

Posted by Kira Gale on 05/16/2008 at 11:24 AM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • Kira Gale • LEWIS AND CLARK ROAD TRIPS • GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Omaha-Council Bluffs • (0) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us