Susan Wallace
| Susan Wallace | |
|---|---|
c. 1860
|
|
| Born | Susan Arnold Elston December 25, 1830 Crawfordsville, Indiana |
| Died |
October 1, 1907 (aged 76) Crawfordsville, Indiana |
| Occupation | Writer, editor |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1858–1906 |
| Notable works | "The Patter of Little Feet" |
| Spouse |
Lew Wallace (1852–1905; his death) |
| Children | Henry Lane Wallace |
Susan Arnold Elston Wallace (December 25, 1830 – October 1, 1907) was an American author and poet from Crawfordsville, Indiana. In addition to writing travel articles for several American magazines and newspapers, Wallace published six books, five of which contain collected essays from her travels in the New Mexico Territory, Europe, and the Middle East in the 1880s: The Land of the Pueblos (1888), The Storied Sea (1883), The Repose in Egypt: A Medley (1888), Along the Bosphorus, and Other Sketches (1898), and The City of the King: What the Child Jesus Saw and Heard (1903). She was also the wife of Lew Wallace, a lawyer, American Civil War general, politician, and diplomat. Susan completed the manuscript of Lew Wallace's two-volume autobiography following his death in 1905, with the assistance of Mary Hannah Krout, another Crawfordsville author. Wallace died in Crawfordsville in 1907.
Susan Arnold Elston was born on December 25, 1830 in Crawfordsville, Indiana. She was the third daughter, the fourth of nine children, born to wealthy and influential parents, Isaac Compton, a Crawfordsville dry goods merchant, and Maria Eveline (Akin) Elston, whose family were Quakers from upstate New York. Susan was educated at home in Crawfordsville and at Dr. Gibbons' Friends' Boarding School in Poughkeepsie, New York. While at boarding school, she studied literature, geometry, and writing, but preferred music, especially playing guitar and piano.
Susan married Lew Wallace on May 6, 1852. The couple first met in 1848 at the home of Joanna and Henry Smith Lane in Crawfordsville. Joanna was Susan's older sister; Lane was Wallace’s former military commander during the Mexican War and became one of his closest associates. At the time of their courtship, Wallace was a prosecuting attorney in Covington, Indiana. His earlier reputation for getting into trouble caused Susan's father to disapprove of him initially, but the courtship continued. Susan accepted Wallace's marriage proposal in 1849. Three years after their first meeting, the couple were married at the Elston family home in Crawfordsville. Late in life she still described him as "my first, last, and only love."
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