An Ancestor I Admire; Mrs. Delilah Lewis

 The more I discover about my 3rd Great Grandmother Delilah Lewis, the more I come to admire her. I recently stumble across a news clip noting her death. She was “well known as a woman of more than ordinary intelligence and experience.”. She must have been an remarkable woman. According to a news article, Delilah was the oldest woman in Missouri at the time of her death on April 14, 1887 at age 113.

I first learned about Delilah from the 1880 Missouri census. Her name was Lillie Lewis, a widow. Her parents were from Kentucky. Lillie was listed living with William Washington (and Susan and family) in St. Joseph, Missouri: Her relation to Head of House was mother-in-la., Delila’h’s age 93 and birth year about 1787.

The postcard photo
The elderly lady seated on the right is believed to have been of Delila Lewis. In the middle 1970’s, I wondered, who were the people in the photo postcard with Delilah for years.. I would stare that the photo. I discovered that I resemble one of the ladies in the photo. Delilah’s granddaughter Anna Laura. Sh’e’s the older one behind her father William.

It was decades later when I came across Delilah on the 1870 Missouri census. Her residence was Post Office: Brownsville. Her was Delila Louis, age about 60, in Blackwater, Born about 1810. She was living with the Tivis family and two other elderly ladies.

I wondered if this Delila Louis was the one born in 1773. She turned out to be her.The year of births are different. The Tivis family moved to St. Joseph, Missouri as well.

The St. Joseph, Missouri newspaper recorded Delilah’s death with an unusual obituary.Whoever recorded the information listed Delilah’s former enslavers and her journey to Missouri in 1878. Delilah left us a paper trail. She lived about 22 years after being enslaved. She’s not forgotten. I came across a newspaper that reconized her death 30 years after she passed.

R. I. P. 3rd Great Grandmother Delila

Thanks for reading.
An Ancestor I Admire; Mrs. Delilah Lewis
She was on my material lineage: Delilah, Susan, Anna, Mary, Lula and me, the 6th generation.

God bless,
S. A. Blakley