Bogus Portrait Supplements Old 'Valley Manuscript' Hoax 'Fanny Fielding' Fiction Still Poses as Fact By Elizabeth C. Grasty Is it sporting to play a hoax on a lady long since departed from the land of the living? A hoax, after all, is a kind of prac- tical joke, and in all fairness it seems that the hoaxee should be in the game and able to answer back, or at least alive and aware of the liberty taken. Yet Mar- garet Lynn Lewis had been dead for ninety-six years when that anonymous contribution, entitled "The Valley Manuscript," ap- peared in the January, 1869, number of "The Land We Love," a North Carolina magazine. It was claimed that this story was a copy of the journal, or com- monplace book, of Margaret Lynn Lewis, the wife of Augusta County's first distinguished set- tler, John Lewis, and that she herself wrote it in her husband's tenantry book. Nobody, so far as can be discovered, has ever seen this tenantry book, or even a fragment of any such manuscript. Many of the librarians and others who are qualified by train- ing and experience to speak with authority on Colonial papers make no bones about labeling this journal, now generally re- ferred to as "The Commonplace Book of Margaret Lynn Lewis," as a spurious document. If asked to name its author, they usually reply, "Fanny Fielding." That in itself is a mild kind of hoax, for "Fanny Fielding" is merely a nom de plume, one used many years ago by a lady whose name was Mary Jane Stith Upshur. She, a descendant of William Stith, of Colonial fame, lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and married a Mr. Sturges, of New York. Her father was a lawyer in Accomac, and her uncle, Judge Abel P. Upshur, served as Secretary of State dur- ing a part of President Tyler's administration. Miss Upshur, who wrote both prose and verse, con- tributed to most of the literary magazines published in the South during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Fanny Field- ing was only one of her pen names--she used three others-- and sometimes her contributions were published anonymously. One of the latter ran serially in The Home Monthly, Nashville, Tenn., in 1867, under the title "Confed- erate Notes." Doubtless, Miss Upshur spent many happy hours in research on the Colonial period in the Valley of Virginia while she was writing Margaret Lynn Lewis's journal, and perhaps it was only her in- terest in the Lewis family which prompted her to make them the principal actors in stock inci- dents of pioneer life which ac- tually they never experienced. [Why?] she chose to publish this [obscured] anonymously, as an "original" [obscured] rather than under one of [obscured] pen names, as historical [obscured] may never be known. [obscured line] [obscured]...anted to start a tempest [in a?] teapot. If so, she accom- plished her purpose brilliantly for that small tempest is still raging after nearly 30 years. Twice Reprinted "The Commonplace Book of Margaret Lynn Lewis" has been reprinted at least twice in pamphlet form, once by Andrew Price (Times Book Company, Marlington, W. Va., no date), with a glowing introduction, and more recently by H. E. Van Gelder (Times-Register, Salem. Va., 1940). Mr. Van Gelder characterized the story as "a very good short historical novel . . . or . . . if you will . . . one of the cleverest pieces of forgery I know of." Mr. Price, on the other hand, leaped with agility over all historical and family in- accuracies, and proclaimed it au- thentic. There we have the two schools of thought: Mr. Van Gelder, viewing the work from the standpoint of an informed critic, and Mr. Price swallowing the whole thing, hook, line and sinker. Needless to say, the his- torians and experts on Colonial matters agree with Mr. Van Gelder, while the sentimental en- thusiasts crowd close upon Mr. Price's heels. Even now, when most intelligent people have am- ple facilities to investigate the facts, this faked document is read from time to time before the DAR and other patriotic and his- torical societies. If one takes the trouble to check the dates of historical events against the date of Mar- garet Lynn Lewis's death, it be- comes at once apparent that Mar- garet Lynn could not have writ- ten certain paragraphs in the journal attributed to her. There- fore, if she left any journal (which is exceedingly doubtful) the original has been tampered with to such an extent as to ren- der it worthless as source ma- terial. Facts Are Few There are surprisingly few authenticated facts regarding the life of Margaret Lynn Lewis, other than the date of her birth in Scotland, in 1693, and the date of her death in Virginia, in 1773. She [obscured] daughter of the Laird of [obscured] Lynn, and she married [obscured] gentleman [obscured] John Lewis [obscured] County, Ire[... obscured] a number of years [obscured] marriage they lived on John Lewis's lease- hold in Donegal, and there all of their children, with the ex- ception of the youngest son, Charles, were born. Then came trouble--John Lewis "slew the Irish lord," a statement, believe it or not, recorded on his tomb- stone, and fled to America. If ever a man was justified in kill- ing, that man was John Lewis, for the Irish lord attacked his house, killed John's brother and wounded Margaret Lynn. When a full investigation was made, Lewis was pardoned and also granted a considerable tract of land in the Valley of Virginia. But John Lewis had not waited in Ireland for the slow turning of the wheel of justice. He was accompanied to America by a number of his former tenants, and lived for a year in Lancaster County, Pa., until Margaret Lynn and the children could join him. Then the reunited family traveled down to the Shenandoah Valley, and in 1732 John Lewis built his stone house, which was also his fort, and became the first settler in what is now Augusta County. He chose a charming location on a stream, known later as Lewis's Creek, near the famous twin hills, Betsy Bell and Mary Gray. At that time there was little or no trouble with the Indians, and we can hope that Margaret Lynn, whose only neighbors were far distant in this wild, strange land, could feel reasonably safe at home with the children, although her husband was frequently far away on surveying expeditions. When Augusta County was cut off from Orange, John Lewis was appointed county surveyor, and he founded the town of Staun- ton. Margaret Lynn had neigh- bors now, and John Lewis pros- pered. Five Children And what of Margaret Lynn during these years? "Unfortu- nately," quoting from one of her distinguished descendants, the late Judge Lunsford L. Lewis,* "in regard to the ordinary domes- tic affairs of the family, there is a dearth of information." We may assume that this well-known lady of Scotland learned to bear gracefully the responsibilties and [obscured]ties that were the ac- [obscured] of every pioneer wife [obscured] According to family records she lost a young daugh- ter, Anne, soon after their ar- rival in America. We know that she had the satisfaction of seeing her four sons, Thomas, Andrew, William and Charles, and her daughter, Margaret, grow up and marry, and that many grandchil- dren cheered her later years. Her sons were tall, handsome men, wise in the ways ot the wilder- ness, men of character and abil- ity, always ready to serve their country in peace or in war. When Braddock's defeat signaled the end of peaceful relations with the Indians, they were quick to enlist for border warfare. All of them, except Thomas, whose eye- sight was too poor for a marks- man, became renowned warriors. In those days bands of painted savages slunk out of the forest to burn outlying homes, destroy stock and crops and to scalp un- protected settlers. Tradition says that one of those bands sur- rounded the Lewis's stone house in an attack that lasted for six hours. John Lewis, now an old man, shot through the window from the guns that Margaret Lynn loaded and handed to him. When he had killed 40 Indians, the others withdrew. This, oddly enough, is a story which Miss Upshur somehow overlooked. It is important to remember that Margaret Lynn Lewis died in the year 1773. The Battle of Point Pleasant was fought the next year, 1774, resulting in a glorious victory for General An- drew Lewis over Chief Cornstalk. Andrew was Margaret Lynn's second son; her youngest son was also in that battle, Colonel Charles Lewis, who was killed at the head of his regiment. Andrew [obscured line] Lynn's third son, later served with distinction in the Revolu- tion. Up Pops Anachronism Margaret Lynn died, re- member, in 1773, so obvi- ously she could not have com- mented on any of these stirring events, but she is made to do so in that spurious commonplace book which Miss Upshur wrote for her. She is also made to refer to another incident, one that oc- curred near the close of the Revolution, eight years after her own death. In 1781, after the Tarleton raid on Charlottesville, the seat of Virginia's government was moved to Staunton, and it was thought necessary to send troops to forestall the British if they attempted to cross the mountains at Rockfish Gap. Most of the able-bodied men were al- ready in the Army, and it was difficult to raise a company. In that critical moment, William Lewis's wife, whose maiden name was Anne Montgomery, sent her three youngest sons, the older ones being already in the Army, to protect Augusta County, and thereby won the praise of Gen- eral Washington for her noble spirit. It all happened, just as stated in "The Commonplace Book of Margaret Lynn Lewis," but that good lady, having been in her grave for some years, could not have recorded it. Turning now to more intimate family matters, it is incredible that Margaret Lynn would have mentioned a grandson who never existed. Her son, Thomas, had no child named Edward, yet there is a story about this child in her journal--the one she did not write. Also, it is extremely unlikely that the Lewis children ever played with Indian children --that is another thing that fails to run true in reading the so- called journal. Actually, it seems impertinent that a minor Indian chief asked for John Lewis's daughter as a squaw for his son! It could be that Miss Upshur, a Tidewater aristocrat under the spell of the Pocahontas romance, thought that such things were done in the best families in the Valley. This is hardly a parallel case, and it is extremely doubtful if Margaret Lynn herself could have considered it without anger. Had that lady written the journal attributed to her, would she have called her daughter "Alice," when the child was her own namesake, Margaret? As to this, and also that remarkable kidnaping story, Judge Lunsford Lewis comments as follows: "No one knew better than Margaret Lynn that she never had a daughter named Alice; that her only [living] daughter was named Margaret, and that Mar- garet was never abducted by In- dians. . . Moreover, if a daugh- ter of John Lewis had been ab- ducted by Indians, the fact would have been as well known to the world as the fact of his settling in Augusta, or any other fact recorded in the history of the settlement. No such occurence is mentioned by the historians, for the good reason that they never heard of such a thing."* The worthy judge was of the opinion that the "Commonplace Book of Margaret Lynn Lewis" was not written for publication; he said it was charitable to sup- pose that the author was merely trying "his hand" on a pretty story, and "is not (or was not) responsible for its publication as a genuine paper." He was confi- dent that any genuine journal kept by Margaret Lynn would have been turned over to one of her own children, and preserved by the family. This, he says, "is pure fiction; its spuriousness is apparent on its face, yet very many persons have been deceived by it."* The Portrait Hoax What would Margaret Lynn Lewis herself say about the boax of the commonplace book? Would she be indifferent, angy, or amused by all the rumpus? So little is known about her as an individual that only a very bold person could hazard a quess. Let us hope that she possessed a sense of humor, useful in case one is hoaxed. Poor Margaret Lynn was twice hoaxed--the sec- ond one may be called the hoax of the portrait. That started innocently enough, as a sort of spur of the moment measure of defense against per- sistent chatter about ancestors. A bored hostess pointed to a fancy picture of a nineteenth century French lady, in court costume, wearing a coquettish curl on her shoulder, and said jokingly, "That's Margaret Lynn Lewis! Did you know I owned the only portrait of your ances- tor?" A stunned silence greeted this sally of wit, soon followed by Oh's and Ah's of delight, but the statement was accepted at face value. A photographer was called in, and in time photographs of the picture were distributed far and wide; and now it is any- body's guess as to how many thoughtless people point with pride to this alien picture, and claim that it is none other than Margaret Lynn Lewis. That French face was never hers; that dress was not designed until long after she was dead; and what pioneer woman ever had time to bother with a tricky hair-do! Of course, while she lived in Done- gal, Margaret Lynn had ample time and means for elaborate grooming, but, being an eight- eenth century lady, she could hardly have followed nineteenth century styles. Margaret Lynn Lewis, the first lady of Augusta, has indeed been shabbily treated. She, the wife of a pioneer and the mother of Virginia heroes, deserves something better of posterity than a faked journal and a phony portrait. *pp 12-13, A BRIEF NAR- RATIVE, written for his grandchildren, by Lunsford L. Lewis, Richmond, Richmond Press, Inc., Printers, 1915. - The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Sunday, February 15, 1948; Page D-5.