Shade Lewallen

Shadrack (Shadrach) “Shade” Lewallen (about 1807-1862) was a Scott County resident who cast the county’s only vote for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election.

Biography

There’s much we don’t know about Shade Lewallen. However, what information is available indicates that he was born in North Carolina — perhaps Rutherford County — around 1807. His parents are unknown. He married Elizabeth “Betsy” Stepp (about 1808-1862), the daughter of James Stepp Jr. (1782-1857) and Dorothy Daugherty (1785-1855) of North Carolina.

Shade and Betsy moved from North Carolina to Huntsville about 1856, according to some records. The date of their move is unconfirmed, as they do not appear in the 1850 census. However, property transfers indicate that Shadrack Lewallen bonded with James S. Duncan on Nov. 11, 1856 to make title to Lots 5 and 25 in Huntsville. There’s also a record in May 1856 of Duncan and John Triplett selling Shadrack Lewallen 223 acres of property one-half mile from New River for $106. In March 1857, Lewallen sold Lot 25 in Huntsville to Calvin Smith for $55.

When the 1860 census was taken, Shade and Betsy were living in Huntsville. Their children included 18-year-old Elander, 16-year-old Mary, 14-year-old Elizabeth, 13-year-old William, and 6-month-old Nancy. There are references elsewhere to an older child named Fernando.

Old court records indicate that Shade and Betsy were arrested in Scott County in 1857 for running a “bawdy house” (brothel). Additionally, Betsy was arrested for larceny after allegedly stealing two bushels of corn.

Civil War

Lewallen apparently cast Scott County’s only vote for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election.

According to Jehu Phillips, an early Scott County elected official who wrote for the Cumberland Chronicle in 1904: “When Abe Lincoln ran for President in 1860 the people called him a black republican, and he received only one vote in Scott County. That vote was cast by Shade Lewallen who lived in Huntsville.”

Lincoln, the Republican nominee for president, was not on the ballot in Tennessee or in most other Southern states in 1860. At that time, ballots were printed by the major political parties themselves, and distributed by party operatives.

Scott Countians supported John Bell, the Constitutional Union Party candidate, by a narrow margin of Democrat John Breckinridge, the sitting vice president. In 1864, when Lincoln sought re-election, he carried Scott County, and the Republican nominee has won Scott County in every presidential election since.

Death

Both Shade Lewallen and his wife, Betsy, are believed to have died during a smallpox epidemic that swept through Huntsville in 1862. They were buried on their property, near where the Presbyterian church would later be built.

The location of the small family cemetery is no longer known. In March 1878, the land was sold to Alfred Gill. A notation in Scott County Deed Book K, Page 61 notes that William Lewallen and Mary Babb sold their interest “except the graves of our Parents & Sister & child.” In Book P, Page 261, William Sherman and Fernando Lewallen, “sons of James Lewallen,” sold their interest in the lot.

It is not clear what happened to the Lewallen children after their parents’ death in 1862. However, the deed books indicate that William and Mary were accounted for in 1878, when the property changed hands.

Mary Lewallen is found in the 1880 census, living in New River. Her marital status is listed as “widowed.” Living with her are N.O.A. Lewallen, age 20; Sarah E. Lewallen, age 16; Georgele Babb, age 5; William B. Babb, age 8 months; and Carlie D. Lewallen, age 1. Carlie is listed as a grandson; the rest are listed as her children. N.O.A. Lewallen appears to be Nancy Alice Lewallen, and this could be Mary’s sister, Nancy, who was 6 months old when the 1860 census was taken. Nancy Alice’s death certificate, when she died in 1944, states that her parents were Allen Cecil and Mary Lewallen. However, that does not disprove that Mary took in her sister after the death of her parents.

The notations in the deed transfer recorded in 1878 indicate that one of the Lewallen sisters — perhaps Elander or Elizabeth — was buried alongside Shade and Betsy. This would leave only the one not buried there unaccounted for in 1878. However, there’s no indication of what happened to the Lewallen siblings after that point.

Additionally, the 1878 deed transfer raises questions about whether Shade’s real name was James Lewallen. Neither Shadrack Lewallen nor James Lewallen appear in census records prior to 1860. There is no other mention of James Lewallen other than the 1878 deed transfer.