was the daughter of Peter De Lancey, of Westchester, grand-daughter to Etienne De Lancey, a Huguenot nobleman, who came to America in 1686. Many women of this distinguished family married eminent men. Susan, daughter of Colonel Stephen De Lancey, married Lieutenant-Colonel William Johnson, and afterwards Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe, and was the beautiful Lady Lowe praised by Bonaparte. Charlotte married Sir David Dundas; another of the family, Sir William Draper. In later years, one of them became the wife of J. Fennimore Cooper. Alice married Ralph Izard, of Charleston, a gentleman of accomplishments and liberal fortune, in 1767. He took his bride to Europe, and lived in Paris some time; his family remaining abroad till peace was concluded. The old family residence, "The Elms," in South Carolina, was noted for their liberal hospitality. During the illness of her husband, Mrs. Izard managed his large estate and wrote his business letters, besides taking care of three families of children.*

* A fair relative of General Washington had a very remarkable experience. Born of wealthy parents, in Virginia, she was a widow at seventeen, living with her father, who had lost fortune and emigrated to Florida. His home was a log cabin with two rooms, in the unbroken solitude of a primeval forest. Colonel Gadsden was a neighbor, and often spoke of his friend-the Prince Achille Murat-exiled, with a price set on his head, living like a hermit on his plantation. He was introduced at length, and became enamored of the beautiful Kate. After some months she was married to the son of the Neapolitan monarch, the consent of his exiled family having been obtained. Madame Murat took the management of the plantation. In the Florida war Murat had the friendship of an Indian chief, who was accustomed to come at night, build a fire in his

dwelling, and stay till morning. "You and your squaw safe," he would say, when they trembled at the terrible deeds they witnessed. Twentyfive years after the marriage Murat died; but the princess continued to live on her Florida property, among her slaves; attending to the hospitals during the war, and selling her jewels to feed the destitute. Afterwards she visited England and France, and was received by the Emperor and Eugenie; returning to the gardens and fields of her beloved Southern home.

IX.

ABOUT 1779, Governor Caswell, of North Carolina, appointed Isaac Shelby lieutenant-colonel (Anthony Bledsoe being colonel) of the military company of Sullivan County. When Shelby returned from Kentucky, he became the affianced husband of Miss Susan Hart, a celebrated belle among the western settlements at that time. He took command, soon after, of the gallant volunteers who encountered the forces of Ferguson at King's Mountain, October 7, 1780, and, coming home crowned with the victor's wreath, found that his betrothed had gone with her brother to Kentucky, leaving for him no invitation to follow her. A lively little damsel was Sarah, the daughter of Colonel Bledsoe, and as the young officer spent much time at her father's, she often rallied him on his dejection at this cruel desertion. Shelby would reply by expressing resentment at the treatment he had received at the hands of the fair coquette, and protesting that he would not follow her, nor ask her of her father; he would wait for little Sarah Bledsoe, a far prettier bird than the one that had flown away. The flippant maiden, then some thirteen years old, would laughingly return his banter by saying, "he had better wait, indeed! and see if he could win Miss

Bledsoe, who could not win Miss Hart!" The arch damsel was not wholly in jest; for a youthful kinsman of the officer-David Shelby, a lad of seventeen or eighteen, who had fought by Isaac's side at King's Mountain-had already captivated her merry fancy. She remained true to this early love. The gallant

colonel, who had threatened infidelity to his, did actually, notwithstanding his protestations, go to Kentucky the following year, seek out Miss Susan Hart, and marry her. She made him a faithful and excellent wife.

"Little Sarah" Bledsoe married David Shelby in 1784, and had her home in the midst of the wilderness of Cumberland valley. Shelby established himself as the first merchant in Nashville, in 1790. He afterwards removed to Sumner County; maintaining a high and honorable position, and giving valuable aid in building up the new State, in which his wife took her part. Her history, indeed, would embrace that of Tennessee. The names of Bledsoe, Shelby, Sevier, Robertson, Buchanan, Rains, and Wilson, are conspicuous in the country's annals; and amid the toil and heroic deeds that have made them celebrated, no woman did her share more nobly than Mrs. Shelby. She lived to see the helpless colony increase to a goodly State; residing, for the last twenty years of her life, with her son, Dr. Shelby, at his beautiful country-seat, "Faderland," near Nashville. Here she received and conversed with all interested in the early history of that region, and daily

exhibited the beauty of an earnest "walk by faith." She died in 1852, aged eighty-six.

The wife of the first Governor of Tennessee-the lady of "Plum Grove"-is worthy of a record. Catherine Sherrill came with her father's family, in one of the pioneer parties, from the banks of Yadkin, North Carolina, across the rugged mountains, to seek new homes in the valley of the Watauga. Mr. Sherrill's residence was on the Nola Chucka, and known as "Daisy Fields." The station was attacked by the Indians in 1776; and among the flying women who were pursued by them was Miss Catherine Sherrill, whose family had removed for safety to the fort only the day before. The young lady was distinguished for courage and fleetness; it was said she could outrun and outleap any other woman; "could walk more erect, and ride more gracefully and skilfully than any other in all the mountains round about." On this occasion she did "run her best." Her figure was tall and straight, and her appearance was such as to attract the special notice and pursuit of the savages. They intercepted the direct path to the fort, and she was compelled to make a circuit, with a view of scaling the walls or palisades. At her first attempt, some one within the defenses tried to assist her; but his foot slipped, or the object on which he stood gave way, and both fell to the ground on opposite sides of the inclosure. The Indians were close at hand, and determined to capture the maiden. She said: "Their bullets and arrows came like hail: it was now leap the wall or die, for I would