The Ann Hendershot Mystery, Part 2
by Christian Crouch, Assistant Curator
Where Susan Allen went missing in New York City
A LOST CHILD. —In August 1822, a little girl named Susan Allen, at that time between seven and eight years of age, disappeared from her mother's residence, at the corner of Amos and Washington streets, and has never been heard of since…She had dark brown hair, and large black eyes, was of a slender and delicate form, and of a fair complexion. She had a mark on the small of her back resembling a bunch of raisins, and a small scar under one of her cheek bones, where the skin adhered to the bone. The mother, Rebecca Allen, offers a reward of one hundred dollars for any information which may lead to a discovery of her daughter…
After the ordeal of the Barnes family had come to pass, the citizens of Lynchburg decided to take up an offering for the beaten and battered Eliza Ann Hendershot. The exact amount of money raised by the town is never mentioned, however by all accounts the sum was large enough to risk one’s reputation over. Once the monetary collection was raised, the next step was to find the parent or parents of the poor, displaced child.
There is no real reason given on why Eliza’s parentage fell into question. Mr. Barnes had a complete recollection of his acquisition of the child, even stating the name of the father and of the judge who transferred parentage of Eliza. He freely recounted his story to the press in Sag Harbor, New York which states:
The child that has caused me so much excitement in this place [Lynchburg], was bound to me in Buffalo in March 1827, by her proper father, William T. Hendershot, who…lives there now and is well-known there, and also the child in question, by Judge Bennett…and I would mention a hundred persons who have known the family, and the child perhaps from its birth.
Even though Mr.Barnes gave a detailed and exact account of where and how Eliza was bound to him, his possibly truthful testimony was completely overshadowed by his sullied reputation. Perhaps in an effort to be thorough, some in town sought out their own truth despite Mr. Barnes; shortly thereafter they discovered the ad for a missing Susan Allen from New York City. This seven year old ad would become the spark leading to a fire of misguided compassion on behalf of the citizens of Lynchburg.
View of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Lynchburg
William Asbury Christian writes that, upon questioning, Ann had “an indistinct recollection of having been called Susan” at some point in her early life. Many in town believed this was proof as to the real origins of the mysterious girl - even if that evidence was scant at best and relied on a fractured and traumatic memory. A fire was now lit to reunite mother and daughter. Some citizens gathered the attention of Ms. Rebecca Allen, the mother to the missing Susan, who had originally posted the ad. Her long-lost daughter had finally been found in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Having been down this road before, Mrs. Allen was not totally convinced of the authenticity of this new girl. Given the unusual physical features detailed in the ad, including grape-shaped birthmarks and specific eye-coloring, it would be difficult to mistake another child for Susan. Sure enough, when Mrs. Allen arrived on August 15, 1829, she “coldly looked upon the child and said she was older than her child and quite different in appearance.” Lynchburg heaved a collective sigh of disappointment.
Sometime between her rejection of Eliza and that next morning however, Mrs. Allen discovered the bounty of money given in honor of Eliza for her multitude torments. Ms. Allen had an overnight reversal in opinion, publicly rescinding her original judgement of Eliza and stated with much grandeur, “Susan Allen, my long-lost, vainly sought, dearly-loved child, embrace your mother, for the voice of nature in my heart assures me that that is your sacred relationship to me!”
Packet boats on the canal near Lynchburg, circa late 19th century
The townsfolk were overjoyed they had reunited a long-lost mother and in 1830, when Mrs. Allen and Eliza decided to leave, the town provided free boat passage for mother and daughter all the way from Lynchburg to New York. The mayor of Lynchburg, Elijah Fletcher, and a small band of musicians followed them up the river for almost a mile to see them off to live their new life together.
Lynchburg, feeling very pleased with itself, neglected to discover until much later that Mrs. Allen was most likely not Ann’s mother. Once the duo arrived in New York, Mrs. Allen proceeded to take the monetary collection given to Eliza and spent it wildly without regard. Sometime later, Mrs. Allen soon found herself nearly destitute and saddled with a child that wasn’t hers. As quickly as the downtrodden Eliza was plucked from Lynchburg, she was just as quickly “turned adrift” somewhere in New York and was never heard from again.
After months of research, I have been unable to see through that foggy, cracked lens of history to determine Ann’s true fate. Whether she died a pauper or somehow rose from the ashes to live a full life, I have been unable to determine. This is why I challenge you, dear reader, to take up your own research on the fate of Eliza Ann Hendershot. My sources are listed below, and I welcome any and all discoveries by both professional and amateur historians to be sent to christian.crouch@lynchburgva.gov.
Cabell, Margaret Anthony. Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg by the Oldest Inhabitant (Mrs. Cabell) 1858. Lynchburg, VA: Lynchburg Historical Foundation, Inc., 1974.
Christian, W. Asbury. Lynchburg And Its People. Lynchburg, VA: J.P. Bell Company, 1900.
Elson, James M. Lynchburg, Virginia: the First Two Hundred Years, 1786-1986. Lynchburg, VA: Warwick House Publishers, 2004, 69 - 80.
NYS Historic Newspapers (website)
The Corrector.,(Sag-Harbor, N.Y.) October 24, 1829, Page 3, Image 3.
The Corrector.,(Sag-Harbor, N.Y.) May 24, 1828, Page 2, Image 2.
The Corrector.,(Sag-Harbor, N.Y.) September 12, 1829, Page 2, Image 2.
Geneva Gazette., (Geneva, N.Y.) May 21, 1828, Page 2, Image 2.
The Telescope, Volumes 1-2, by William Burnett & Company, 1824, Page 27.
McCarthy, Thomas C. “Penitentiary Origins in the City of New York.” Correction History. New York Correction History Society, 2001. http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/nycdoc/html/penitentiary2.html.
The Columbian Star and Christian Index, Volumes 1-2, by W.T. Brantly, 1829, Page 157