Mrs. Zerelda Wallace , the mother of General Lew Wallace , is lying in a critical condition at Shannon , a station near Freeport. She was to deliver a lecture here Tuesday evening. She met the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the afternoon, delivered an address of two hour’s length. In the evening she went to church feeling in her usual health and had only spoken a few minutes when she said. I shall not be able to pursue this argument further, I am sick.” Before help could reach her she sunk down upon the floor. She was lifted up and laid on the platform while a cot was being prepared upon which she might be removed. It soon came and strong arms placed her on it an bore her to the residence of Doctor J. I. Smith, where she was being entertained during her stay in Shannon. At 3 p.m. Mrs. Wallace was unconscious and sinking. A telegram was sent to her son, General Lew Wallace at Indianapolis.
Freeport, Ill., Sept 23-(Special) – (Chicago Daily Telegram September 24, 1891 p.1) Contributed by John Sharp

Zerelda Wallace was General Lew Wallace's mother. In her day she was a well known leader and regular featured speaker for the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The WCTU had a very large following in Illinois and particulary in Carroll County. Mrs. Wallace and WCTU were engaged in a struggle to turn the county and the nation dry. Her more famous son, Lew Wallace had attained some fame in the civil war but even more as the author of Ben Hur a Tale of the Christ Ben Hur was published in 1880 and rapidly became one of the most popular novels of the 19th century, my guess is that most houses in Carroll County had a copy of this book.

Thanks to Doctor Smith and a hearty constitution Zerelda Wallace, recovered from her illness and lived till 1901. She continued speaking out on temperance and women's suffrage.

The Book "Ben Hur" influenced our contributer, John Sharp, to major in History.