Lydia Boggs Shepherd Cruger was born on February 26, 1766, in present-day Berkeley County, Virginia. In 1774, she moved with her family to the Wheeling, Virginia area when her father, militia Captain John Boggs, settled there. On September 1, 1777, she was present at age 11 when Fort Henry was besieged by Native Americans. Around 1782, she married wealthy plantation owner Moses Shepherd. Together, they built the magnificent Shepherd Hall mansion outside Wheeling, which later hosted famous figures like the Marquis de Lafayette and six future U.S. Presidents. Their friend Senator Henry Clay influenced the routing of the National Road to pass directly by their plantation in 1817. After Moses died in 1832, Lydia married former New York Congressman Daniel Cruger in 1833. In her old age, she caused controversy in 1849 by claiming Molly Scott, not the legendary Betty Zane, was the heroine who saved Fort Henry in 1782. Eccentric and reclusive, Lydia Boggs Shepherd Cruger died at Shepherd Hall on September 26, 1867, at the remarkable age of 101.
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Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling, WV