From the Washington (D. C.) Evening Times, 7/28/1900, p. 5, c. 5

MISS LIZZIE VAN LEW ILL.
Richmond’s Former Postmistress in a Critical Condition.

RICHMOND, Va., July 28. – Miss Lizzie Van Lew, for many years the postmistress of Richmond, is critically ill. Miss Van Lew has an interesting history. Her father was John Van Lew, of Dutch descent and a native of New York, and her mother was Miss Eliza Baker, of Philadelphia. The father of Miss Van Lew was one of the leading hardware merchants of this city. During the war Miss Van Lew was a stanch friend of the Union. It was for services rendered that General Grant, when he became President, made her postmistress of Richmond. She aided the Federal officers who escaped from Libby prison, and furnished General Grant important information from the capital of the Confederacy.

Miss Van Lew aided in securing the body of Colonel Dahlgren and having it removed to a place of safety. Dahlgren was killed in a raid around Richmond and his body buried here. Through the assistance of Miss Van Lew and other prominent Union people here, it was removed from its lonely grave in Oakwood and after the war forwarded to Admiral Dahlgren in Pennsylvania.

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