Namesake

Elizabeth Clift Bacon was born April 8, 1842 to Judge Daniel and Eleanor Sophia Page Bacon in Grand Rapids, Monroe County, MI. By the time she was eight, Libbie had shared much of the family's sorrow in the loss of two sisters, Sophia, born in 1845 and living only four months, and Harriet, born in 1848 and living six months. Libbie's brother, Edward, also died in 1848 at age 12, following an accident. Libbie became the center of her parent's hopes.

Taught music when the family purchased a piano, Libbie more readily turned to her journal and writing vignettes base on lives and observations she made in the community. Even in her tenth year she wrote, "This morning I hope was profitably employed in doing what - if I am permitted to live to become a woman - will make me more useful and happy." Libbie was learning to live her life with intention.

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Elizabeth Bacon Custer was the author of Boots and Saddles which she wrote in 1885 about her life in Dakota with General Custer. Click here to read her book online.


Sources:
- "DUV Tent 19, Tulsa Namesake, Elizabeth Bacon Custer 1842-1933." A Memorial to the Union Ancestors of Oklahoma Daughters.

Photo Credit: David F. Barry at Custer Battlefield Museum