Family Little information has been written about Lewis Downing's family life. Meserve says that he first married Lydia Price. He and Lydia had three children: Samuel Houston, John Toyuneet, and Catherine Downing. After Lydia's death, he married Lucinda Griffin. They had two children: Lewis James and William Downing. His third marriage was to Mary Eyre, a white widow whom he had met while he was in Washington. Mary moved to Tahlequah while Lewis' previous wife was still alive and married the old chief after her death. Both Lewis and Mary died about two years later. They had no children. Death He died in office at Tahlequah, on November 9, 1872, after a two-week battle with pneumonia, and is buried in the old Ned Adair cemetery in what is today Mayes County, Oklahoma. The Council was required to pick a successor to complete Downing's term. For unknown reasons, they turned to his old opponent, William Potter Ross. Sources McLoughlin, William G. After the Trail of Tears: The Cherokees' Struggle for Sovereignty 1839-1880. 1993. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill. References Cherokee Confederates Confederate States Army chaplains Native Americans in the American Civil War Baptist ministers from the United States Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma People of Indian Territory People from Tennessee 1823 births 1872 deaths Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907) People from Adair County, Oklahoma Baptists from Oklahoma 19th-century American clergy