Hi my name is Samuel Mcelewee i was born in Haywood County, Tennessee. My parents were Robert and Georgianna McElwee.
 I had to struggle to achieve a college education and law degree, but served i race for three terms in the Tennessee General Assembly (1882-88), where I was recognized as a “magnetic speaker, forcible debater, and indefatigable worker.”
In addition to my schooling, i was strongly influenced by the words of Frederick Douglass, which he read in the latter’s newspaper, the National Era.
 In 1878 i enrolled at Fisk University after the tutor made university officials aware of my  industrious student. i graduated in 1883, opened a store in Haywood County, and began reading law on my own. 
Following the death of my wife in 1885, i placed my two small children with my wife’s parents and entered  Tennessee College in Nashville; i received a law degree in 1886.
In 1888 his last foray into political life came when he attended the Republican National Convention and made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an appointment as minister to Haiti.