Lewis
Elizabeth Lewis, was the daughter of William Terrell Lewis and Sarah Martin. The Lewis Family was a prominent family in tidewater Virginia as early as the 1600's. It is not known when they actually came to Virginia. There is some argument about which of the three Lewis families Elizabeth is descended from. below are some excerpts from a family history book written by William Terrell Lewis, a grandson of William Terrell Lewis of Virginia.
WILLIAM TERRELL LEWIS
b. 1718, Hanover County, Virginia, d. 1802, Nashville, Tennessee, m. 1739 Sarah Martin, who d. Surry County, North Carolina. William Terrell Lewis moved from Hanover County to Albemarle County and was the third settler in that county. It was then a frontier county, having been formed in 1744 out of Goochland County. He was one of the first men to volunteer services in Albemarle to resist Lord Dunsmore's administration. See p.62-65 of GENEALOGY OF THE LEWIS FAMLY IN AMERICA, by William Terrell Lewis. In 1763 made a gift of land to his daughter, Mrs. Anna McConnell, the wife of John McConnell, both of whom died in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Before the war he removed from Albemarle to Surry County, North Carolina, "near Pilot Mountain". Soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary War he applied to Governor Caswell of North Carolina for military commissions for all his sons old enough to bear arms, and declared that "If the British came into Surry County, where he resided, he would arm his negroes and fight them himself." From Wood's HlSTORY OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY, it is stated that he kept a tavern on the Staunton Road, about 3 miles west of Charlottesville, called at first Terrell's and then Lewis's Ordinary.
He Represented the County (Surry County) in the General Legislature in 1781, 1783, 1785, 1786 and 1788. In 1793 he emigrated to Nashvil!e, Tennessee where he lived the rest of his life.
From RECORDS OF MORAVIAINS IN NORTH CAROLINA, by Fries , Vol. 3 , 1776-1779: William T. Lewis enters 500 acres of land Surry County adjoining Lewis Connors entry, running up said creek for compliment. October 3, 1778. William T.Lewis enters 250 acres of land in Surry County on Muddy Creek ubcluding Steiners Mill , October 3, 1778. Constant Ladd and William T. Lewis enters 500 acres of land in Surry County adjoining William T. Lewis' entry which included Steiners Mill, beginning on the north side of said creek running down the said creek including both sides of the same for quantity, October 3, 1778.
Davidson County, Tennessee, Deed Book G, p.260, May 2O, 1793, and Deed Book O, p.1O8, May 18, 1789, shows William T. Lewis as assignee of Wi!lis, for 228 acres on Dry Fork. Also, Deed Book L, p.422, February 17, 1793, William Lewis, assignee of Jesse Williams, Pvt., 64O acres on south side of Cumberland River,
Tennessee Law Reports, 1814 - William T. Lewis, the elder, made his Will 1802. James H. Lewis, a son; William T. Lewis, a son; Mrs. Fielder, a daughter.
Tennessee Reports, Cooper, Vol.3, p.354-359: William T. Lewis named as being from Surry County, N.C., November 17, 1783. Teste: James Lewis and J. H. Lewis, Joel Lewis mentioned about slave "Dilce".
Children
1 Elizabeth Lewis b. 1740
2. Susannah Lewis b. 1742
3. Anna Lewis b. 1744
4. David Lewis b. 1746
5. Mary Lewis b. 1747
6. William Terrell Lewis b. 1749
7. James Martin Lewis b. 1753
8. Micajah Lewis b. 1755
9, William Terrell Lewis b. 1757
1O. Joel Lewis b. 1760
11. James Martin Lewis b. 1762
Will of William Terrell Lewis deceased, of Davidson County.
Dec 6, I804 To my son William, ten shillings and no more to my mind by good reason best known to myself. To my son Joel my bed and table and chest, my chair and my Bible, and my tankard. To my granddaughter Sarah Fielder eight pounds and ten shillings. I give unto my daughter Susanna Benge a negro girl named Sinia, And a third part of my estate I give unto my daughter Eiizabeth Fielder upon condition that her husband John Fielder shall pay unto my executors $38.O0 he now owes me and $25O.00 my daughter Elizabeth has already received of me which is the value of two small negroes which I have heretofore given to her and at her death the property is to be equally divided between Nimrod Fielder and John Lewis Fielder and Betsy Cummins, and another third part of my estate I give unto my daughter Anne McConnell. upon condition that she advances the sum of $250.00 being the value ot two small negros which I have given to her the said Anne and further that John McConnell shall pay to my executor the money due for her to use and after her death to be equally divided among her three children. To my son ]ames Martin Lewis what he owes me. I appoint Robert Edmondson and James Martin Lewis my executors I leave Thomas Augustus Claborn my gun.
This Feb 16, I802.
Wit: James McCutcheon and David Dobbins.
Three of the Sons of William Terrell Lewis
Micajah Lewis who descended from Welsh ancestors was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1755; and early removed to what subsequently became Surry County, North Carolina. He was appointed a Lieutenant in 1776, and was a Captain in service in 1778. He joined General Lincoln in 1779, and shared in the battle of Stono; and in June 1780, he went in pursuit of Bryan’s Tories, and was a Major and Quarter-Master in Cleveland’s regiment on the King’s Mountain campaign, receiving a wound in the baffle. He served as a volunteer at Pyle’s defeat, February twenty-fifth 1781; and two days afterwards, while out reconnoitering, he was mortally wounded, dying the next day, and was buried at Dickey’s plantation, on the Alamance. He had rendered service in the North Carolina line, and was, as General Joseph Graham states, "a real soldier" of "past service and experience".
Joel Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, August twenty-eighth, 1760; early settled in Surry County: commanded a company at Kings Mountain. said to have embraced among its members twenty-two of his own family connections. A colored free man, named Bowman, of his company, claimed to have killed Ferguson; and Captain Lewis secured some of the British Commanders arms, one a jewel-hilted poniard, which he retained many years. He married Miriam Eastham and had eighteen children. In 1784, he was chosen to represent Surry in the House of Commons; and, in 1789, he removed to Nashville, Tennessee. where he was an early hotel-keeper. In 1796, he was a member of the Convention that formed the first Constituion of Tennessee, and was the same year, and again in 1799, elected a State Senator. He held other public positions; and died, near Nashville, November twenty-second, 1816. He left many worthy descendants.
His younger brother James Martin Lewis. born in 1762. who was a Lieutenant at King’s Mountain, married Mary, daughter of Colonel Benjamin Herndon and died at Columbia, Tennessee, in 1830. It is not a little singular that the three brothers, Micajah, Joel and James M. Lewis, were all officers and were all wounded at King’s Mountain.
from: KING’S MOUNTAIN AND ITS HEREOS, written by Lyman C. Draper, first published in Cincinatti, 1881
DAVID LEWIS
b. 1685, Hanover County, Virginia, baptized May 5, 1695, St. Peters Parish, d. August 1779 in Albemarle County, Virginia by flux brought on by over-exertion and drinking too much cold water on a hot summer day after cutting down a tree in which there was a hawks nest. He m. 1st, 1717, Hanover County, to Ann Terrell, who d. 1734 in Hanover County, dau. of Joel Terrell, or, of William Terrell and Susanna Waters. He m. 2nd, in Hanover County, wifes name unknown. He m. 3rd, 1753, in Albemarle County, Mary (McGrath) Hart, widower of Dr. Hart of Philadelphia, and she d. in Albemarle County.
About the year 1750 David Lewis moved from Hanover County to Albemarle County, which was then a new county having been recently cut from Goochland County in 1744.. In 1753 he married his third wife there, and had three children. After the death of his third wife, he was engaged to be married a fourth time, aged at least 94, but died very suddenly before the consummation of the marriage. He was quite bald at the time, and wore a wig, and on retiring at night would hang his wig on the tester over his bed. Being subject to nightmares, he would often awake during the night, dreaming that witches were riding him. 0n one occasion it is reported he awoke during such a dream, sprang up in his bed, making at the same time a desperate effort to free himself from the clutches of the witch. During his struggles his wig fell upon him. he seized the wig and tore it to pieces, exclaiming at the same time, "Oh, I have caught you at last, have I ? You have been riding me a long time." The next morning when he arose and looked on his ruined wig, he remarked "There is fifteen shillings gone". He was engaged in the mercantile business at one time, and had an interest in a cargo of goods being sent from England. news came that the vessel was lost. He started to Norfolk on horseback to confirm the news, and at noon, stopped at an inn and found the innkeeper to be an old acquaintance. He was persuaded to remain the night, and when the hour came for retiring, a mulatto boy, with candle in hand, showed him the way upstairs, pointed to the bed, and started to leave, locking the door behind him. Lewis called out to the boy to return the candle and leave it with him in the room, but the boy called out "There is a mug under the bed" and did not return. He suspicioned all was not right, and looked under the bed, and found the body of a dead man there. Peeping through a hole, he saw in lhe distance some men digging a grave by moonlight. he was unarmed, but tousled the bed and made it appear he was asleep in it. The door opened in a while and the landlord entered with an axe in his hand, and approaching the bed, sunk it with power into the bed. Lewis was hiding behind the door and made his escape downstairs and out, where he hurried to Norfolk and reported what had heppened. A posse of men returned, took the landlord and others prisoner, and on trial the landlord confessed he was to be the seventh victim.
After David Lewis moved near Charlottesville (where the town now stands), he was offered 500 acres of the best land in Virginia, lying 40-50 miles west of the then settlements, for a pair of buckskins which he could have killed almost any day and dressed the next, but he thought at that time the back country would not be settled in an age, and that the land would be of no value to him. In his old age he sometimes taught school gratuitously for the benefit of the poor. He never inflicted corporal punishment upon his pupils, but if any of them violated his rules during the week, he would, on Friday evening, tie a bundle of rods to their backs and send them home. He was a very large man, with light hair and blue eyes, of strict integrity, and of benevolent character, and an exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church.
The above from GENEALOGY OF THE LEWIS FAMILY IN AMERICA, by William Terrell Lewis.
From HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, "David Lewis, who with his brother-in-law, Joel Terrell, in 1734, entered 3000 acres just east of the University. ..belonged to Hanover County...David settled on the hinder part of the present Birdwood farm so that when the County was organized his residence was a well known place in the County. He was active in county affairs. He was Captain in militia, and an early magistrate."
On p.177 of this book is mentioned Moore's Ford on Lewis Ferry. On p.132, that the First Baptist Church was organized 1773, took place in Lewis Meeting House, which stood on old David Lewis 's place on the elevated ground South of the Staunton Road, about where the house of Mrs. Humbert now stands.
Albemarle County Deed Book 2, p.303, September 3, 1759 reads Dauid Lewis of Parish of St. Anne of A!bemarle County and Mary, his wife, to William Terrill of Fredericksville in County of Louisa, planter, and Frances, his wife, and Joel Terrell of the parish of Frederickville in County of Albemarle, planter, to John Dabney of the parish of St. Paul in the county of Hanover, planter, property on Moore's Creek (in line of William Terrell Lewis), for 100 pounds, 400 acres, part of the plantation of 2300 acres granted by patent at Williamsburg, October 3, 1734 unto Joel Terrell and David Lewis. Witness, William Terrell Lewis, Joel Lewis, Henry Carter. Recorded September 9 , 1759.
Deed, December 16, 1758, David Lewis of Albemarle to Joel Terrel, son of Joel Terrel, late of county of Hanover, 3000 acres of land. Witness, Henry Carter, Alexander Mackey, Jr. in presence of Prudence Lewis also.
Children
1. William Terrell Lewis b. 1718
2. Susannah Lewis b. 1720
3. Hannah Lewis b. 1722
4. Sarah Lewis b. 1724
5. David Lewis Jr. b. 1726
6. John Lewis b. 1728
7, Joel Lewis b. 1730
8. Anna Lewis b. 1733
Children by third marriage (none by second)
9. Elizabeth Lewis b. 1754
10. Col. James Lewis b. 1756
11. Miriam Lewis b. 1759
John Lewis of Hanover County, Virginia
b. 1640, Brecon, Wales, d. 1726, Hanover County, Virginia. From GENEALOGY OF TIlE LEWIS FAMILY IN AMERICA by William Terrell Lewis, it is stated that John Lewis, Sr.was one of the original brothers that emigrated from Wales to America and was born about 1640. He resided awhile with the Mostyn family in Denbyshire previous to his emigration. It is not known whom he married. He died in Hanover County, Virginia in 1726 where his Will can be found. The records of Hanover County were burned during the Civil War which is some hindrance, of course.
Will recorded in Hanover County mentions six children, Mrs. Rebecca Lindsay, born about 1677, Abraham Lewis, born about 1679, Sarah Lewis, born about 1681, Mrs. Angelica Fullove, born about 1683, David Lewis, born about 1685, and John Lewis, Jr born about 1687.
I might add here that early genealogists, in published accounts, seemed obsessed with the thought that all Lewis's descended from several, or three, or four brothers that emigrated from Wales (or from France), and that later research has proven this to be false.
Children (as per Will)
1 Rebecca Lewis b. 1677
2 Abraham Lewis b. 1679
3 Sarah Lewis b. 1681
4 Angelica Lewis b. 1683
5 David Lewis b. 1685
6 John Lewis, Jr. b. 1687
REBECCA LEWIS
b.1677 m. a Lyndsay
ABRAHAM LEWIS
b.. 1679, bapt. November 27, 1688, St. Peters Parish. Named as Bristol merchant and mariner. From HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, p.251-257, David's brother Abraham entered 800 acres in 1734 including land the University now occupies. These brothers belonged to Hanover County. Abraham never lived in Albemarle however.
Children
1. Abraham Lewis, Jr. b. ca 1702
2. Susannah Lewis
others
ANGELICA LEWIS
m. a Fullove. She was b. 1683.