THE LEWIS FAMILY STORY
I was born on January 7, 1922 in Fawil, Newton Co., Texas, the second born child of Arcadia Imelda Dougharty Boyett and George Peavy Boyett. I was born at home and am not sure, but may have been born at the home of my maternal grand-parents, Maude Lewis Dougharty and George Bowman Dougharty. Unfortunately, no doctor was available to officiate at my birth so my grand-mothers cousin Viola Lewis Davis was the one who helped me make my debut into the world. There were difficulties but Viola sought divine help and so I was ushered into the world on a prayer. So, I begin my story with these two wonderful Lewis women who were a part of my life from the day I was born.
The birth of my grand-mother Maude was quite a different story than mine. I learned as a young girl that she had been born to a young Lewis male and a much older woman. It seemed the mother didn’t want Maude so she was reared by her grand-parents Asa Lewis and Sarah “Sab” Page Lewis. I wish I had pressed for more details but I sensed that my mother was reluctant to divulge anything more about what happened. Years later, after my mother had died, I approached my mother’s sister, aunt Clara Morgan and she told me a bit more but still not what I needed to know. I still don’t know who the mother was and not exactly sure about the father. Not until about three years ago, did I learn that Asa and Sarah had legally adopted Maude. Clovis LaFluer was finally able to tell me that she had been listed on a Newton County census as the adopted, four year old daughter of Asa and Sarah.
Whatever the circumstances of her birth, I feel certain that she was reared in a loving home with parents who really wanted her. My aunt Clara also told me that Asa and Sarah had taken two of his nieces into their home when their mother died. Maude grew up with cousins who were more like sisters, one of those was Viola who had assisted at my birth. Aunt Clara also told me this story of Sarah acting as mid-wife when Viola’s children were born. She and Viola’s daughter Elvin were discussing at what time they began to remember incidents in their early life. Elvin said, “Clara, I remember aunt Sab taking me to the fire place to clean me up, the day I was born”. Of course Aunt Clara knew that was a gross exaggeration.
Much research has been done on the Lewis ancestry so there is a tremendous amount of information we know to be factual while much is yet supposition. There are times when it becomes difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction so as I write this story I am constantly searching through all the books I have, desperately trying to write “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.
Through research by many descendants and other interested parties, we have learned that our ancestor Samuel S. Lewis was the son of John and Sarah Lewis and that he was born in Virginia on July 4, 1784. On August 7, 1804 he was married to Sarah LeMaster in Henry County, Kentucky. They soon moved to Indiana where their seven children were born, five in Indiana Territory and two after it became a state. Samuel Lewis founded Orleans, Indiana and served with the Indiana Militia in the War of 1812.
In the mid-1820s, the family moved to Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, where Lewis became a Justice of the Peace. From there, he sent some of has slaves and some of his property to the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas in 1830 and followed with his family in 1832.
By 1835, he and his sons, Martin Baty and John Taylor Lewis had settled their families in the Bevil Municipality on Indian Creek in what became Jasper County. Lewis served as Lieutenant Colonel in the battle of Nacogdoches in 1882 and participated in the siege of Bexar in 1835. He was a Bevil delegate in the consultation of 1835 and represented Jasper County in the first and second Congresses of the Republic of Texas.
Now to some supposition: Some think Samuel S Lewis was from an early Lewis line which had come to America from Ireland or Scotland and settled in Virginia. In a transcript of a biography told by Andrew Jackson Best (grandson of Martin B. and Nancy Lewis and John P. Best Sr.)., he states Samuel was probably the brother-in-law of George Washington. A Betty Washington did marry Fielding Lewis but no proof of connection has been established that he was one of our Lewis line.
The Virginia Lewis family of John Lewis was reported to have descended from French Huguenots or Welsh or English stock on his paternal side and Ulster Scotch on his maternal side. He was born in Donegal County, Ireland in 1678. The reason he left Ireland is written on his tomb stone: “ He slew the Irish Lord”. This incident happened while he was defending his home and family. Although he was exonerated, he felt compelled to flee Ireland, going first to Portugal and later to America, where he first settled in Philadelphia about 1728. He and his family finally settled in the Shenandoah Valley where they became prominent citizens and wealthy land owners Their first homestead was on the Middle River but the family soon moved to the property known as Bellefonte (for fine or good spring).
On a vacation trip in 2003, Floyd and Bobee located the gravesite of John Lewis. It is located on a prominent hill on his once 2071 acre property, Bellefonte, overlooking his home-site about three hundred yards away. The grave-site, on land owned for the past 10 years by P. William Moore, offers a fine prospect with the Blue Ridge Mountains and part of the Allegheny chain visible. There is an iron picket fence surrounding the grave which was once covered by a large limestone marker. In 1850, it was replaced by a granite slab, then in 1929, the Daughters of the American Revolution aided in the formation of the John Lewis Memorial Foundation, which replaced the granite slab with the present marble marker measuring seven feet two inches by three feet , twelve inches on which is engraved in seventeen inch lines: Here lie the remains of John Lewis who slew the English Lord, settled Augusta county, located the Town of Staunton and furnished five sons to fight the battles of the American Revolution. He was the son of Andrew Lewis and Mary Calhoun and was born in Donegal County, Ireland in 1678 and died February 1, 1762 at the age of 82 years. He was a true patriot and a friend of liberty throughout the world.
Mortalitate Relicta Vivit Immortalitate inductus Translated, the Latin reads: “Mortality Relinquished, he lives clothed in immortality”.
Who wouldn’t cherish him as an ancestor? Whether he is ours, we can’t be sure but perhaps the time will come when we might know.
Of the following, we can be sure:
Samuel S. Lewis and Sarah LeMaster Lewis, our ancestors, were an adventuresome couple who, seeking for better things for their family and to help make America a better place to live dared to pull up stakes and move on until they found what they felt was the answer to their dreams. They had been married on August 12, 1804, in Henry County,Kentucky at the home of her parents John and Sarah Vest LeMaster. A Methodist minister, the Reverend, Benjamin Whitson performed the ceremony. Samuel contributed so much to Jasper County and the state of Texas and will forever be remembered for those contributions. Samuel S. Lewis, Senator died on his own Plantation, in his own home in Jasper County, Texas on February 10, 1838 at 9:00 O’clock P M, at the age of 53 years, 7 months and 6 days of age. He was not an old man but had lived his short life to the fullest. What a Man! Sarah died in 1858 at Bevilport in Jasper County.Excerpt from a letter written by Hettie Cochran to her mother Martha Percival Cochran on January 10, 1858. She writes: Grandmother Lewis (wife of Samuel Lewis) is very ill, they do not think she will live, tell her children if you see any of them.
Martin Baty Lewis was born January 13, 1806 In Indiana and died on March 14, 1884 in Madera California. He was buried there. He was married to Nancy Moore
Martin B. was already the head of a family when he arrived in Texas. His league is on the east bank of the Angelina River, adjoining William Jourdan on the north and his father on the west. During his sojourn in Texas, he being a surveyer by trade, acquired thousands of acres of land, one league of which is on the west bank of Cow Creek near Bleakwood where, in fact, Singletary Bridge touches his survey. Martin was captain of a cavalry company that took part in the siege of Bexar on December 5-9, 1835. He was Jasper County’s third Chief of Justice under the Republic and was also serving in that position at the time of the Annexation. It was he who presided over the organization of Newton County when it and Jasper were divided. He ordered Newton County’s first elections. Note: George Dougharty, my GG-grand-father was appointed the first county clerk of Newton County and at the time, I believe the Court House was in Burkville. (Ruby Boyett Burkett)
Martin Baty followed the Gold Rush to California and later his wife followed him but some of their children who already had families of their own, remained in Texas.
Martin Baty and Nancy Lewis had seven children;
John R. Lewis, born 1825 in Louisiana.
Samuel Lewis, born 1828 in Louisiana.
Thomas Lewis, born 1830 in Louisiana.
Sarah Ann Lewis, born !831 in Jasper County, Texas.
William Lewis, born1834 in Jasper County, Texas.
Charlotte Lewis, born 1835 in Jasper County, Texas.
Melinda Lewis, born 1836.
Charlotte Lewis, born May 29, 1810. She died 1836 in Jasper County Texas and was buried in Jasper, Texas. She was married to Philip A. Smith.
Elizabeth Lewis, born March 14, 1813 in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana. She died in 1857. She was married to Joseph Sydney Cochran, July 29, 1827 in Newton County, Texas. He was born October 11, 1805 in Sharon, Franklin County Ohio.
Their children were:
William Alfred “Alf” Cochran
John L. Cochran
Martin Baty Cochran
Francis M Cochran, born 1842 in Texas.
Elizabeth Cochran
Joseph Sydney Jr., “Tim” Cochran
Julia Ann Lewis, born May 29, 1815.
She died in 1889. No other information.
William McFarland Lewis, born March 1, 1817. He died February 2, 1891or1900, in Leon County, Texas. He was married to (!) Amanda A. M. Moore. Children: George Ann Lewis and Alice Lewis (2) Mrs. Mary E. Wisdom. Children: George W. Lewis and Asa S. Lewis.
Sarah Lewis, born 1820 in, Green, Indiana. She died in 1820 and was buried in Green, Indiana.
Melinda Lewis, born on March 30, 1824, in Green, Indiana. She died 1880 in Jasper County, Texas and was buried in Jasper, Texas. She was married to Alfred J. Shelby in 1844.
This is an interesting excerpt from a letter written in 1837, by Martha Percival. Martha had come from Massachusetts to Texas and was apparently living in the home of Samuel Lewis. She is writing to her sister Abby back home.
She writes: I have been pleasantly situated this Summer past. I board in with the family but have a room to myself and spend my time as I please, it is a new house, just finished and the best one I’ve seen in Texas, it has four rooms with a galery and a piazza in the front and is very pleasant in warm weather. They have, I hardly know how many slaves, until I reckon up there is Old Rose, Hannah, Emily, Gin, Amanda and Martha Ann. I believe that’s all. You can count them if you please, I am so great a favorite with all of them that they do anything to serve me, and if I know now, I could be waited on in great style. Col. Lewis has one daughter, not married, her name is Melinda. She is about fourteen, a very pretty, pleasant girl and reminds me often of my sister Abby-and now dear sister what shall I say more.
Note: These letters can be accessed in, “Letters From The Past” on my web-site. They are most interesting.
So this Lewis Family is an interesting but complex family and there are so many stories to tell, it is difficult to find a place to stop. By the time I was old enough to know my Lewis relatives they were not the affluent Lewises of the past but were in the same difficult circumstances that most Americans were living with during the Great Depression. It seems that the effects of the Civil War had been devastating to the Lewis Family. They had lost their holdings in Jasper County and had settled in the Bleakwood area of Newton County. For as long as I can remember, the small Community where they lived was called Wolf Den. I’m not sure whether it still is.
Floyd, Bobee, Alricks and I have visited the Sand Ridge Cemetery, off the main road traveling from Bleakwood, to Fawil and on to Bon Wier. There, many of our Lewis relatives are buried. It seems ironic that in my years of growing up in the area, I’d never been to the cemetery nor did I know there was a Sand Ridge Cemetery. I can’t explain the feeling which came over me when I first spotted the graves of my Great-grandparents Asa and Sarah “Sab” Lewis.
I’ve already said things had changed for the Lewis Family as I knew them. I’ll end with this story from the “Yellowed Pages” column of the Beaumont Enterprise of Sunday August 22, 1936. Judge W. E. Gray, of Newton, Texas tells an interesting story of a family of old pensioners, who came to his home, recently, to be writ up for the old age pension.
Five old persons, all from Wolf Den, a wild and secluded place about eleven miles south of Newton, all related, came at the same time to see Judge Gray to get his Notary Seal on pension blanks, when he totaled the ages of the five, he found they had lived more than four hundred years.
They are descendants of the old Lewis family, Martin B., Mack F. and John T, who settled before there was much Texas History in Newton County and each had his allotted 1280 acres of land. Note: These men descended from Samuel Lewis and Sarah LeMaster Lewis.
Today, the more recent Martin B. Lewis, 86, Mrs. Martin B. Lewis, 80, Ed Lewis, 78, his mother-in-law, a Mrs. Brown, who is 83, and another relative, whose age is above 80 have practically no land.
When Mrs. Lewis came to Newton with her husband to inquire about the old age pension, it was her first trip to Newton in her 80 years, although she had been less than 15 miles from the town. It was the first time Martin Lewis had been to town in 20 years, said Judge Gray.
Ed Lewis does the “totin” for the Lewis family, coming to Newton from Wolf Den
to, take groceries back to the Lewis clan in the thicket, Judge Gray explains.
The first Martin B. Lewis, one of the first settlers in Texas, and an uncle to the Martin B. of this story left Texas during the Gold Rush of “49” and “struck it” in California. When he came back, he often rode one of the reliable animals of the West, the faithful burro. He often rode to town astride a burro, his white hair waving and his feet dragging the ground.
Some of the original Lewises did a “run out” during the Texas War for Independence when it was rumored that Santa Anna had defeated Houston.
Today, the remnants of the original pioneers of this section live in Wolf Den, described by Bob Hughes as the “ wildest place on earth”. Wolf Den lies in the forks of Caney and Little Cow Creek.
Editors, note: The progenitor of the Lewis families in Newton County, Texas was
Colonel Samuel S. Lewis who came to Texas from Indiana and was patented land by the Mexican Government. See “Some Early Southeast Texas Families”
Published 1965, Lone Star Press, Inc.
First census of Texas 1829-1836
Samuel Lewis..............Farmer.......50
Sally Lemasters Lewis....................50
Macfarlin........................................16
Malinda..........................................10
Martin B. Lewis....Farmer.............27
Nancy Moore Lewis.......................25
John R............................................10
Samuel........................................... 7
Thomas........................................... 6
Sarah Ann.......................................4
William........................................... 1
Census of 1840
Sarah Lewis
Martin B. Lewis....S3650..55 various town lots, 2 slaves,1clock, 1 silver watch
John T. Lewis........S2073...6 town lots Belgrade....1 wood clock
Wm. McF. Lewis...S2975...2 town lots Belgrade
Jasper County census 1850
M. B. Lewis.........42 M......Surveyor.....2, 000......Indiana
Nancy..................40 F..........................................Indiana
Samuel 23 M Louisiana
Thomas 21 M Louisiana
Sarah Ann 19 F Texas
Charlotte 17 F Texas
Melinda 13 F Texas
Written by: Ruby Boyett Burkett
August 12, 2004