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Belgians in the Civil War

Emigrants arrival

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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

Theodore LEVIS, SR., has long been known in Brockwayville as proprietor of one of its most reliable stores, and as one of the first to establish a moving picture show for high class entertainment. His success in both has been the result of untiring endeavors to give patrons full value, a policy which has worked both in his favor and theirs. It is over thirty years since Mr. Levis first embarked in business as a general merchant, and the steady patronage he has received is evidence that his conscientious attempts to serve his trade satisfactorily have not been ignored. His son George is now associated with him in the grocery business, which is operated according to modern ideas, giving up-to-date service, the stock being carefully selected to meet the demands of discriminating customers.
Mr. Levis was born Dec. 25, 1849, in Brookville, a son of Johan Batista Levis, who was a native of Belgium, where he married Francescoff Van Wynendalle. They came to Brookville in 1846 with their one child, Clementine, while a son, Constantine T., was born during the ocean voyage. The father worked as a day laborer, but died only a few years afterwards, about 1850-51; the mother, by close application and economy, managed to keep her children together. She spent the last year of her life in Brockwayville with her son Theodore and a daughter, and died here at the age of ninety-one years. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Levis, namely: Clementine, married Ira Felt and settled at Brockwayville; they have three living children, one, Wallace, having died in infancy. Dr. Constantine T. Levis is a dentist in Franklin. Charles I. resides at Brookville, and Theodore completes the list. The ancestors on both sides have always lived in Belgium so far as is known, near the site of the battlefield of Waterloo, some eight miles from Brussels. Mrs. John Batista Levis was only a young girl at the time the battle was fought, but she remembered many incidents of the occasion.
Theodore Levis, Sr., though but a boy during the Civil war, recollects the underground railway station operated at Brookville by a Mr. Johnson. He obtained his education in the public schools, which he attended up to the age of fifteen years, after which he was variously employed for several years. In 1870 he came to Brockwayville, and on Feb. 28, 1882, started his first independent business venture by opening a general store, continuing in that line until a few years ago. He has since confined his operations to the grocery trade, and has a well equipped store, to which his personal popularity as well as the merits of his goods has drawn a profitable patronage. For the last ten years his son George has assisted him in its conduct, though the father still devotes a good share of his time to its management. Nine years ago he entered the moving picture business, then a comparatively untried line, and the complete success of his “Theatorium” has justified the venture. His conservative principles and executive ability have proved just as valuable in the new line as the old, the best element in the town extending liberal patronage to this popular and wholesome place of amusement. Except for the interest a good citizen takes in the welfare of his community he has not had any part in public affairs. On political questions he is a Democrat.
In June, 1879, Mr. Levis married Annie Plyler, of Worthville, and they are the parents of nine children: Edward Charles, now located in Cleveland, Ohio; Bertha, at home; Margaret, wife of Alex. Bovaird, of Beechwoods; Nora. wife of John Hemphill, of Brockwayville; Theodore; Harvey and Calvin, of Punxsutawney; George W.; and Raymond, at home, who married Mayme Richards and has two children, Raymond and Natonia.

Source :  “Jefferson County, Pennsylvania - Her Pioneers and People,” Vol. II, by Dr. William James McKnight, published in 1917 by J.H. Beers & Company, Chicago, page 500.