JOHN LEWIS, one of the six sons of Irish John, probably the fifth in order of birth and the first after the Lewis
settlement in the new world, was born in the original part of old Fort Lewis on Lewis Creek in West Augusta, near
the town of Stauton, probably in 1733 or 1734. He may have been a son of Pioneer John by a second marriage with
a Virginia lady by the name of Ursula Hardin, there being record of a marriage in Virginia of a John Lewis (not
otherwise identified) and an Ursula Hardin in the year 1733. The Ursula Hardin of this record would have been then
about 33 and John Lewis about 55. John Lewis, Jr. named one of his sons Samuel Hardin Lewis and Samuel Hardin Lewis
named one of his daughters Ursula Ann Lewis, which may or may not be significant of a second marriage of Pioneer
John.
Whether there was some family estrangement that caused John Lewis early in life to leave the parental roof-tree
cannot now be determined. Certain it is that John, at a very early age, crossed the Blue Ridge into Albemarle county,
Virginia, where he married, settling then far to the south, near the North Carolina line, in the valley of the
Dan. This early separation from the family west of the Blue Ridge may account for the general confusion with reference
to the sons of Pioneer John Lewis.
This John Lewis has been so hopelessly confused by the chroniclers with other John Lewises of his time (mostly
grandsons of Pioneer John) that little can be said with certainty concerning his life. For instance, it seems probable
that the chronicler has confused this son of Pioneer John with the Pioneer's grandson, John Lewis, eldest son of
General Andrew, who is recorded as having been at Grant's defeat in 1858, at which time General Andrew's eldest
son could not have been more than eight years of age. Again, historians have recorded Colonel Lewis's son, John
Lewis, as a officer at the Battle of the Point, at which time this John Lewis, born in 1766, could not have been
more than eight years old. In both instances the references probably were to the Pioneer's son, Major John Lewis.
It appears probable that John Lewis of Pittsylvania was not generally associated in the public mind with the Lewises
west of the Blue Ridge in Augusta, and that there in Pittsylvania county there flourished a branch of the old pioneer's
family tree that was not known to be rooted from the same stock as General Andrew and big brothers west of the
Blue Ridge.
The son, John, is not mentioned in his father's will; neither is the son, Samuel. Certain it is that John was living
at that time. Charles is mentioned in the will and the three other Lewis sons were named executors thereof.
John married a daughter of Robert Lewis of Albermarle county and became one of the earliest settlers of Pittsylvania
county, Virginia. He was a planter and tobacconist, and at one time was engaged with the Littleberrys in the manufacture
of plug and shipping of strip tobacco, a business that was followed also by some of his sons. His home was in the
Dan Valley, near Danville, close to the North Carolina line.
John Lewis and his wife Mildred (Millie) probably had a numerous family, of most of whom nothing is known. From
data found in the files of the Pike county (Illinois) probate court pertaining to the estate of the son, Samuel
Hardin Lewis, it may be inferred that his children were Robert, Andrew, Millie, John, James, Samuel, Ann, William,
Margaret, Jane and Littleberry. In reference it is possible that instead of two sons named Robert and Andrew there
was one son named Robert Andrew, and that instead of two daughters named Margaret and Jane there was a daughter
named Margaret Jane. Also, there is inferential evidence that the son, Littleberry, was by a second marriage of
John Lewis to a Miss Littleberry of Campbell county, Virginia.
In the annals of the Lewis family in Missouri, it is stated that James Lewis, who came to St. Louis in 1847, and
four Lewis brothers who were with Howard's Rangers on the Missouri border in the War of 1812, were first cousins
and that all were descendants of a John Lewis who fled from persecutions in Ireland and settled Augusta county,
Virginia. James Lewis, who came to St. Louis in 1847, was a son of Littleberry Lewis, who was a son of John Lewis,
who was a son of Irish John. The Lewis brothers who were with Howard's Rangers were really five (some say six)
instead of four. They were Milton, Lindsay, Martrom, John, Samuel and, possibly, George Lewis, being sons of that
John Lewis who "brought the English tongue to the Missouri river." This John Lewis, according to descendants
of James (uncle of the 1847 St. Louis James), residing in what was once a part of old St. Charles county, was a
brother of Samuel Lewis who moved from Lincoln county, Missouri, to Pike county, Illinois, and a brother also of
their own ancestor, James Lewis, one of whose grandsons, Luke Lewis (son of Jesse), was among the pioneers of Spencer
township in Pike county, Missouri.
The John Lewis line is identified in part by its connection with the tobacco industry. John and his descendants
were tobacconists and used many slaves in the propagation of the weed and in its manufacture into commercial products.
Their operations, which began in Virginia, in Pittsylvania, Campbell and Rockbridge counties, at Lynchburg and
Glasgow, later were prosecuted here in the west, at St. Louis and Alton. Numerous descendants of John Lewis were
associated with the tobacco industry in this western country, among them Samuel Hardin Lewis, the early settler
in Pike county.
In the "Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis," edited by William Hyde and Howard L. Conard, is the
following with reference to Robert David Lewis, a descendant of John, who was born April 3, 1847, in Lynchburg,
Virginia, and who was long identified with the tobacco business at St. Louis and Alton:
"The family to which he (Robert David Lewis) belongs was planted in Virginia in 1732, when John Lewis, who
was a native of Donegal, Ireland, of Huguenot descent, came with his wife and children to this country and settled
in the Old Dominion. The coat of arms and the family tree are held by a branch of the Lewis family in Pittsylvania
county, Va.
"One of the sons of this John Lewis was General Andrew Lewis, who attained great distinction in the French
and Indian wars, and also in the war of the Revolution. Another son was Thomas Lewis, who was a member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses, where he faithfully supported the rights of the colonies. He advocated the resolution of Patrick
Henry in the session of 1765; was a member of the convention of 1775 and 1776, and also of the State Convention
that ratified the Federal Constitution. Two other sons were William and Charles Lewis, both of whom served in the
Revolutionary Army with the rank of Colonel.
"Another son was John Lewis, great grandfather of Robert D. Lewis, who was one of the earliest settlers of
Pittsylvania county, Virginia. Littleberry Lewis, one of the sons of John Lewis, was for many years a large manufacturer
of plug tobaccos, and shipper of tobacco strips at Lynchburg and James A. W. Lewis, father of Robert D. Lewis,
was superintendent of these tobacco works at the time of the birth of his son. In 1847, James A. W. Lewis, with
his wife and infant child, Robert D., left their old home in Virginia, and set out for St. Louis."
In the foregoing account it will be noted that there is no reference to Pioneer John Lewis's eldest son, Samuel,
who died unmarried, possibly before the Revolution, and who may not have been known to the descendants of his much
younger brother, John.
James A. W. Lewis was associated in Virginia with his father, Littleberry, and with the latter's brothers, James
and (probably) Samuel, in the tobacco business. Soon after his arrival in St. Louis in 1847, James A. W. Lewis
entered into a partnership with Christian Peper in the manufacture of tobacco, which partnership continued three
years. James then became superintendent for Liggett & Dausman Tobacco Manufacturing Company, which position
he held for eight years. He then superintended the works conducted by James Roddy until January, 1867, when he
moved to Alton to superintend the business of the Myers & Drummond tobacco factory. Robert David Lewis and
his brother James accompanied their father to Alton and worked in the Myers & Drummond factory until the spring
of 1880 when both returned to St. Louis, where Robert became general superintendent of the Drummond tobacco works
in that city, remaining in that position until 1898 when the plant was sold to the American Tobacco Company.
Victor W. Jones of Seattle, Washington, a great great grandson of Samuel Hardin Lewis of early Pleasant Hill, relates
that he was once told by his cousin, Frank A. Collard, now deceased, that Samuel Hardin Lewis had a brother, James,
who lived at Glasgow, Missouri, and operated a tobacco mill with the help of slaves; also that this James Lewis
originated the Star brand of tobacco, which he used to sell to Liggett & Myers before the Civil War.
Inquiry revealed that these Lewises were not connected with Glasgow, Missouri, but it is quite possible that in
this reference there has been a confusion of Glasgow, Missouri, with Glasgow, Virginia, which was in Rockbridge
county, in which county Pioneer John Lewis had vast land grants, this being in early times a part of West Augusta.
Victor W. Jones of the above reference is a most important contributor to this history. He descends from Samuel
H. Lewis and Mary Barnett through their daughter, Martha Damarius Lewis, who more than a century ago married Felix
Alver Collard, first justice of the peace and one of the earliest school teachers at Pleasant Hill. Their first
child, Mary Jane Collard, born at Pleasant Hill in 1833, in 1847 went with her parents behind an ox team over the
wild Oregon Trail to the Pacific northwest, where the family became pioneers of the Oregon country. There, Mary
Jane in 1850 married Earl Douglas Jones, and they were the grandparents of Victor Wayne Jones, our valuable contributor.
From Damarius Lewis and Felix Alver Collard is descended also another Pacific northwest contributor from whom we
shall quote extensively in ensuing chapters, namely, Mrs. Evelyn Collard Fidelle of Portland, Oregon, a great-
granddaughter of the Pike county pioneers, Samuel Hardin Lewis and Mary Barnett, being a daughter of Isaac Newton
Collard, first child born to Felix and Damarius after their arrival in the Oregon country in 1847.
In Missouri history is related the adventure story incident to the coming of James Lewis (grandson of John and
nephew of Pike county Samuel) to Missouri in 1847. The trip from the old home in Virginia to St. Louis was partly
by the Ohio to its junction with the Mississippi, thence up the great river. At a landing at Cape Girardeau, James
Lewis left the boat to transact some business. Becoming separated from his wife and child, the boat on which they
traveled went away without him. He at once boarded another boat, which was to follow the first up the Mississippi.
Carelessness of the pilot on the forward boat, because of which his boat was allowed to swing across stream, caused
a disastrous collision. The boat on which were Mrs. Lewis and her child was struck amidship and soon sank. With
her child in her arms, she climbed upon the roof of the wheelhouse and in the frightful scramble of struggling
passengers the child was three times pushed out of her arms into the water, and was thrice rescued from a watery
grave by the mother.
After a time, all of the passengers were rescued and soon after the family arrived at St. Louis. The infant who
thus came so near perishing in the waters of the Mississippi was Robert David Lewis, of the above account.
The Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlement which Pioneer John Lewis founded on the upper waters of the Shenandoah
in 1732 was destined to play a mighty role in the history of the nation. The settlement that clustered around the
pioneering Lewis was composed largely of families driven out of Ulster by English persecutions there.
William I. Lewis, in relating the story of his grandfather, mentions the "industry, piety and stern integrity
of the young couple, John Lewis and Margaret Lynn," progenitors of this Lewis line in America. So stern and
uncompromising was their example that the colony which they founded was from the beginning motivated by religious
principles. No prison was erected nor was one needed in Augusta for nearly fifteen years after the Lewis settlement.
Lewis, according to Cooke, obtained a great grant of land which "covered half of what is now the large county
of Rockbridge," and Lewis was to settle one family on every thousand acres. He brought over from Ireland and
Scotland in 1737 about one hundred families; and from these families descended some of the most eminent men of
Virginia them Archibald Alexander, James McDowell and others.
Says Cooke: "These Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were conscientious and law-abiding persons; Calvinists of the
straightest sect, pious, earnest, grave of demeanor, not at all sharing the fox-hunting and horse-racing proclivities
of the tidewater Virginians; but bent on doing earnest work.
"They devoted themselves to agriculture, to erecting mills, to educating their children, to making their new
homes comfortable, to all the arts of peace, and above and beyond all of the firm establishment of the church.
The ‘Stone Meeting-House' or Augusta Church near Staunton was one of the first erected in the valley."
In such a community was nurtured those traits that dominated the Lewis family here in the west, the first of whose
emissaries arrived here in the then wilderness at the beginning of 1795, even before the coming of Daniel Boone
to the then Spanish territory west of the Mississippi.