Dr. William Leggett LEWIS

     Dr. William Leggett LEWIS, son of Mordecai LEWIS and Lecia BROWN, was born on 4 April 1816 in Tennessee.² He was graduated in June 1837 in Charleston Medical College at age 21. He later took a post graduate course in England.³ He was a physician between 1838 and 1869 in Blount County, Alabama. He appears on the 1850 census of that county, age 34, with a birth place of South Carolina.²

Dr. William Leggett LEWIS appeared on a census, enumerated 1 June 1840, in the household of Lecia BROWN in Bibb County, Alabama.⁴

William married first Rebecca Swan circa 1842 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. She was the daughter of Edward and Mary Elizabeth Swan. Her sister Elizabeth married William's brother Stephen M. Lewis.^2,5

William married second Olivia Vaughn on 1 January 1860 in Alabama.²

William saw military service between 1861 and 1865 in Blountsville, Alabama, as a surgeon in the Confederate Army.²

William married third Isabella D. Hamby on 9 January 1867 in Alabama.²

Dr. William Leggett LEWIS moved from Blount County to Louisiana 1869 He settled for a time near the Mississippi River.² He moved to San Saba County, Texas, late in 1870. Shorty Brown paid his expenses to travel from Louisiana to Texas and sent Alexander Lewis as guide. Sometime in early 1872 he moved to Bosque County, and a little over a year later, in 1873, he crossed the Brazos River to Hill County, Texas. Finally, in 1878, he moved to Llano County, Texas, where he lived out the remainder of his life.^2,6

Dr. William Leggett LEWIS died on 19 September 1898 in Llano, Texas, at age 82.²

Excerpt from book Llano County Family Album, a History:
page 135
Dr. William L. Lewis
Determined to provide a better life for his family, Dr. William Leggette Lewis, his wife and children left Alabama and the defeated, devastated South. The family came to Texas where there was opportunity and great challenge to overcome the hardships of pioneering a land that was new and untamed.

His parents, Mordica and Leecy Lewis, sent eight sons to Europe for their educations. All the sons became lawyers except William who chose to be a physician. Dr. Lewis was also ordained by the Methodist Church, in 1857 to preach. He married Rebecca Swan in 1842 in Alabama. Their children were boys M.Dee, Taylor and Sidney. Girls Mary (Mug) Lewis (later Farrington) and Leecy Ann (later Henderson).

His first wife died and in 1860 he married Olivia Vaughn. Olivia died and in 1867 he married Mrs. Isabelle D. Palmer. Dr. Lewis fathered twenty one children and has many descendants in Llano County.

Dr. Lewis served the Confederacy in the Civil War, doctoring the wounded and sick in a cellar in Alabama (assisted by his daughter Leecy Ann). He settled in Llano County in 1878, continuing his doctoring and preaching until his death in 1898. Dr. Lewis and some members of his family are buried in the Salem cemetery in grounds that he donated for the Methodist church building and cemetery in the Evergreen community in Llano County.

Descendants of Dr. Lewis mentioned here are only a few from one son. Dr. Lewis was dedicated to the service of his fellow pioneers and rode horseback many miles, enduring Indian attacks, to care for the sick. He was known to be a man of few words, but his eloquence and sincerity gained for him the respect of his family and community (Shirley Lewis Harlow)

In 1850 Blount Co, Alabama the Lewis family shows they had 2 students living with them, a brother and sister; Mary A. Roberts age 22 born in TN and J.A. Gee Roberts age 19 born in GA. William's brother Stephen married Rebecca's sister Elizabeth

Frances Palmer Morrison supplied the following from her Great Grandfather's diary, p3
"1858 - I continued at Somerville till May, when school broke up and I came home and taught three months' school at Hanover, after which I went to school to Lovett at Blountsville to study Greek and Latin preparatory to going to college. I boarded at Dr. Wm. L Lewis'"

Frontier Times:
Vol 5 No. 12 - September, 1928

A Double-Barrel Pioneer Written by A. T. Jackson, Llano, Texas Here is an excellent account of a pioneer Texas doctor and itinerant preacher, Dr. William L. Lewis. It includes an old photo of Mr. Lewis his wife as well as a photo of the Lewis cabin. Dr. Lewis and family remained at their original site on the San Saba River, near the present town of San Saba, for two years, later moving to Bosque county, settling on the Brazos River. Later they moved to Hill county, and then finally settled in the early part of 1878, in Llano county, where Dr. Lewis resided until the time of his death in September, 1898. Mentions: Miss Rebecca Swan * Miss Olivia Vaughn * Mrs. Isabelle D. Palmer * Mrs. J. W. Henderson, Llano, Texas; Taylor Lewis, Fresno, California; Mrs. J. W. Dawson, Houston, Texas; and Mrs. C. S. Underwood Llano, Texas.⁷