Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Sarah Lewis, who m. James Lewis (3) (b 1740), was b. 1750, and m. about 177 1-2. She was b. in Bethlehem, N. J., daughter of Rev. Thomas Lewis and Joanna (Booth). Rev. Tho- ,mas Lewis, a Congregational clergyman, b. in Waterbury, Conn. Aug. 6, 17 16, graduated from Yale in February, 1741. He preached on Long Island, and in several towns in New Jersey, and died at Menaham, N. J., Aug. 20, 1777. Rev. Thomas Lewis was son of Joseph Lewis (a cloth merchant of Waterbury, Conn.), who d. Nov. 29, 1749, leaving an estate inventoried at over 5,628 pounds. Elizabeth Stiles was daughter of Ephraim Stiles (b. Aug., 1645) and Batshebah (Tomlin- son), who was daughter of Henry Tomlinson, 120 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the settler of Milford and Derby, Conn. Eph- raim Stiles was son of Francis Stiles (who was son of Thomas and Maria Stiles) b. in Milbroke, Bedfordshire, England; bapt. Aug. i, 1602, Bed- fordshire, Eng. He emigrated to America and settled at Windsor, Conn., 1635. Some time previous to his coming to America he had been a master-carpenter and a citizen of London. Eli Lewis, son of Eli Walker and Rebecca (Curtis) Lewis, was born January 19, 1806, at the old home in Stratford, and throughout his life he was engaged in farming there. On De- cember 22, 1842, he married Miss Elizabeth Lewis, daughter of James Booth Lewis. She was born December 8, 1818, and died December 26, 1897; h's own death occurred January i, 1891. As a citizen he was highly esteemed. He and his wife attended the services of the Episco- pal Church. Their three daughters, Harriet Eliza, Lizzie Florence and Mary Louise, now occupy the old homestead, a fine estate, a por- tion of which came into the possession of the Lewis family as early as 1764. Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis was a native of Strat- ford, and was a great-granddaughter of James Lewis, who married Naomi Sherman, from whom our subject also traced his descent. James Lewis (2), the grandfather of Mrs. Eliza- beth Lewis, married Sarah Lewis, daughter of Kev. Thomas Lewis, a Congregational minister in New Jersey, and granddaughter of Joseph Lewis, a wealthy resident of Waterbury, Conn. They had several children, of whom James Booth Lewis was the only one to live to matur- ity. He was born in Stratford in 1780, and ■died September 22, 1822; m. June i, 1799, Mary Beardsley, born February 18, 1780, also a native of Stratford, and died March 25, 1857. They had a large family of children, of whom the eldest, Curtis, born July 11, 1800, died in Atlanta, Ga., June 19, 1882. His daughter Elizabeth married J. B. Sargent, of New Haven. His wife, Jane (Collier), of Georgia, died in 1861. (2) Sarah, born March 29, 1802, was married in 1826 to Isaac Brooks, and died Octo- ber 17, 1881. Her husband died November 3, 1888. (3) George, born November 23, 1803, married Delia Smith, of Milford, Conn., and died at Woodstock, N. Y., September 15, 1874; their son George is in Flushing, L. I. (4) James, born November 10, 1805, married Nancy M. Matthews, of New Haven, and died in Strat- ford October 3, 1871; one of their sons, James, lives at Jamaica, I^. L (5) Isaac, born Auj;ust 26, 1807, died February 2, 1892, in New York City. He married Mary Wallace, of that city, who died November 17, 1891. Their children: Mary Jane married Joseph W. Sanford, of Plain- field, N. J.; Sarah E. married Frederick Martin, of Crawford, N. J. ; and Amelia married Albert Drake, of Westfield, N. J. (6) Mary Ann, born May 24, 1809, died July 17, 1887. She was mar- ried April 14, 1828, to Job Peck, who died Janu- ary 24, 1842. (7) Rebecca, born September 11, 1810, died August 14, 1S90; she was married April 8, 1834, to Freeman Stagg, who died May 6, 1890. (8) Edward, born May 3, 18 12, died December 12, 1889; he married Lucy M. French, of Huntington, who was born December 27, 1814, and is still living. (9) Elbert, born April 16, 181 5, died in New York City, April 28, 1835, from smallpox. (10) Maria, born January 10, 1 8 17, was married in the spring of 1S43 to Simon Tomlinson, who was born April 11, 1820, and died February 11, 1891. (11) Elizabeth (Mrs. Eli Lewis) was the next in order of birth. (12) Henry, born April 17, 1820, died June 22, 1885; he married Caroline Coles, of Flushing, L. I., who died January 28, 1891. (13) Cath- erine, born April 17, 1822, married Nathan Cur- tis, and died July 22, 1889, at Kingston, N. Y. ; for his second wife Nathan married, January 19, 1891, Maria Peck, daughter of Mary Ann Lewis (6), who m. Job Peck. Charles H. Peck, a suc- cessful lawyer and Judge of Probate for Strat- ford, is a grandson of Mrs. Mary Ann Lewis (6) Peck and her husband. Job Peck. In the early part of the eighteenth century Mr. George Muirson, the Episcopal clergyman at Rye, in the Province of New York, escorted by his friend. Col. Caleb Heathcote, of the Manor of Scarsdale (who went fully armed, and had their saddlebags well filled with books which they scatered among friends of the Church of England in Connecticut), made several journeys to that State and preached in Stratford. This was the beginning of the Episcopal Church in this town which, from a few members who had belonged to the Church in England, in time in- creased to goodly numbers. Among those who early joined the Episcopal Church about 1741 was Capt. James Lewis, followed in succession by his descendants in the male line to the last Eli Lewis, who have all, according to their means, supported the Church. To be a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church (the Church of Eng- land in those times) meant hardship and per- secution from the Congregational Church (the Established Church of New England), of which the present generation have little idea. Magis- trates sometimes stood in the streets, and, in the name of the law, forbade the people to attend the ^ .='C^;y7a^-^ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 121 services of the new denomination. Documen- tary History of tlie Protestant Epicopal Cfiurch of the United States of America states, that at various times " Episcopal famiHes could obtain no employment, and consequently vacated the town." The Venerable Society in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, generously assisted the Church here in response to many and repeated petitions from Churchmen in great need of the Church and its services, who had for long periods felt the great depriva- tion of its benefits. Previous to the war of the Revolution the Church in Stratford had so many times received such substantial aid from the Mother country through the Society for the Pro- pagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts that the Church of England adherents, as a rule, felt deeply grateful for its fostering care and protec- tion, and when the British Colonies in America rebelled. Churchmen generally sympathized with the King, deeply appreciating the innumerable benefits received. Eli Lewis, born in 1738, with his brother James, was among those who having been brought up to attend the services of the Church were among those who remained faithful adherents to their King. They were peaceful citizens, not riotous, disapproving of war, but they lived up to their convictions, and their sympathies continued with the King, for whom on each Sabbath their prayers had as- cended to the thone of the King of Kings. James Lewis died during the Revolutionary war; during his last sickness he desired his brother Eli Lewis to watch nights with him, but when Eli, anxious for his recovery, attempted to visit and care for him, those in authority would not permit him to do so for fear of conspiracy against the Patriot cause. Stirring times were those! Neighbor arrayed against neighbor, brother against brother. A party of men were one night sent to arrest Eli, but his wife, Naomi (Walker) Lewis, daughter of James Walker and niece of Hon. Robert Walker, put her head out of an upper window and so eloquently e.\- pressed herself to her neighbors and former friends that they, with crestfallen mien, precipi- tately beat a retreat, never to return. Tradition says that in the latter part of the war Eli Lewis paid a substitute to fight in his stead for the I^a- triot cause. Eli Lewis (born 1806) was about one year old when, in 1807, the famous snow- storm arrived, which Peter Parley describes as " famous because there had never been such an one before, and there has never been such an one since." His father taught school in Oronoque that winter, going back and forth each day on horseback, but this night, and until the snow- storm was over, was unable to reach home. His mother, with three liitle children and the daugh- ter of Mr. John Lewis, her neighbor, were snow- bound. When the storm abated a path was tunneled across the street for the young lady to return home. Such a storm was not remembered by the oldest inhabitant in this part of the world, until on March 12, 18S8, the "Big I^lizzard " ar- rived. Eli Lewis lived to see it, and hoped never to see another.