William Lewis
Privacy Level: Open (White)

William Lewis (abt. 1750 - abt. 1812)

Major William Lewis
Born about in County Down, Irelandmap
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 6 Oct 1770 in County Down, Ireland?map
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 62 in Hickory Valley, White, Tennessee, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bob Nichol private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 19 Feb 2013
This page has been accessed 7,045 times.

Contents

Biography

Ireland Native
William Lewis was born in Ireland.
1776 Project
Major William Lewis served with 1st Virginia Regiment (1777), Continental Army during the American Revolution.
Daughters of the American Revolution
William Lewis is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A070175.
SAR insignia
William Lewis is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: 236208
Rank: Major / Patriotic Service

He was born about 1740 in County Down, Ireland. [1] [2] [3]

William Lewis married on 06 Oct 1770 to Mary John. [4]

He was a farmer who served as a Major in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was captured at Charleston, South Carolina on 12/05/1780 and was held as a prisoner of war until his release on 1/5/1783. [4]

He died about 1812 and was buried in an unmarked grave at Union Cemetery in White County, Tennessee, USA. [3]

On May 1812 the widow, Mary Lewis, appeared at the probate court in Hickory Valley, White County, Tennessee, USA to prove the kast Will of William Lewis. [2] [4]

Residence

1796 Sullivan County, Tennessee, USA [5] [6]
1812 Sullivan County, Tennessee, USA [7]

Will

In the name of God Amen, I, William Lewis, Senr., of the County of White and State of Tennessee, being sick and weak in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory (for which I thank God), and calling to mind the mortality of the body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make, constitute and ordain this my last will and testament; that is to say, principally and first of all, I give and bequeath my soul into the hand of Almighty God who gave it, my body to the dust to be buried in decent christian burial at the direction of my executors herein after to be named, nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God. And as touching and concerning such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me, I give, bequeath, devise and dispose of the same in form and manner following:

1st. I desire that all my just and lawful debts be levied, raised and paid out of my personal estate.

2nd. I give and bequeath to my well beloved wife, Mary Lewis, all and singular my mansion house, lands and tenements, household furniture, farming utensils, and stock of horses, cattle and hogs, by her freely to be used and enjoyed for and during her natural life, except such things as shall hereinafter be named.

3rd. I give and bequeath to my younger son Thomas Lewis the tract of land whereon I now live, containing sixty acres, and also one other tract adjoining containing twenty nine acres, both held by deeds from David Nicholds. And also one feather bed and furniture with one stand of curtains, one waggon and Giers, one cupboard, one trunk, one rifle Gun and one last Springs colt, all of which moveable property I desire may given up to him and put in his possession on his marriage day or on the day of his coming to age.

4th. I give and bequeath to my younger daughter Leah Lewis, one feather bed and furniture, including one stand of Curtains, one trunk, and one cow and calf of the value of ten dollars, all to be delivered to her at the day of her marriage, or on the day of her arrival at mature age, freely to be used and enjoyed by her and her heirs forever.

5th. I give and bequeath to Major Lewis, William Lewis, Benjamin Lewis, Mary Holland, John Lewis, Sarah Williams, Elijah Lewis, Elisha Lewis, Jesse Lewis and Rachel Montgomery, my sons and daughters the sum of forty shillings each, to be paid by my younger son Thomas, in good sound corn at two shillings per bushel, and to be paid, one half in twelve months, and the other half in two years after my decease.

6th. Touching and concerning such monies as I now have in hand, together with such notes as I hold for the payment of money, I give and bequeath the whole for the use and support of my loving wife Mary, except so much as will purchase a saddle for my son Thomas, which to him I also freely give.

7th. After the decease of my loving wife Mary, it is my desire and I hereby ordain and declare, that all the farming implements, including my broad axe, be given and delivered to my son Thomas by him and his heirs forever, together with what I have already given him, to be possessed and enjoyed. And whatever else of my estate there then be left and remaining, I give and bequeath the same, and every part and parcel thereof to be equally divided among my other eleven children, already before named.

8th. And lastly I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my loving wife Mary my Executrix, and my well beloved son William Lewis Jun. my Executor to this my last will and testament.

And I do hereby revoke all former wills, testaments, legacies or bequests, or executors by me at any time heretofore made, ordained, bequeathed or appointed, and to declare this and no other to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I, the said William Lewis Senr. my hand and seal have hereunto set this twentyfourth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve.

Signed, sealed and acknowledged declared, and published as the last Will and testament of William Lewis, Sen.

(signature) William Lewis [seal]
in presence of us
Turner Lane
Isaac Anderson.
(Proven and recorded: 11 May 1812) [8] [9]

Ancestors

... John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg became a minister of the Lutheran Church at Woodstock, Virginia in 1772, was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1774, and then became Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety for Dunmore County. In January, 1776 he preached his farewell sermon from Ecclesiastes III, 1: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven", and at the close of the sermon he took off his clerical gown, revealing beneath it the uniform of a militia officer. He then raised and commanded the 8th Virginia Regiment, which was composed largely of Germans from the Shenandoah Valley.

After distinguishing himself at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in June, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, February 21, 1777, and ordered to Morristown, New Jersey. It was then that Captain William Lewis's services under him began, during which his brigade and that of Weedon bore the brunt of the fighting at Brandywine on September 11, and also distinguished itself at Germantown on the following October 8. The brigade was with Washington at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777-78, and then fought as a part of General Greene's division at Monmouth Court House on June 28, 1778 and with General Putnam's division later the same year on the North River. The winter of 1778-1779 was spent in winter quarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey.

On May 12, 1779, William Lewis was promoted to the rank of Major and attached to the 10th Virginia Regiment, in which he served under Colonels Edward Stevens, Jo Green, and William Davies. In the latter part of the year 1779 Major Lewis was transferred to the command of General Benjamin Lincoln at Charleston, South Carolina. Here he was made a prisoner of war, when Lincoln surrendered on May 12, 1780 to Sir Henry Clinton, after a siege of about six weeks. Clinton's army numbered about 9000 men; while Lincoln's garrison did not exceed 2500. Major Lewis remained a prisoner of war until May 1, 1783, when he was paroled.

Meanwhile he had likely been joined by his family at Charleston, and when the war ended he moved with his family to the Waxhaw Settlement, now Union County, South Carolina. Here, according to Gwathmey, he had been awarded 1,100 acres of land as a Revolutionary officer. Later he moved to the Washington District in the northwest portion of the same state, which was afterwards named Pendleton County. He settled with his family near where the town of Pendleton is now located. According to the Census of 1790, he had at that time two sons "sixteen years old and above", five sons "under sixteen", and three daughters; but he held no slaves.

In 1806, three of his sons having moved to White County, Tennessee, Major William Lewis also journeyed across the mountains and made a new home for himself near his sons in Hickory Valley, settling on the land afterwards known as the Hiram Miller place. Here he lived until his death in the year 1812. His will, now on record in the White County Court House, Sparta, Tennessee, was dated February 24, 1812 and was probated on May 11 of that year. The day of his death is not now known. He was buried in the Union Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Hickory Valley, where his wife who survived him was also buried. The date of the death of Mary (John) Lewis is not now known. Over the grave of Major William Lewis a marker was placed by the Rock House Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which was dedicated on July 4, 1935. As a part of the ceremony, the marker was unveiled by the two small daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sherrell of Doyle, Tennessee. It was accepted on behalf of the descendants of Major Lewis by Elsa Emma Moore, and Dr. Venable Lane Lewis then introduced Professor Charles Lee Lewis of the U.S. Naval Academy, who addressed the large gathering of relatives on the life of Major William Lewis.

The large log house of Major Lewis was standing until about twenty years ago. It had two large rooms with the usual pioneer breeze-way or dog-run between them. There was also a "lean-to" along the back for kitchen, etc. For many years the logs had been covered with weather-boarding, and only one of the original stone chimneys was standing when I saw it many years ago ... A short time after I was planning to purchase the house for its preservation, it was burned.

(Extract of C. L. Lewis chronicle, continued)

... In the year 1798, he [William Lewis, Jr.] and his two brothers Benjamin and Elijah and William Plumlee went on a long journey of exploration on foot from their home in South Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee. They crossed western North Carolina and made their way into East Tennessee by way of Knoxville, having followed the more thickly settled districts where the Indians by that time were more friendly to travelers. Near Knoxville they hired an Indian guide. At Pikeville in Sequatchie Vallley they left the last settlement behind and pushed on into what was then a largely unexplored wilderness, where they had to depend on their long rifles for food. The first night after leaving Pikeville they spent near the headwaters of Cane Creek. The next morning their guide took them down to a brook and, raising up a large flat stone, showed them a quantity of lead, and here they secured the lead they needed for more bullets. They then blazed the trees so that they might be able to find the place again. But on leaving, the Indian led them in circles, and years afterwards when they returned in search of the mine they were unable to locate the spot. In traveling on toward Nashville, they crossed the Caney Fork River at the shoals above the mouth of Cane Creek, now known as the Old Mitchell Mill, and then crossed the lower end of Hickory Valley. At that time, the first settler in White County, John White, was living in a log cabin in this valley with his wife, dauthter Martha, and son Woodson, on a seven acre tract of land which he had cleared in the cane-brake in 1789. He came from Amelia County, Virginia. During the Revolution he was in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and possibly knew Major William Lewis. However the Lewis brothers could hardly have known that White was in Hickory Valley before they set out on their long journey. They most certainly visited here before continuing their journey.

Nashville, first called Fort Nashborough, had been settled in 1779, and by the time Tennessee became a state in 1796, there were a considerable number of settlers in various parts of Middle Tennessee. Among these was General James Winchester who had settled on Bledsoe's Creek near the present town, Gallatin. No doubt the Lewis brothers, in the last portion of their journey of about one hundred miles, made contact frequently with white settlers. It is not known how long they remained in Nashville, but eventually they returned to Hickory Balley, which seemed to them the best place they had seen for making a settlement.

On their return to South Carolina, they crossed the valley again but at its upper end; crossing Rush Creek (Wallace Branch), they then followed Caney Fork until they came to Bee Creek which led them out on the mountain, whence they continued their long return journey home.

They evidently were greatly pleased with the fertility and beauty of Hickory Valley, for one or two years later they returned with their families and settled in the valley they had explored. They were accompanied by members of the Doyle, Mitchell, Melton, and Plumlee families. Other families which may not have come until later were from the Wilson, Rogers, Yates, Cole, Wallace, and Shockley families. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Sources

  1. Daughters of the American Revolution by Heitman citing Register of Officers of Continental Army; Revolutionary Soldiers of Virginia; v8 p269 & v12 p11; DAR#542691
  2. 2.0 2.1 U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications 1889-1970 on ancestry.com citing v266; SAR Membership #53671
  3. 3.0 3.1 Web: Tennessee, Find A Grave Index 1777-2012 on ancestry.com for William Lewis, b: 1740; d: 1812 @72yrs; buried: Sparta, White County, Tennessee, USA
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Legacy of Robert Mitchell" by John T. Mitchell (deceased) & Spencer Mitchell; unpublished in 1995; repository: Robert B. Nichol (Nichol-198)
  5. U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783 on ancestry.com; for William Lewis, res: VA; service: Sep 1778 Virginia; rank: Captain in Regiment#1
  6. 1796 Tennessee, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index 1810-1891 on ancestry.com citing TN Early Census Index Database; 1796 Tax list; for William Lewis, res: Sullivan County, TN
  7. 1812 Tennessee, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index 1810-1891; on ancestry.com citing TN Early Census Index Database; 1812 Tax list; for William Lewis, res: Sullivan County, TN
  8. Will Book 1810-1829 p14-16 Will of Major William Lewis, probate: 15 Oct 1817 White County, Tennessee; on file in White County Court Clerk's office in Sparta, Tennessee, USA
  9. Deposition of 10 Oct 1935 made by Lucillus Anderson Lewis (great-grandson of Major Lewis @78yrs)
  10. Lewis chronicle by Prof. Charles Lee Lewis, U.S. Naval Academy c1940
  11. "Lewisiana, or the Lewis Letter" v12 #11 p181 (May 1902) article by John B. Lewis (grandson of Major Lewis) of Anderson, South Carolina; and #12 (June 1902)
  12. "Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution" by John Gwathmey of Richmond in 1938
  13. "Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution" by Francis B. Heitman in 1914
  • Ancestry Family Tree




Is William your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with William by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 2

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.
Additional source:

"The First Virginia Regiment of Foot, 1775-1783," M. Lee Minnis, Willow Bend Books, Lovettsville, Virginia, 1998, Pp. 289-290:

"William was the original first lieutenant of Fleming's Company with a provincial date of rank of 2 October 1775 and in the Continental Line of 27 January 1776. He was still with the company as a lieutenant on 5 October 1776. Promotion to captain came in December 1776 with a date of rank of 6 August of that year and command of Davies' Company. . . Lewis was promoted to major in the Tenth Virginia with a date of rank of 12 May 1779. . ."

Judith (Drew) Brittingham, 5th great-granddaughter

William Terrell Lewis is not the same man as the Major William Lewis who served during the Revolutionary War and married Mary John.

There was a William Terrell Lewis Jr who served as a Major, and whose father was a William Terrell Lewis and is not the same person as the Major William Lewis who married Mary John. P

Please research and correct. Autosomal DNA shows a connection to the James Cotter above and my autosomal DNA including a M. Dillow's autosomal DNA match to us. M. Dillow has extensively researched our Major William Lewis and is a descendant of Major William Lewis who married a Mary John. Our William Lewis father is unknown. Thank you.

posted by Tony Blackburn