I'm new to this list, but not to trying to fill some of the genealogical
holes for the Lewis' family of Morgan, Porter, Indiana. If someone may have
a clue or suspected Lewis connection to offer I'd be grateful to hear from
them.
Below is the best so far, that I've been able to find my great-grandfather's
family (Lyman L. Lewis). I was hoping you could advise me where would be the
best place to go to find MORE information concerning the below individuals
which would assist me with filling in the genealogical holes, that I still
have. The sisters of Lyman, of course, are very difficult to find because of
the usual practice of marrying girls off early or of them dying early. And
anything else you might know that I'm not aware of concerning the Lewis
family.
My Lewis family was composed of these individuals:
Parents:
LeMander Lewis b. 10 Oct 1803 Vermont d. 03 Sep 1880 Valparaiso, Porter,
Indiana (traced LeMander living in Genesse, Allegany, NY, and finally in
Ligonier, Morgan, Noble, Indiana)
Wife:
Mary Dodge b. 22 Nov 1801 Maine d. 09 Dec 1890 Porter, Morgan, Indiana (dau
of Amaziah Dodge b.16 May 1763 Beverly , Essex MA who was living in Maine
and passed away aft. 1860 in Oxford, Butler, Ohio. And Mary, Mery, Mercie
Somes b. 11 Dec 1765 of Mt Desert, Hancock, Maine d. 12 Jul 1845 Oxford,
Butler, Ohio)
LeMander Lewis and Mary Dodge's children:
(1)John R. Lewis b. 30 Sep 1821 Ohio d. 10 Aug 1861 Hamilton, Butler, Ohio
George W. Lewis b. 30 Jun 1824 Morgan, Porter, Indiana d. aft 1870 haven't
been able to find anything! Married Sarah B. Ebert of Cadiz, harrison, Ohio
who passed away in Union, New Jersey. This is all that I've been able to
find out.
(2) George W. Lewis b. 20 Jun 1824 Morgan, Porter, Indiana d. 1870
Married Harriet Molly Unknow b. 1839 Ohio d. aft 1930 Stockton, Jo Davisess,
Illinois. 10 children
(2)William Lafayette Lewis b. 12 Jun 1827 Morgan, Porter, Indiana b. 01 Dec
1910 Greenfield, No. Dade, Missouri
Married Rachel A. Neal b. 22 oct 1835 Martinsville, Morgan, Indiana d. 1923
Greenfield, No Dade, Missouri.
They had 8 children.
(3)Lyman L. Lewis b. 23 Mar 1831 found living in Morgan, Porter, Indiana in
1850) d. 11 Nov 1927 Orland, Glenn, CA
About him and his wife, Nellie Maria Sovereign, is all below.
(4)Sylvester A. Lewis b. 14 Feb 1833 Morgan, Porter, Indiana d. 20 Nov 1890
Ft. Wayne, Allen, Indiana
Married Maria Hansford, daughter of John Hansfor who married three times.
Sylvester and Maria had 2 children.
Something that I've learned about Sylvester is below.
(5)Emeline Almyra Lewis b. Mar 1834 Morgan, Porter, Indiana d. aft 1901 Dist
#158, Wright, Wayne, Indiana
Married Seth Lewis b. Apr 1826 Malone, Ohio, but lived in Tazewell, Illinois
They had eleven children, whose births stretch from Nebraska, Illinois, to
Missouri and finally to Iowa these individuals lived the rest of the lives
out.
(6)Thomas Heath Lewis b. 26 Nov 1835 Porter, Morgan, Indiana d. aft 1880
Washington, Porter, Indiana
Married Caroline Austin b. 1847 Porter, Porter, Indiana. All I know about
them is that they had a son named Eddie who was b. 14 Nov 1870 Washington,
Porter, Indiana and passed away aft 1880
(7)Mary Jane Lewis b. 31 May 1837 Porter, Morgan, Indiana d. aft 1870
Porter, Morgan, Indiana
This is all I have. It seems that ladies just seem to fade away when married
off or die early. I would like very much to find out what happened to her.
(8)Orrin Lewis b. 1839 Porter, Morgan, Indiana d. 1880 Valparaiso, Porter,
Indiana
The only fact I have concering this family was that Orrin married Eliza A.
Bartholomew on 26 Jul 1836 in Porter, Indiana, and after this, I can't find
anything else.
(9)Samuel Thompson Lewis b. 03 Sep 1841 Porter, Morgan, Indiana d. aft 1900
Chicago, Ward #30, Cook, Illinois
Married Harriet Hattie Hosea b. Nov 1860 d. 1900 Chicago, Cook, Illinois.
They had two girls.
(10)Benjamin Franklin Lewis b. 23 Nov 1842 Porter, Morgan, Indiana d. 28 Apr
1933 Harter, Clay, Woodford, Illinois
Married Ida May Beal b. 1859 Illinois d. aft 1920 Harter, Clay, Woodford,
Illinois. They had 6 children.
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I have just visited and found online, on the Porter County, Indiana,
genealogy website and have recognized the father-in-law of Sylvester A.
Lewis, which I have included below:
Sylvester A. Lewis married on 03 Jan 1861, Valparaiso, Porter, Indiana, a
lady named Maria Hansford b. 11 Dec 1840 Chicago, Cook, Illinois d. 17 Dec
1889, Valparaiso, Porter, Indiana. I had Ann Moran as Maria's mother.
Here was what was online concerning the father (and mother, whose mentioned
online) of Ms. Hansford:
John Hansford was born in Somerset, England, January 8, 1813, and is third
of a family of four children born to John and Sarah (Pickford) Hansford; Mr.
Hansford thinks he is the only one of his family now living; his parents
were born and died in England. Our subject received no school education, but
is wholly self-instructed; he left England for New York at fifteen years of
age, where he stopped a short time, thence moved to New Jersey, where he
lived until 1832, thence to New Orleans, Cuba, and finally landed in Chicago
in 1836; he stayed in Cook County, Ill., until 1842, when he settled in
Washington Township, Porter Co., Ind., upon the place of his present
residence; he has now 920 acres of land, with important improvements. In
November, 1838, he was married, in Cook County, Ill., to Ann Moran; she died
in 1840, leaving two children, one now living - Martha (wife of S. Lewis, of
Morgan Township). In 1843, he was again married, this time to Hannah
Dillingham, who died January 1, 1875, by this union he had thirteen
children, seven of whom are living - Eve (now in Kansas), Effie (wife of
Otis King, of La Porte County), Ella (wife of R. Reed, of Washington
Territory), William, Emma (wife of J. Sulman, of this township), Jay and
Jonah (twins). On April 4, 1876, he was married a third time, the bride
being Mary Grundy, who died in April, 1877; on June 21, 1877, he married his
present wife - Lizzie Street. In business, Mr. Hansford has been exceedingly
successful; in politics, he is independent, voting for the best man. For two
years he has had a position on the G. T. R. R., which he yet retains.
Source: "Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana, Historical and Biographical,"
Goodspeed and Blanchard, 1882 page 334, 335 Washington Township Data entry
volunteer: Suzan Schaeffing
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Now, how my family began with the Lewis family:
Lyman Lewis' granddaughter was Florence Josephine Richardson Warmack, who
married Randall Edward Warmack, who was my grandmother. Her mother was
Lyman's dau Genevieve Isabell (Jennie) Lewis b. 02 Nov 1875 Red Bluff,
Tehama, California, where Lyman and Nellie Maria Sovereign (08 Jun 1846
Plato, Kane, Illinois d. 23 Nov 1902 Red Bluff, Tehama, CA lived the rest of
their lives. Nellie Sovereign was the daughter of Richard Steven Sovereign
b. 1798 Simcoe, Ontario, Canada d. aft 1870 Plato, Kane, Illinois and
Elizabeth Betsy Plummer b. 1791 New York and d. aft 1870 Plato, Kane,
Illinois.
An interesting thing I learned about Richard Steven Sovereign was that he
had been one of two children, of eight other siblings and his mother
(Henry's wife Martha Mary Stephens who I'm still learning things about), who
had survived not being murdered by his father, Henry Sovereign (b. 1769
Morris, New Jersey d. 1806 New Jersey). Richard and other brother was away
visiting on this evening when his mother and the rest of his siblings were
murdered. Needless to say, Henry Sovereign was hung in 1806 for these
murders in New Jersey. (all of which I know isn't relevent to this list, but
thanks for bearing with me.)
Nellie Sovereign, however, passed away in Vacaville, Calif which was where
she was institutionalized for a physical condition which at that time no one
was able to understand or treat; her eyes appeared to seem as though they
were oversized for their sockets which hipper-tension sometimes gives off
this effect (I have a picture of her from which this medical condition is
apparent) and sadly, no one of her family ever saw her again.
What I do know is that my great,greatgrandfather LeMander Lewis (from NY),
who was listed as a medical doctor in the 1850 census, whose knowledge I
would suggest, was passed on to Lyman Lewis who was one of the older
children in his family, which could have afforded him a medical position in
the civil war, because of his knowledge; figuratively, he spent his time in
the civil war, in the 'battle of trying to save lives' during that time,
that is recorded in his civil war record, which afterward, had a double
edged sword later. He had spent four full years at being within a this war
zone and apparently from what I have been able to gather from my
grandmother, when she was living, her father suffered from what today would
be referred to as symptoms of traumatic stress for the rest of his life.
Also, after that war, (1)he lost his first wife during the time he was in
this war. (2) Then, after remarrying, while on the journey to Northern
California, (Tehama County, CA, after remarrying, he and his second wife, my
great, great-grandmother, and their first born son Clarence, who had
survived birth) lost three infants immediately after birth, one right after
the other. I'm sure Lyman Lewis assisted with these deliveries of three
infants born while on their way, going out to California. I'm sure these
experiences with death didn't help his pre-existing war condition. Lyman
experienced a great deal of human loss during a very short period of time
which effected definitely his behavior for the rest of his life.
Something else I learned while growing up, was that Lyman's brother,
Sylvester A. Lewis was the owner of a Lewis Publishing Company, early on,
that went around the country and interviewed individuals that has later on,
been used for references for today that have been utilized as knowledgeable
reference as to who lived where and told something about the area which were
published by the Lewis Publishing Company...known as the Goodspeed or
Godspeed pieces of literature one sees often today. (I'm not sure of the
spelling here.)
I know Lyman was related to this Lewis family that owned this publishing
company because I have letters addressed to Lyman from family members who
both asked/pleaded with him to write them back and tell the family (his
family) about his trip out to California, and please would he relate to them
some of the war events so they would know what happened to him. Lyman never
answered any of these letters and I don't know how his family found him so
that they could write him, but Lyman never sent a return letter to his
family because he didn't want to have to tell them and relive what had gone
on during his war experience nor share/relive his experiences about those
early family losses he had seen and experienced concerning his own family.
After reading these letters, the clincher for me that he must have had what
we today call traumatic stress was that my grandmother said that he just
couldn't and won't write them a letter that told them what had happened to
him during this part of his life...because to tell someone else about those
terribly sad happenings, means one has to revisit those sad happens again,
that one would prefer to forget. (Sorry about going on, and on, but for you
to understand what I have to say, I had to tell what I understood about
Lyman and the letters and his relationships, which are very important to
families and with this California and Indiana genealogy.)
Do any of these Lewis names mean anything to anyone on this list?
Can anyone assist me with where I should go to fill in the genealogy holes
that I still have that remain?
Is there a place in Porter, Indiana, that might have some record of these
people above?? Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time and effort to go through this!!
Rhonda Warmack Houston
(rfhouston(a)mindspring.com)