Henry Lewis, third son of Abraham, was born in 1757, probably at Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY, as other members of the family are know to have been born there. In 1800 he settled at what is now North Wilna, and built a log house on the east side of the road, opposite the present hotel (built by his descendants), where the marks of the cellar are still visible. He was one of the first overseers of the poor in the town. His first wife was Polly Jackson, and five of their children were born in Rensselaer County. Three more were born in Wilna, one being the first white child born within the present limits of the town. The mother died in 1807 at the age of 38 years, and Henry married three times, but no record is found of the second and third marriages or of the names of the brides. Soon after the death of his first wife, he moved to Cattaraugus County, NY, where all of the last three marriages were consummated. A son, Oscar, was born of the second marriage, but died at the age of nine years. The fourth wife was Mary McMillen, who died in 1836. She bore him two children, of whom the elder, Sarah, must have died young, as no trace of her has been found. The younger, Mortimer, was born 13 June 1819 and died 10 July 1895 near Weston, Ohio. In 1826 Mr. Lewis joined his eldest and third sons, near LaGrange, Ohio, where he died in 1836. Following is a brief record of the children of the first marriage:
1. Ephraim Lewis b 9 April 1786 and lived in Ohio.
2. Betsey Lewis b 22 March 1789; married 10 October 1808 to John C. Foster of
Antwerp.
3. Stephen Lewis b 14 May 1792.
4. Henry Lewis born 1 June 1793, went to Ohio
5. Polly Lewis, b 5 November 1795; married George W. Bingham on 27 November
1816 and lived and died in Wilna.
6. Martha Lewis, b 1802, married John Chellis of Watertown and died one year later.
7. Granson Lewis, b 22 May 1805.
8. Rodolphus Jackson Lewis, b 22 March 1807 and was an infant when his mother died
and was reared by his eldest sister, in Antwerp. He settled in Oswego, NY.
Stephen Lewis, No. 3 above, lived nearly all of his life in North Wilna. He inherited land, to which he addded by purchase and owned 300 acres. In 1825 he built the red house in which he kept hotel during the balance of his life; it was destroyed in the spring of 1903. He was a captain of the local militia and was a prominent man of the town. Stephen died 21 November 1854. On 26 October 1817, he married Sophia Ross. She was born 21 April 1794 in Herkimer County, one of a family of eleven children of Scotch descent. Of their five children, the first and third died before one year of age.
1. Amanda Lewis, died young
2. Sanford Lewis, the second, born 24 November 1820 and lived in North Wilna.
He kept a hotel and died 19 May 1892. On 11 February 1846, he married
Abigail Kimball, who was born 24 July 1822 and died 5 March 1867. His
second wife, whom he married on 24 February 1870, was Audrey Caroline
Bigelow. She was born 24 June 1831 and survived him, and resided in the
hotel which he built. He was a postmaster for over 40 years.
3. Charles Lewis; died young.
4. Silvius Lewis
5. Myron Lewis
Granson Lewis, No. 7 above, lived at North Wilna until 1834, and then moved to the center of town and built a hotel, which he kept as long as he lived, in which he died on 14 November 1851 at 48 years. The building furnished a home for his grandson, Charles Lewis, on the homestead farm. He purchased 26 acres of land, on which he did some farming in connection with his hotel business and to which his son added, making the present farm over 100 acres. For several years he kept the post office. He married on 14 April 1828 to Meribah N. Chaffee, a native of Westminster, VT and daughter of Zebina and Lucy (Nutting) Chaffee, who moved with oxen from Vermont and settled at Natural Bridge in the pioneer days. Mrs. Lewis was married on 26 November 1872 to Orin F. Sanders, whom she survived and died 18 March 1894 at West Carthage, at the age of 85 years. She was the mother of two sons and a daughter. Nelson was the eldest. Columbus R. went to California in 1860 and became a resident of Oakland, in that state. Lucia Ann married John R. Washburn, a prominent citizen of Watertown, where she died and where he died in 1903.
Nelson Lewis, eldest son of Granson Lewis, was born 7 August 1829 in North Wilna and was five years of age when his father moved to the Wilna post office. He continued to operate the hotel and became more intent on agriculture. He added land and owned 110 acres, which he tilled successfully. He died there on 26 October 1887 at 58 years. On 26 December 1851, he married Caroline Langstaff, who was a native of Piscataway, New Jersey, and daughter of Henry and Marinda Eliza (Pickering) Langstaff, natives of New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively. James, the father of Henry Langstaff, was a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs. Lewis survived her husband and lived in the hotel building erected by him. She was also a member of the Disciples Church. Of their seven children four are living.
1. Josephine, the first, died in infancy.
2. Eugene Granson, the second.
3. Helen M. lived near her mother, being the wife of Jared Pierce.
4. Charles E. resided on the home farm
5. Estelle E. married Frank Pennington and lived near her native place
6. Lillian L. died in 1899, and married Wells Timmerman
7. Nelson died at age three
Eugene Granson Lewis, son of Nelson Lewis, was born 24 October 1854 in the hotel at Wilna where his mother and brother reside. At age twelve he had to abandon school and take on the affairs of the hotel due to the failing health of his father. After spending five years in Utica, NY with a market gardener, he returned to Wilna and acquired his present farm where he bred Jersey cows, producing butter for the market. He married on 8 June 1882 to Sedate Hester, daughter of Elisha and Angelica (Clearwater) Fulton, of old Wilna families. Angelica Clearwater was the daughter of Jacob Clearwater, a soldier in the War of 1812 and is wife, Hester Sheley, a native of Johnstown, NY.
Jacob Clearwater was born in Marbletown, Ulster County, NY, a son of Daniel Clearwater. About 1836 he came to Carthage and about six years later settled on a farm in the town of Wilna. He died there on 4 September 1856. His widow died several years later, in Croghan. They had seven children: Abraham b 3 May 1818, lived and died in Ontario, Illinois; Maria died as a young girl; Daniel b 2 December 1822, lived on the homestead and died there 14 January 1891; John b 3 March 1825, died as a young man; Angelica (above); Joseph born 16 July 1830, settled in Croghan and died there; Luke, born 30 September 1833 and lived on a farm in Mexico, Otsego County.
Silvius Lewis, son of Stephen Lewis, was born 18 August 1825, in the hotel kept by his father at North Wilna. He inherited 100 acres of land from his father and purchased 120 additional acres. He inherited 70 acres on the death of his mother. He passed away at his home, north of the hotel on 2 April 1828 at 53. He married on 24 February 1852 to Isabel E. Hanson, who survived him and lived with her son on the homestead. She was born 5 May 1830 in Lowville, NY, daughter of Peter and Anna (Thrall) Hanson, natives of Hartford County, CT. Anna Thrall was a daughter of Jesse Thrall, a Revolutionary soldier. Silvius and Isabell had three children:
1. Orville Adolphus b 24 March 1853 and lived in Antwerp.
2. Stephen Sidney Lewis, son of Silvius Lewis, was born 24 November 1854 on the farm
at North Wilna, until his removal to Philadelphia NY in December of 1903. He
married on 7 August 1880 to Dolly L. Mack. She was born 11 June 1858
in Wilna, daughter of Chester and Mary Ann (Tooly) Mack, natives respectivley
of Antwerp and Wilna. Chester Mack was the son of Carmus and Martha McCloud
Mack, and both early settlers in Wilna. Mary Ann Tooly was a daughter of Horace
and Dolly (Olds) Tooly, natives of Vermont and Dolly lived to 100 years.
3. Henry H. Lewis, the youngest son of Silvius Lewas, was born 26 April 1861, in the
house where he lives. He completed his schooling at Ives Seminary in Antwerp.
He was the genealogist of his family and provided most of the Lewis information.
For three years following the death of his uncle, Sanford Lewis, he kept the post
office at North Wilna. He married on 24 December 1900 to Kate N. Randall. She
was born 25 September 1869 at Wood's and they are the parents of one son, Henry
Silvius Lewis, born 18 December 1902.
Myron Lewis, the youngest son of Stephen Lewis, was born 25 March 1828 in the hotel kept by his father. He bought 100 acres of land when he was age 19. He cleared the land and added 20 acres and built a house where he continued to live until his death on 12 March 1892. The square house on his farm on lot 855 dates to 1883. On 26 November 1846 he married Mary Frances DeWolf; she was born August, 1831 in NY City and died 5 December 1885. They were the parents of ten children all of whom survived:
1. Julia Lewis married William Gates and resides in Schenectady.
2. Augustus P., a farmer in the town of Wilna
3. Adelaide married Nelson Twining and lives at Copenhagen, Lewis County.
4. Cornelia is the wife of William Gray of Utica.
5. Myron
6. Sohia married John Dickson, a farmer of Antwerp
7. Sanford, lived Harrisville, Lewis Co.
8. Florence married Cranson Scott, a farmer on Alexandria Road, Wilna
9. Frank, a resident of Alpine, in Lewis Co., NY
10.Luella became Mrs. Alexis Smith, and resided near Natural Bridge in the town of Wilna.
On 10 November 1887, Myron Lewis married 2)Harriet Timmerman, a widow of Packard.
Augustus Platt Lewis, second child of Myron Lewis, was born 9 August 1849 in North Wilna in the red hotel. He married 15 September 1875 to Bertha Gordon, born 14 April 1848 in Oldenburg, Germany, daughter of Frederick Gordon. Her mother died when she was an infant. In 1860 she came with her father to Cape Vincent. They have a son, Gray Augustus Lewis, born 12 July 1880 who married 24 December 1902 to Mabel Kinne, born 23 March 1884, at Antwerp. She was the daughter of George and Nellie (Cooper) Kinne, natives of Philadelphia and then Antwerp.
Myron Lewis, the fifth child and second son of Myron Lewis (above) was born 1 September 1855 on the farm at Wilna. For some years he worked as a farm hand, saved his earnings and bought land. Since age 24, he has worked the farm, which for many years was the home of the late Simeon Fulton. In 1896, he purchased 250 acres of land, is a member of the Carthage Grange and a Universalist by religious affiliation. He married on 11 June 1879 to Julia Fulton, an adopted daughter of Simeon Fulton, a much respected resident of Wilna. Myron and Julia had four children: Eon Fulton, Lyle V and Larilla Frances.
Source: Geneal. and family history of Jefferson Co., NY, by R. A. Oakes, Volume 1, pp. 105-115
This pioneer has lost his contact information. If anyone recognizes him, please notify
Bruce Coyne
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