Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
George W. Lewis moved to Crawford County in 1869 with his family from Ohio, buying a 200 acres farm east of Eaton, which is now owned by his grandson, Kent V. Lewis.
He was born April 5, 1835, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the son of Dr. Peter J.W. Lewis, whose father had come from Wales as an orphan boy and grew up in Philadelphia. Peter J.W. Lewis, a physician, moved his family to Carroll County, Ohio, while G.W. Lewis was a baby, and died there when he was four years of age.
The family later located in Columbiana County, Ohio, and G.W. Lewis lived there until moving to Crawford County, where he farmed until 1877 when he became manager of the Grange cooperative store in Robinson, and later the proprietor of the merchantile business which was located in a two story brick building in Robinson on East Main St. He made his home in Robinson in a frame house located on the south east corner of Main and Jefferson streets.
In 1897 he retired from the business and moved back to his farm. He died, apparently of over exertion, on June 20, 1900, at the age of 65 years, while herding some sheep down the road after he had had to chase them out of an oat field.
He married Elizabeth Calvin, March 5, 1859, and was the father of eight children, two of whom died in infancy.
At the time of his death, F. Wood Lewis, then mayor of Robinson, Dr. John V. Lewis, a physician of Momence, Ill., Dr. C.L. Lewis, a dentist, D.A. Lewis, the youngest son, and two daughters, Mrs. Jennie Brown and Loretta Lewis, who later became Dr. Loretta Curl, an osteopathic physician of Paris, Illinois, survived him.
F. Wood Lewis, who was born April 8, 1864, in Mahoning County, Ohio, where his parents were temporarily residing, was brought to Crawford county at the age of five years with his family.
He worked on the family farm and in the store as a boy, and was a member of the first class to be graduated from the old Robinson High school then located in the old Lincoln school building.
He taught school for two years and the read law with Judge Franklin Robb and P.G. Bradbury, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1888. He practiced law in the firm and Bradbury and Lewis until elected State's Attorney of Crawford County on the Democratic ticket, and then practiced by himself until he purchased the Robinson Constitution from John S. Abbott in September, 1902, becoming editor and publisher.
Among other activities he was city clerk, alderman, Mayor of Robinson and a member of the school board for 16 years, and took an active part in securing for the city what was later the old Wabash Refinery, from which the present Ohio Oil Co. refinery grew, the Zwermann pottery, later the Case Corporation and other industries.
F. Wood Lewis founded the Robinson Daily News in 1919 and operated it until the end of 1928, when he turned the active management over to his son, Kent V. Lewis, devoting practically all his time to his duties as a member of the House of the Illinois General Assembly, to which he had been first elected in 1924. He served six terms, losing in 1938 in a contested election.
In the General Assembly he gained State wide recognition, being known as one of the hardest working and best informed members of the house, and chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. He was considered floor leader for Gov. Henry Horner and following the loss of the election contest was appointed to organize the Division of Motor Carriers for the State, serving as its first head.
At the time of the Spanish American War in 1898, Mr. Lewis organized an infantry company in Robinson, and was elected Major of the Battalion, in Knoph's Provisional Regiment, the war ending while the regiment was in camp, about to be mustered into Federal service.
He was one of the organizers and first trustees for the New Robinson Cemetery.
Mr. Lewis was active in fraternal and civic life. He took a great interest in the Robinson Rotary Club, and had a nearly prefect record of attendance extending over many years.
Shortly before his death he was presented a fifty year pin for membership in the Masonic order and had been prominent during his life in the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellow, and other lodges. He was also a member of the Elks and Moose lodges in Robinson.
On September 10, 1900, Mr. Lewis married Hattie L. Cox, who died on April 22, 1921. They made their home at 602 North Cross Street. Mrs. Lewis was the daughter of John Thomas Cox, a farmer of Hutsonville vicinity, who had moved to Robinson when he was elected Circuit Clerk, and Lucinda Buckner.
In 1925 Mr. Lewis married Mrs. Bess Ross Cadwallader, of Ohio, Illinois, who died in 1941. In 1943 he married Mrs. Ruth Nichols, of Robinson, and they made their home on South Argus Street, Robinson, until the date of his death.
Dr. Loretta Curl, wife of Dr. Louis Curl, of Paris, Illinois, is the only member of the G.W. Lewis family to survive him.
Kent V. Lewis, born August 29, 1908, in Robinson, was graduated from the local grade schools, the Robinson Township High School in 1922, and the University of Illinois in 1927, having dropped out of college for a year to edit a suburban weekly newspaper in Chicago.
Returning to the Robinson Daily News in 1927, he became a partner and actively in charge of the newspaper two years later, extending its carrier and news service to all the towns in Crawford county.
He served three terms as Master in Chancery, and was elected State Senator in 1948 in the old 48th District, failing of re-election in 1952 and 1956 in the Eisenhower landslides.
He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Robinson Chamber of Commerce for many years and active in civic and community affairs.
During World War II he served approximately three years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, including a year and a half in the South Pacific on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, and held the rank of Captain when leaving active service. He was later commissioned Major in the Marine Corps Reserve.
On December 25, 1939, he married Mary Frances Howe, daughter of Iva Apple Howe, and the late Gordon Howe, of Gordon vicinity. They are the parents of two sons, Wood Van and Larry.
He is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Elks, Moose, Farm Bureau and of Sigma Delta Chi, professional Journalistic fraternity.