Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 54.  Barren County.

JOSEPH H. LEWIS, chief justice of the Kentucky court of appeals, was
born in the southern part of Barren county, Kentucky, October, 29, 1824,
and is a representative of one of the early families of the state. His
father was in good circumstances and he was provided with liberal
educational advantages.  He attended Center College, of Danville, where
he was graduated in 1843, at the age of nineteen years.  He read law in
the office of Judge C. C. Tompkins and was duly admitted to the bar in
Glasgow, Kentucky, 1845.  He at once entered upon the practice of his
chosen profession there.  Nature bountifully endowed him with the peculiar
qualifications that combine to make a successful lawyer.  Patiently
preserving; possessed of an analytical mind, and one that is readily
receptive and retentive of the fundamental principles and intricacies of
the law; gifted with a spirit of devotion to wearisome details; quick to
comprehend the most subtle problems and logical in his conclusions;
fearless in the advocacy of any cause that he may espouse, and the soul
honor and integrity, few men have been more richly gifted for the
achievement of success in the arduous, difficult profession of the law.
     Hardly had Judge Lewis entered upon his legal career and become
established in a fair and growing practice when he was honored by his
fellow-citizens by a call to public office, being elected in 1845, on
the Whig ticket, to represent his district in the state legislature. In
1851 he was re-elected, and again in 1853, and took an active part in
the important work of the sessions.  He continued to act with the Whig
party until the time of the Know-nothing excitement, when he identified
himself with the Democracy.  In 1857 he was nominated by his party for
congress, but was defeated by W. L. Underwood, of Warren county, at that
time the representative from the district.  In 1861 he was again a
candidate for congress and defeated by Henry Grider, of Bowling Green,
Kentucky, who represented the Union element of the state, while Mr. Lewis
was the representative of those whose sympathies were with the south.
     In September, 1861, Mr. Lewis volunteered his services in the
Confederate army, and was commissioned colonel of the Sixth regiment of
Kentucky infantry.  While leading his command in the battle of Shiloh
he had two horses killed and one wounded under him.  He participated
with his regiment in the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Jackson and
Chickamauga, and on the 30th of September, 1865, was commissioned
brigadier general, and took command of the famous "Orphans' Brigade." He
was a brave and fearless soldier, and inspired his men with the courage
and daring which made his brigade so famous.  The march to Savannah,
into South Carolina, the operations before Sumter and the surrender at
Washington Court House, were events with which his name is inseparably
connected in the military annals of the country.
     At the close of the war Judge Lewis returned to his home and resumed
the practice of law in Glasgow.  He was re-elected to the legislature in
1868, and was made chairman of the committee on education.  In 1870 he was
elected to congress to fill a vacancy, and a year later, at the next
general election, he was chosen for a full term and served for three
years--1870-3.  In 1880 he was elected circuit judge of his district, but
resigned this position to become a candidate for judge of the court of
appeals, to which he was elected to fill out the unexpired term of
Judge M. H. Cofer, deceased.  He has been twice re-elected and has served
on the appellate bench continuously for fourteen years, one of the most
distinguished members of the court of last resort, and as chief justice in
1882, again in 1888, and now, in 1897, for a third time.
     A man of unimpeachable character, of unusual intellectual
endowments, with a thorough understanding of the law, patience, urbanity
and industry, Judge Lewis took to the bench the very highest qualification
for this most responsible office in the system of the state government;
and his record as a judge has been in harmony with his record as a man
and lawyer, distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp
of every problem has presented itself for solution.

Lewis Tompkins Underwood Cofer Grider
=
Boyle-KY Warren-KY

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/barren/lewis.jh.txt