RACINE BELLE CITY OF THE LAKES
AND RACINE COUNTY WISCONSIN-ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1916
WILLIAM TURNER LEWIS
When death called William Turner Lewis on the 30th of December, 1915, Racine
lost one of its prominent pioneer
manufacturers and capitalists, a man who was freely accorded honor and respect,
not only because of the success which he
had achieved, but also on account of the straightforward and commendable
business principles which he always followed and
the spirit of helpfulness which he manifested throughout his entire life. He
never deviated from a course which he believed to
be right in all of his relations with his fellowmen and his memory remains both
as an inspiration and a benediction of those
with whom he was associated.
A native of New York, Mr. Lewis was born in Utica on the 10th of March, 1840,
and received his early education in that city.
In 1855, when a boy of fifteen, he became a resident of Racine and at an early
age studied telegraphy under the guidance of
his older brother, James F. Lewis, who afterward became chief justice of the
supreme court of Nevada. At the outbreak of
the Civil war Mr. Lewis was the manager of the Racine office of the Western
Union Telegraph Company and handled hundreds
of messages relative to the great conflict. He soon enlisted in the Federal
Military Telegraph Corps and was stationed at
Cartersville, Georgia, at the headquarters of the Fifteenth Army Corps as
military telegraph operator and railroad agent.
On the 27th of October, 1864, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Mary Isabel
Mitchell, a daughter of
Henry Mitchell,
deceased, who was the founder, in 1834, of the business which later incorporated
as the Mitchell & Lewis Company LTD.,
manufacturer of the famous Mitchell wagon. Toward the close of the Civil war Mr.
Lewis was offered by his father-in-law,
Henry Mitchell, one third interest in the wagon business for five thousand
dollars and the offer was accepted. C. D. Sinclair,
another son-in-law, since deceased, also became a one-third owner a year or two
later, the net worth of the business then
being about $10,000. It was from this small beginning that Racine's notable
wagon industry grew. After the Civil war, many of
the soldiers purchased government lands in the western states and the demand for
farm implements, such as wagons and
plows, rapidly increased, and it was then that messrs. Henry Mitchell,
W. T. Lewis, and C. D. Sinclair decided to push the production of farm wagons as
fast as their capital would permit. In the
70's Henry G. Mitchell, since deceased, and Frank L. Mitchell, sons of Henry
Mitchell, joined the organization. By 1884 the
business had grown to such an extant that it was incorporated under the name of
Mitchell & Lewis Company, Ltd., with
capital stock of six hundred thousand dollars all paid in and a surplus of fifty
thousand dollars. The company made money
every year and paid dividends, leaving the larger part of the earnings in the
business. By 1900 the capital and surplus
amounted to one million eight hundred thousand dollars and the capacity of the
factory had grown from three hundred farm
wagons per year in 1866 to twenty-five thousand per year in 1900.
In 1903 Mr. Lewis and his son,
William Mitchell Lewis, founded the Mitchell
Motor Car Company which under their guidance
had an even more remarkable growth than had the wagon business. In the
establishment and direction of this enterprise pace
was kept with the changing and advancing conditions of the day and an automobile
was put on the market which immediately
won favor and popularity and its sales became not only country-wide, but
international in scope. In 1910 the automobile and
the wagon businesses were incorporated as one company, known as the
Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company, and Mr. Lewis was
the principal owner and actively engaged in the conduct of its affairs up to the
time of his death. Mr. Lewis, with his son, William Mitchell Lewis, was also the founder of one other of Racine's most
important industries, namely, the Racine Rubber
Company. He was always known as a practical business man, energetic, prompt and
reliable. With clear insight he recognized
the possibilities of a business situation, as evidenced by the industries which
he founded and for which he successfully
labored, and he used the forces at his command to the best possible advantage.
His methods were always constructive and
he never promoted his own interests to the detriment of his associates or his
fellowmen.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were born two daughters and two sons: Mary I., the wife of
Dr. George W. Mosher, a practicing
physician of Chicago; William Mitchell Lewis, mentioned elsewhere in this work;
Helen Turnor, the wife of George B. Wilson,
who is also mentioned on another page of this volume, and James Henry, who died
in infancy.
Mr. Lewis belonged to various fraternal organizations, having membership in
Belle City Lodge, No.18, F. & A. M. , while in the
consistory he attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite. He also
belonged to Racine Lodge, No. 252, B. P. O. E.,
and was one of the charter members of the Racine branch of the Young Men's
Christian Association. In matters of citizenship
Mr. Lewis took the deepest interest. He was a prominent republican and
represented the first district of Wisconsin in the
general assembly of 1897. He was a delegate to the national republican
convention of 1888 and to the National Tariff
Commission Congress of 1909. While a member of the general assembly, he was the
author of the Lewis primary election bill,
and as a member of the visiting committee of state institutions took a deep
interest in the subject of prison reform. He also
served for a term or two as a member of the city council. His interest in
politics, however, was not that of an office seeker,
as he always preferred that his public duties should be done as a private
citizen.
Mr. Lewis gave generous, helpful and moral support to every worthy project for
the upbuilding of city and state, and he was
one of the oldest and most loyal members of the First Baptist church, in which
for many years he served as superintendent of
the Sunday school, deacon and trustee.
It is not difficult to speak of him, for his life and his character were as
clear as the sunlight. No man came in contact with
him who did not speedily appreciate him at his true worth and know that he was a
man who not only cherished a high ideal of
duty but lived up to it. He constantly labored for the right and from his
earliest youth devoted a large portion of his time to
the service of others. While at the head of large business interests which he
conducted successfully, it was nevertheless his
rules to set apart time for the labors of love to which he was so devoted. His
friends will miss him, but the memory of his
honorable career, of his sincerity and simplicity, will not be forgotten, and
those who knew him best will rejoice in the
thought that he laid down his task in twilight of the day, when all that he had
to do had been nobly, beautifully and fully
completed.
Contributed by Deborah Crowell |