Grandmother Lewis And Her Coffee Table


This is the Coffee table that belonged to my Grandmother Pearl Mae Lewis. It was purchased at an Antique Store in Allen Texas in about 1950-51 by her sons, Junior Leslie Lewis, Raymond Lewis and James Lewis. The purchase price was about $50. at the time. When grandmother got sick,and moved to stay with her daughter, Mary Ann Lewis Keller, the movers dropped the top of the table, and broke the beveled glass, and then replaced it with regular glass. In 1974 grandmother was in bad health, and she asked me if I wanted the table. I said that I did but that she should first ask the other chldren if they wanted it. She said she had offered it to each of them for the original $50. that it had cost, and that none of them gave her the money so she wanted to sell it to pay for some of her medical bills. I told her that it was worth much more than the $50. She said she knew it was but only wanted $50. I checked my wallet, and gave her what was there at the time about $220. or $225. After my oldest daughter died in 1997 I gave the table to my youngest daughter Amy Lewis who lives in Vilonia Arkansas. Here are the pictures preserved for the history of the family. You will notice that the winged eagle is hand carved into the heart of this table at a depth of about 2 to 2-1/2 inches. Also all of the ornate carving work on the outside of this piece looks to have been done by hand.

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Grandmother also gave me this straight back chair. She often told me the story of my grandfather coming out of the fields working to find the grandchildren of Colonel Rhea, who was a Colonel in the Civil War, and who owned the Mill there that the community took it's name from (Rhea Mills) throwing the furniture from the second story of the building. When grandfather asked them if they had any chairs left that they had not thrown and broken they said yes that they had two left for which they charged him fifty cents each. This is the only one that survived. My Uncle Clyde Lewis painted it, and my grandmother made the bottom for it when the weaved wicker bottom gave way. Note the chair is put together with brass plates. It also resides at the home of my daughter Amy in Vilonia.

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