Riley Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-Wiiliam Lewis
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
WILLIAM LEWIS, a resident of Manhattan, was for many years prominently connected with the farming interests of Riley County, owning and managing a valuable farm in Manhattan Township, in the improvement of which he has contributed his quota toward the development of this part of Kansas. For the past few years he has been living retired from active business in the commodious, well-appointed home that he erected in this city in 1885, enjoying the wealth that he has accumulated by the wise and sagacious management of his affairs.
A native of Ohio, he was born in Wayne Township, Carroll County, May 7, 1820. His father, Joseph Lewis, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., a son of Jonathan Lewis, a native of Wales, who was one of three brothers who came to America in the eighteenth century. The grandfather of our subject became a pioneer of Westmoreland County, buying a tract of timber land, and busily engaging in its clearance until about 1825, when he sold it and removed to Ohio, which was then considered the Far West, and became an early settler of Carroll County. He cleared a farm from the primeval forests of that region and made his home there until his death at the advanced age of one hundred and four years.
The father of our subject was one of five children in the family of his parents who were reared to maturity. He spent his early life in his native Pennsylvania, and was there married, Elizabeth Masters, a native of England who came to America with her parents, becoming his wife. He removed with his family to Ohio about 1800, and was one of the early settlers of Wayne Township, Carroll County. He took up a tract of heavily timbered land in that sparsely settled region where but few pioneers had preceded him. In those early days there were no carriage roads and he was obliged to pack his corn to mill, eighteen miles distant, on horseback. He was a very capable man. and being a natural mechanic, did all of his own carpentering besides building for his neighbors. He erected the first gristmill ever built in that section of the country. On his own land he built a log house, in which humble abode our subject was born. There being no sawed lumber in the country, he split puncheon for the floor and clapboards for the roof and door. In 1832 he sold his property in Carroll County. and. moving to Tuscarawas County in the same State, he bought a tract of land there, a few acres of which was cleared, and he improved a large farm during the fourteen years that he resided there. At the end of that time he sold the place and bought a farm in Richland County and lived there a few years. His next move was to Indiana, where he bought land in Van Wert County. After that he lived with his children, and finally died at the home of his son Jeremiah in that county, at the venerable age of ninety-eight years. His wife also died in Van Wert County. They were both conscientious members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died strong in the faith, having led honest, Christian lives. They reared eleven children to sturdy, self-reliant, trustworthy manhood and womanhood.
The subject of this biography was eleven years old when his parents removed to Tuscarawas County, and his education was continued in the pioneer schools of that region conducted in the primitive log house of the times, with the homemade furniture and heated by a fireplace, the mud and stick chimney being built on the outside of the building. A log was taken out and a row of window glass, which was quite expensive at that time, was inserted to admit light, while the benches on which the scholars sat were made by splitting logs and inserting wooden pins for legs. William lived with his parents until he had grown to manhood. In 1841 he went to Richland County to work for his brother, clearing land, and after a few months he bought eighty acres of forest-covered land, live ncres of which had been deadened and a small cabin built on the place. He erected a more commodious log house in the wilderness, and there commenced housekeeping in the primitive style customary among the pioneers of a thinly settled country. Having no stove Mrs. Lewis was obliged to cook their fare by the fireplace, and she had to do without many conveniences that housekeepers of this day consider absolutely indispensible. Both husband and wife worked hard and prospered accordingly, and from time to time Mr. Lewis was enabled to purchase land adjoining his homestead until he had 340 acres of valuable land, under high cultivation and finely improved. He erected a set of frame buildings, and also a steam sawmill which he operated besides managing his farm. In 1871, on account of ill-health, he disposed of his property in Ohio and sought the healthful, sunny climate of Kansas, hoping to regain his wonted vigor here. He bought 234 acres of land in Riley County, pleasantly located in Manhattan Township, three and one-half miles from the city. A part of the land was improved and the remainder was timber land. There was a stone house in process of erection on the place, which Mr. Lewis completed, and erected besides a corn-crib, granary and a large stone barn. He resided on his farm until 1885, when he bought land in Manhattan and erected his present residence, a commodious frame house, finely located on the corner of Third and Fremont streets, and in this pleasant abode he and his amiable wife are enjoying the comforts of life without its cares and hard toil, the labors of their earlier years having placed them beyond the necessity of active work in life's decline.
Forty-six years ago in November, 1843, William Lewis and Sarah J. Brubaker united their lives for better or worse and have never had cause to regret that important step. Of their pleasant union seven children have been born�Jacob, William H., Jererniah, Jonathan, George W., John Wesley and Harvey. Jacob, residing in Richland County, Ohio, is married and has four children; William, residing in Williams County, Ohio, is married and has three children; Jeremiah, residing in Manhattan Township, is married and has four children; Jonathan, residing in Manhattan Township, is married and has three children: George W. resides in Barton County, Mo.; John and Harvey reside in Manhattan Township.
Mrs. Lewis was born in Huron County, Ohio, March 25, 1823. Her father, Jacob Brubaker, was born in Pennsylvania and was there reared and married. About 1820 he removed to Ohio and was one of the earliest settlers of Huron County, where he bought timbered land. Building a log house, with a mud and stick chimney, he resided in that place a few years, and then moved to Richland County, which was then sparsely settled, Mansfield being but a small hamlet in which was a block house where the white people took refuge when the Indians, who still lingered there, were troublesome. Mr. Brubaker took up a tract of wild land in the forests about fifteen miles northwest of Mansfield, and there improved a good farm, on which he spent his last days.
The maiden name of his wife was Christina Hoffman, and she was a native of Pennsylvania. She used to have to cook before the old-fashioned open fireplace, and it was her deft hand that spun and wove all the clothing used by her family. She died on the homestead in Richland County.
Mr. Lewis is rightly considered one of our most
estimable citizens, as in a life of nearly seventy years his acts have always been guided by honorable principles, and in his dealings with others he has ever been kind, generous and considerate. He and his wife are sincere Christians. and for forty years were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. But in 1887, without changing their religious views essentially, they united with the Mission Church at Manhattan.