This morning I sit here peering out of my window waiting for the words to come. I can see the University of Phoenix stadium in the distance and I am sad that my adopted Arizona Cardinal team wasn’t able to make it to the Super Bowl this year. I am even more disappointed that my first love, The Pittsburgh Steelers, aren’t there either. This morning I don’t know who will be named the premier team of the year, but by the time you see this tomorrow, we all will know.
Becoming a Steelers fan, even a football fan was a bit of a process. Many moons ago, my father was the captain of his small town football team. It was something he was quite proud of.
My dad in the center front, holding the football.
I can remember spending many a Sunday watching the game with him while he explained the plays, the calls and the mechanics of it all. At some point, he felt that I needed to “pick a team” to follow and root for throughout the season. I picked the Steelers. I don’t know why, but they were just the team for me. I remember the days of Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann and the “Steel Curtain” of “Mean” Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood stand out in my mind. We won Super Bowl IX and X (beating the Cowboys 17-21) and we were a force to be reckoned with. (Side note: The Mister is a Cowboys fan. One of his few faults). I followed football closely for many years but then things got busy with a house, deaths, marriage, kids and generally all other kinds of stuff to do. I always remained a Steelers fan, I just wasn’t active.
About 10 years ago my interest in the NFL was rekindled and I am again a regular Sunday, Monday, Thursday watcher. It certainly isn’t my father’s game, nor is it the one that I enjoyed from the 70’s-90’s but that doesn’t mean I can’t indulge in it. But I didn’t come here to just talk about football, though that is always fun.
I am not one to subscribe to the notion of coincidence. I can’t say anything magical, mystical or mysterious occurred when I chose the Steelers as my team but somehow I think I must have felt a connection. Nearly 40 years later I find a cousin who tells me that my family is very deeply entwined in the roots of Pittsburgh and explains my connection to the Steel City.
Circa 1831 witnessed the birth of David Lewis in England (or Wales) and Julia Emma Reese in Wales. How they came to know one another and marry is a mystery thus far. But in 1852, around the time Julia was celebrating her 21st birthday, she had given birth to her eldest child, John E. Lewis. He is my great great grandfather. In 1856, Edward was born then Mary in 1858 and in 1861 Catherine followed. At the age of 30 and despite the growing tensions among the states, the Lewis family moved from Europe to the United States. They seem to have first settled in Illinois where son Richard was born in 1863. By 1865 they have removed to Pittsburgh where they welcomed daughter Sarah Jane, then Isabelle in 1869 and finally Robert Thomas in 1876.
My assumption would be that father David Lewis was a coal miner and that would explain his Welsh connection, a move to Illinois and then to Pittsburg. I have no evidence thus far to prove this since the only census record I have found is from 1880. He is listed with his wife and children Catherine, Richard, Bella (Isabelle) and Thomas. But it is also noted that he is sick and suffering from “Lung Fever” or pneumonia. The census was taken on 9 June, 1880 and David died on 10 Aug, 1880. I think it is more likely that he had black lung and perished at the age of 49.
Julia seems to have made her way as a midwife–she still had four children at home and the youngest was but 4 years old. She died in 1898 and I am ever grateful for the outstanding record keeping of the Allegheny county officials.
I have not yet located where her or David’s graves are in South Side Cemetery. There is still so much work to do on this family but the one consistent clue that I have found is their address(es). Several of the family members lived on Cobden Street….3004, 3006, 3009. With a surname like Lewis, it is so difficult to know if you have the RIGHT Lewis! This street has helped to eliminate several records that looked promising but didn’t quite fit. While this segment of the family seems to have stayed close, my great great grandfather headed west. More on that next time……I have a game to watch!
