This isn’t an easy post to write. Not because of the contents but because of the lack of contents. Some ancestors just don’t want to come out to play. They make it beyond difficult to find them, much less track their movement across country. There are lots of unknowns in this narrative, but that is just part of the challenge and fun of finding your personal family history.
Previously I had written about the Lewis family and their movement from Wales to the great city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can read that post here: Steel City.
I was able to learn a bit more about my 3x great grandfather and his death.
Unfortunately, this record isn’t quite as complete as Julia’s was, but I now know that he died of “consumption” or tuberculosis. Not sure that it shoots my black lung theory all to hell, but time and more research will tell. You will never be wrong if you don’t take a chance! Beyond this, I have little to add to the core family information and I will now focus on my 2x great grandfather, John Edward Lewis. He was the oldest child of Julia Reese and David Lewis, born 12 February 1852 in Wales. From what the records indicate, the family emigrated to the U.S. and lived in Illinois by 1862 when John would have been approximately 10 years old. When sister Sarah was born in 1865 they were then settled in Pittsburgh.
The next “concrete” evidence I have of John is when he marries Anna Wallace in Cuyahoga county, Ohio on 28 November 1873. 
Of course, no parents are listed for either of them and I know even less about Anna then I do about John. They did stay in Cleveland long enough for their first child, Isabella May, to be born in September of 1874. Then Julia Agnes followed in 1875. I again pick up the family trail in the 1880 census and a third child, Catherine is welcomed circa 1879 and the family is now living in Oregon, Ogle, Illinois. The final child, son William John Lewis is born in May 1883 and the family is now in Manson, Calhoun, Iowa. In less than 10 years, the family had moved at least three times. According to the 1885 Iowa census (I just love and appreciate Iowa’s records!), Catherine is no longer listed in the family and I would presume she has passed.
William John Lewis born in 1883 is my great grandfather and much of the information I have from this point on is a collection of verbal family stories with a small side of records to back some of it up. Also, a cousin who was much involved in family history kindly shared her research and family photos. I wrote about her here: Knowing Better and Doing Better
William John Lewis as a toddler (gotta love that curl!)
Sometime between 1885 and 1900 Anna Wallace died. Family stories go something like this: John and Anna Lewis moved to Rock county, Nebraska and had a ranch in an area that is extremely remote even today. There are less than 1,750 people living in the entire county circa 2016. The daughters of William John Lewis said that John Lewis was a very mean man and that at some point Anna just “disappeared”. They did not shy away from saying they thought John had killed Anna and knowing how remote this area was, it is entirely pausible but I can’t prove it. In 1891, 17 year old Isabella May Lewis married John Henry Bolt and they lived in Harrison county, Iowa for the remainder of their lives. In 1894, 19 year old Julia Agnes Lewis married Frank Arlington Matthews and they too, lived in Harrison county then eventually dying in California. This left young William John Lewis with his father on the ranch and yet in the 1900 census, John has a new wife, Mary Henrietta Matthews (no relation to Frank Arlington Matthews). She was the daughter of Elijah Truitt and Louisa Bracken Matthews of Alabama. “Mae” was first married to a Mr. Z.S. Brown who moved her and their children to Kansas. I cannot make the jump from Kansas to Nebraska to bring Mae and John Lewis together but nevertheless, there they are newly married and William John Lewis aged 17, living with them.
My mother’s cousin gave me a photo of John Lewis and it is nice but it is also a clue or confirmation as to the family location.
There is that funny curl again! Here is a genealogical lesson for you….if possible, always investigate the photographer. Here is what I learned about Heyn’s Palace Studio of Omaha, Nebraska: Herman Heyn was a German immigrant that operated a photo studio from the mid 1880’s until the 1920’s. He made over 500 noted images of Native Americans between 1898-99 and they are considered to be of great importance and highly collectible. He is also known to have photographed president William Howard Taft and statesman William Jennings Bryan. His business operated as Lumieré Studio in the 1900’s. You may be saying….SO WHAT? But it helps to date this photo, as does the brown surround of the photo as well as the size. This photo was likely taken between 1890 and 1895.
In 1906 William John Lewis married Mary Dorothy Anderson of Woodbine, Harrison, Iowa.
From his statement on the marriage license, it would appear that he was working and or living in Woodbine as a farmer. However, shortly after he and Mary Dorothy married, he returned to Nebraska with his new wife to help his father John Lewis with his ranch. As often happens with newlyweds, Mary Dorothy quickly became pregnant. Her parents begged her to return to Woodbine due to the remote setting of the ranch and for the safety of her baby. She did as her parents wished and my grandmother, Pearl Lewis was born in 1907. After Pearl’s birth, Mary Dorothy went back to her husband’s side in Nebraska and Ta-Da! was quickly with child again. Not sure if Mary Dorothy or her parents issued an ultimatum, but this time it seems that William John Lewis became a more permanent resident of Woodbine and his father John Lewis wrapped up his ranch business to began yet another journey.
Pearl b. 1907 with baby brother John b. 1908
In 1910 John Edward Lewis is living in Omaha, Nebraska with wife Mae, her son Harry Brown from her first marriage and her niece Clara Matthews.
I am sure this isn’t a surprise at this point, but I cannot locate them in the 1920 census. However, based on other clues I think that John, Mae and Harry removed to Inglewood, California circa 1924. I am not sure what drew them there and in the 1930 census John is still working for the school system as a stationary engineer. At this point he is 72 years old! Harry seems to have remained with John and Mae until their final days with Mae dying first in June of 1941 and then John passing in October of 1941.
This is one of those family things that is kinda like a stone in your shoe. My mother was 9 when her great grandfather passed away and yet she and her older siblings have no remembrance of it or even being mentioned that he was alive. It was decades later when her aunts were talking about how mean he was, that she even knew his name. I find the whole scenario frustrating….not because no one can remember but because I am running out of time. All of the aunts save one, are deceased. When she is gone there may be the end of the informational line. But then again, she may not know anything at all. I am writing her in the hope that she can provide some answers or at least some clarification. I just couldn’t ask the questions that I didn’t know to ask!
L to R: Mary Dorothy (Anderson), William John Lewis; Julia Agnes (Lewis), Frank Matthews; Isabella Mae (Lewis, Bolt), Mack MacMillin
I requested and was able to obtain the death certificate for John Lewis which contained no surprises, but only serves as confirmation.
Finally, I had requested that a FindAGrave volunteer take photos of John and Mae’s graves at the final stop of their westward journey. I would love to share those photos with you here, but there are none to share. Their graves are unmarked.
