Spencer P. Lewis, son of John and Susan Lewis

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2024

Preface: If you are researching John D. Lewis of Jackson County, Alabama and McNairy County, Tennessee, read this post through to the end. It contains references to the best documentation that we have so far as to who the mother of John D. Lewis's elder children was. 

My quest to identify and group together all of the children of John Lewis has many goals: to establish all of the locations where John Lewis lived and thereby to "discover" additional records, to uncover the mother(s) of his children, and to identify his own parents. It's been a long journey, and it's not over yet.

John D. Lewis's son Spencer P. Lewis has provided more obstacles than you would think a person with such a distinct name might produce. More than one Spencer P. Lewis can be located in the records. The problem has been establishing whether it's the same Spencer P. Lewis or multiple Spencer P. Lewises. To sort them out, I have been looking for any documented connections to other Lewis family members. I have ruled out the Lewis man who married Martha McWhorter in Knox County, Kentucky in 1811. He turned out to be Stephen Lewis and not Spencer Polk Lewis. 

Spencer P. Lewis is named in his father John Lewis's will dated 14 January 1840 and originally filed in McNairy County, Tennessee. Additional copies were filed in various courthouses. The copy in Tishomingo County, Mississippi survives. In 1844, Joel D. Lewis filed a request in Tishomingo County, Mississippi to sell land owned by John D. Lewis's estate. The heirs are named, with the notation that Spencer "D." Lewis was in Arkansas. The question is whether Spencer was actually in Arkansas or did Joel have good reason to believe that's where he was?

In sifting through what appears to be multiple Spencer P. Lewises, I finally narrowed my focus to Spencer P. Lewis of Anderson County, Texas. According to the 1870 census, he was born c. 1813 in Tennessee. That places him in the right timeframe to be John D. Lewis's son and in a state where John D. Lewis is believed to have lived prior to his residence in Alabama. 

Spencer P. Lewis of Anderson County, Texas married Malissa Jane Watkins, widow of James E. Watkins in Anderson County, Texas on 2 June 1861. Malissa Jane Osborne married James E. Watkins in Coosa County, Alabama on 10 February 1850.  Her parentage is unknown. James E. Watkins was the son of Jonathan Watkins and Agnes Daniel. The children of James E. and Malissa J. (Osborne) Watkins were Anges Watkins, Fatly Watkins, Georgie H. Watkins, and James K. Polk Watkins. 

Spencer P. and Malissa (Osborne) Lewis had three children: Emma Susan Lewis, John Breckenridge Lewis, and Forest Lewis. They can be found together on the 1870 Anderson County, Texas census. Spencer P. Lewis appeared on the Anderson County tax rolls from 1862 through 1870. He was also on the 1871 voter roll for Anderson County. Then he disappeared from Anderson County. Malissa Lewis was still in Anderson County on the 1880 census, where she was listed as a widow.

No will or probate references for Spencer P. Lewis appear in Anderson County between 1871 and 1880. However, there is a probate record for Spencer P. Lewis in Collin County, Texas, dated 1874. This Spencer P. Lewis had very little property: a horse, a saddle, a rifle, a six-shooter, and a knife make up the bulk of his possessions. However, he died indebted to several individuals in the community - his landlord, the doctor, and the coffin maker, among others. Significantly missing from this probate is any reference to Malissa and her Lewis children. Does this indicate that there is no connection? I don't think so. An 1887 land deed from Emma (Lewis) Costlow to her mother Malissa J. Lewis stated that the land was part of the estate of James E. Watkins that had been conveyed by his administrator to Spencer P. Lewis and from Spencer P. Lewis to Emma Lewis. I believe that any property of significance that Spencer had was disposed of before his death although it is a mystery why it was conveyed to Emma instead of to one of her older half-siblings who would have been children of James E. Watkins'. My suspicion is that Spencer P. Lewis and wife Malissa had separated before his death - whether it was mutual or whether he abandoned her is unknown. 

There is one significant reference to a family member in Spencer's probate packet - a sister living in Hunt County, Texas. 

 

The estate administrator B.S. King charged the estate $5 for spending "1 1/2 days going to Hunt County & Back for decs'd Sister at his request."  That sister would have been Jane (Lewis) Wardlow who was the only Lewis sister still living and who was also living in Hunt County, Texas at the time of Spencer P. Lewis's death in 1874. 

On Family Search, an additional wife has been attached to Spencer P. Lewis. She was Nancy Hickman, the widow of William Hickman. Her maiden name was Loftin. Spencer P. Lewis and Nancy Hickman married in Montgomery County, Alabama on 14 January 1837. It is plausible that Spencer P. Lewis, son of John D. Lewis had at least one other marriage before he married Malissa J. (Osborne) Watkins in Texas. 

In 1838, Spencer P. Lewis sold land in Coosa County, Alabama, and his wife Nancy Lewis signed a release of her dower rights. They were still living in Coosa County on the 1840 census. By the early 1840s, Spencer P. Lewis was administrating William Hickman's estate from Montgomery County, Alabama. On 23 June 1846, the Orphans Court of Montgomery County, Alabama replaced Spencer P. Lewis as administrator because he was no longer in the jurisdiction of the court. They probably moved to McNairy County, Tennessee, where they were residing when they sold land in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, on 1 September 1846. The Tishomingo County property needs to be researched, but it is more than likely property that had been owned by his father John D. Lewis, who died in McNairy County, Tennessee in 1842. His estate was sold there at an auction that seems to have occurred over a two-day period. It may be that Spencer P. Lewis purchased the land at that sale, or he may have received it previously as a deed of gift. This deed record indicates that at this time Spencer P. Lewis of McNairy County, Tennessee, had a wife named Nancy. My conclusion is that the Spencer P. Lewis who married Nancy (Loftin) Hickman is also John D. Lewis's son and that he had at least two wives. 

Spencer P. Lewis and Nancy Loftin had three children: Henry Carmen Lewis, Anna E. Lewis, and Florence Lincoln Lewis.

Spencer and Nancy seem to have divorced, or perhaps he abandoned her. She was still alive and living with her daughter Florence Lincoln (Lewis) Stiefer in Smith County, Texas in 1860. Generally speaking, divorce records are difficult to locate. They were filed in the area where the divorcing spouse lived. If that divorce originated in McNairy County, Tennessee, which sustained a heavy loss of records, it may not be possible to find it. There may, however, be a newspaper notice somewhere. 

Finally, a Bible record for Spencer P. Lewis has been attached to him on Family Search through the generosity of researcher Nancy Kampe. You will find this image in the "memories" for Spencer P. Lewis. The Bible belonged to Spencer and Nancy (Loftin) Lewis's daughter Florence Lincoln (Lewis) Stiefer. All of the entries are in the handwriting of the same person, who I think was Florence, so the older entries were made well after the fact and should be regarded as secondary, but that does not negate their importance. The first entry on  the page is for Spencer P. Lewis: "Spencer P. Lewis son of John & Susan Lewis born in Lincoln Co. Tenn Jany 1st 1813." Be still my heart - that's a wealth of information. This is the only documentation that indicates John Lewis had a wife named Susan that I have seen. It places them in Lincoln Co., Tennessee by 1813. This, of course, does not establish that Susan was a Daniel or that she was the mother of all the elder Lewis children. It also does not establish that Spencer's middle name was Polk. 

Then there are entries for the children of Spencer and Nancy: Henry Carmon Lewis son of S.P. and Nancy Lewi born in Weteumpee Ala May13th 1838. Then the births of Anna E. Lewis and Florence Lincoln Lewis are listed. There is not a separate entry that provides more information about wife Nancy. There are two more births of importance: Emma Lewis daughter of J. Lewis born 8 Aug 1863 and John Lewis son of Spencer and J. Lewis born 17 July 1869. These are references to the children that John Lewis had with Malissa Jane Osborne, which means that Florence was aware of her father's subsequent marriage to Malissa and the family that he had with her. There is also the possibility that she was acquainted with her younger half-siblings. 

And what of the idea that Spencer P. Lewis was living in Arkansas in 1844? Did Spencer have any connection to Arkansas at all? Possibly. In 1850, Spencer P. Lewis was granted bounty land in Crittenden County, Arkansas for services rendered during the Florida War. He was a corporal in Captain Campbell's First Regiment of Alabama Volunteers. On 10 May 1836, the Mobile Daily Commercial Register and Patriot printed a list of the killed and wounded among the Alabama Volunteers. S.P. Lewis of Capt Campbell's Company was "badly wounded" at the Battle of Clonoto Lassa [published in the Alabama Genealogical Quarterly, Spring-Summer 1981]. In 1852, Spencer P. Lewis of Memphis, Tennessee sold his bounty land in Arkansas. It is unknown if he ever lived in Crittenden County although his two brothers, Wiley and Daniel A. Lewis did. 

If you are not using Family Search because anyone can add to the shared family tree, you are missing out on a wealth of information.