© Kathy Duncan, 2021
This post is not going to be popular with the descendants of John D. Lewis, who died in McNairy County, Tennessee in 1842 and who is believed to have married Susan Daniel. However, as genealogists, we need to strive for accuracy. To that end, we have all been schooled to start with what we know and move backward. The problem for John D. Lewis's descendants is that at some point, probably in the first half of the 20th century or mid-century, they jumped the shark and claimed, without any primary source documentation, that John Lewis was the son of Col. Charles Lewis of Buck Island and his wife Mary Isham Randolph. Let me repeat that, there is no primary source documentation to link John Lewis to Col Charles Lewis and Mary Isham Randolph. So how did they get there? It would seem that the link between John D. Lewis and Col. Charles Lewis is based on Charles Lewis naming a son John Lewis in his will, and Merrow E. Sorley's comment in his book Lewis of Warner Hall that "it has not been possible to trace a very large number of the descendants of Col. Charles and Mary (Randolph) Lewis. Most of their children moved westward out of Virginia, and their later descendants are scattered throughout many states of the Mississippi Valley region." That statement gave previous genealogists permission to take a square peg and jam it into a round hole with a sledgehammer. All they had to do was add a birth date [which is persistently given as 1757 without one shred of evidence] and a place of birth [Albemarle Co., Virgina] to John Lewis of Jackson County, Alabama and McNairy County, Tennessee that approximately matched John Lewis, the son of Col. Charles Lewis, Jr., and presto-changeo, a whole cloth lineage appears. Mind you, this is a lineage that leads to Virginia's landed gentry and Thomas Jefferson. This is a lineage to cling to even if it means clinging to a host of undocumented, secondary sources.
What happens, though, if we collect what is known about John D. Lewis and attempt to work backward? What happens if we try for even a little accuracy?
John D. Lewis died in March of 1842 in McNairy County, Tennessee [not Hardin County, Tennessee as generations of researchers believed]. That information was revealed in an 1871 lawsuit in McNairy County, Tennessee when his grandchildren filed a lawsuit against their step-mother over the estate of their mother, Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb, daughter of John D. Lewis. As part of that lawsuit, the other children of John D. Lewis were named. And there was the surprise information that John D. Lewis had a second wife named Jane who was born in Tennessee in 1804. Together they had a daughter named Emily Lewis who was born in Tennessee in 1838. None of the early researchers included this wife and daughter in their information although Henry Lewis refers to his sister Emily Lewis in a deposition that is included in this lawsuit.
In 1841, John Lewis purchased a tract of land in McNairy County. This is the action of a man who is probably still in reasonably good health with plans to continue farming.
In 1840, John Lewis entered into an agreement with his two sons Joel D. Lewis and Henry Lewis. Both Joel and Henry signed with their names, but John Lewis signed with his mark. This suggests a man who is not literate enough to sign his name. It could be chalked up to old age, but he was in good enough health to purchase a tract of farmland the following year. It is reasonable to assume that the son of Col. Charles Lewis of Buck Island would have been tutored and well educated for his time. Certainly, he would have been able to sign his own name to a document.
On the 1830 census, John Lewis can be found on the Jackson County, Alabama census, where he is in the 40 - 49 age range column. That would give him a birthdate range of c. 1781 to 1790. The overlap between the 1840 census and 1830 census would place his birth at around 1780/81. Given that birthdates are often off by a couple of years, I would hesitate to give him a birthdate earlier than about 1778.
Recall that early researchers estimated John Lewis's birthdate at 1757 to make him fit as a possible son of Col. Charles Lewis and Mary Isham Randolph. However, two census entries indicate a man who was younger by about twenty years. This is the point at which the researcher should be thinking, "Oops!"
In 1831, John Lewis of Jackson County, Alabama purchased a tract of land from James E. and Susanah Daniel. Since family tradition holds that John Lewis was married to Susan Daniel, this transaction takes on some importance because it suggests a possible connection to the Daniel family.
Most early and current researchers place John Lewis in Pulaski County, Kentucky; however, that John Lewis does not have enough children of the correct age to be the same John Lewis who died in McNairy County, Tennesse in 1842. "My" John Lewis is much more likely to be the John Lewis who can be found in Knox County, Kentucky in 1810. This was also covered in a previous post. He has enough children and, bonus points, there is a James Daniel on that census. If John Lewis's wife was Susan Daniel, then this strengthens the possibility that these two men are related by marriage.
At this point, it is not been possible to move John Lewis backward out of Knox County, Kentucky. His place of birth is undocumented. Since he did not live until the 1850 census, the state of his birth is unknown. Certainly, the county of his birth is a mystery.
Can John Lewis, who was born no earlier than 1778, be proven to be the same John Lewis who was the son of Col. Charles Lewis, Jr., and his wife Mary Isham Randolph of Albemarle County, Virginia?
Col. Charles Lewis, Jr. left a will in Albemarle County, Virginia, dated 1782. At that time Mary Isham (Randolph) Lewis was 57 years old. She would have been 53 in 1778, the earliest reasonable birthdate for John Lewis's birth. If he was born closer to 1780, she would have been 55. It's not believable that she would have been "my" John Lewis's mother. Everything else about Col. Charles Lewis's will suggests that his son John Lewis was an adult by the time that will was written. Charles left his son John Lewis a tract of 1,400 acres of land that had been purchased from John Hoomes. At no point does Col Charles Lewis indicate that John Lewis is not of age. Anyone wishing to pursue this angle needs to track down the records of that tract of land. Also in the will Col. Charles Lewis left bequests to several of his grandchildren which suggests that his own children were mostly adults. Certainly, most of his daughters were married by that time. It is reasonable to think that his children were born in the 1750s and 1760s. It just is not reasonable to think that the John Lewis, who died in McNairy County, Tennessee in 1842 and who was born no earlier than 1778, is one of them.
So what now? My suggestion is that we continue to work from the known backward instead of trying to make leaps to the many, many John Lewises who can be found in Virginia in the late 1700s.
For those who want to read a transcript of Col. Charles Lewis's will:
I Charles Lewis of the Parish of Frederickville and County of Albemarle do make the following testamentary disposition of my Estate, Real and Personal. I give to my affectionate and virtuous wife Mary Lewis during her life the use of my whole estate Real and Personal. I give to my son Charles Lilburn Lewis and to his heirs all my lands on the Rivanna River containing by estimation fifteen hundred and ten acres, whether the same be more or less. I give to my son John Lewis and his heirs the tract of land I bought of John Hoomes, containing by estimation fourteen hundred acres whiether the same be more or less. I give to my daughter Mary Lewis a negro girl named Abbey daughter of Mary. I give to my daughter Jane Judson a negro girl named Nannie daughter of Phoebe. I give to my daughter Elizabeth Henderson a negro girl named Luck daughter of Judith. I give to my daughter Anne Jefferson a negro girl named Lucy daughter of Phoebe. I give to my daughter Frances Thomas a genro girl named Mary daughter of mulatto Lucy. I give and devise also the tract of land I bought of Thomas Meriwether on the branches of Ivy Creek containing by estimation one thousand acres whether the same be more or less to my said daughter Frances for her life, the remainder there of to my son-in-law John Thomas for his life, and after their death to my grandson Charles Lewis Thomas and his heirs. I give to my daughter Mildred Lewis, my negro girl Amy daughter of mulatto Lucy and my negro girl Hannah daughter of Zamah, as also seven hundred and fifty ounces of silver of the alloy of a Spanish Milled Dollar and its equivalent in gold at the rate of one ounce of gold of the alloy of an English guinea-in lieu of fifteen ounces of silver to be provened by my executor. But if my daughter Mildred should die before she comes of age or marries, it is my will that the articles bequeathed to her be equally divided among my other children. I give to my grandson Howell Lewis my negro boy Bob son of Cate and to my granddaughter Sally Elizabeth Willis Lewis my negro girl named Lucinda daughter of Pati. I give to my grandsons John Henderson, Randolph Lewis and Charles Lewis Tho: mas, a negro boy between the ages of four and seven years, that is to say one to each of them severally. And to my granddaughters Jane Lewis, Mary Lewis Hudson, Sally Henderson and Mary Howell Thomas a negro girl between the ages of four and seven years of age, that is to say, one each to each of them severally, which negro boys and girls bequeathed in this legacy are to be taken out of my estate so far as they may be found therein, and the deficiency if any happens shall be made good by purchase. All the Residue of my estate real and personal not herein otherwise disposed of, I give to be equally divided among all my children and their representations in absolute property. It is my intention that each of the slaves above bequeathed by name as have been, or shall be delivered, to any of my daughters by me in my life time shall be considered as vested in such Legatory from the time of delivery and that their increase subsequent to the delivery shall pass with the mother. That the gift of my negro girl Amy and of the silver or gold to my daughter Mildred shall be demandable by her immediately on my death-and that the bequest to my wife shall extend to all the other parts of my estate and while it leaves the freehold inheritance and absolute property thereof in the respective devises and legatees, shall entitle by way of trust to take the use and profits thereof during her life in such manner as she shall choose. Lastly I constitute my friend Thomas Jefferson and my sons-in-law Charles Hudson and Bennett Henderson and my sons Charles Lilburn, and Isham, executors of this my will and hereby revoke all former wills by me heretofore made, in witness thereof and I have here to set my hand this twenty seventh day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty two. Charles Lewis (SEAL) This instrument was declared by the Testator to be his will and the signature thereof acknowledged to be his own. In witness thereof we have subscribed our names in his presence. J.R. Read her Mary Mc X Fitch mark John Bell At a Court held in Albemarle Co. the twelfth day of July MDCCLXXXII this will was proved by the oaths of Mary Fitch and John Bell two witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of Charles Hudson, Charles Lilburn Lewis, Isham Lewis, three of the executors therein named who made oath according to law. Certificate is granted them for obtaining a Probat in due form on their giving security, Whereupon they with John Hudson, James Barrett, Minian Mills their securities entered into and acknowledged their Bond according to law.
