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Col. Charles Lewis, of the Cowpasture, Augusta County, VA
Facts and Events
Col. Charles Lewis was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia
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Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA
Col. Charles Lewis and his wife Sarah lived on the 950-acre plantation on the Cowpasture River in Augusta (now Bath) County, Virginia, by about 1760, as listed in records below.
Disposition of Land from Chalkley's:
- Page 321.--22d March, 1769. Charles Lewis and Sarah to John McCastlin (McCastling), on Stewart's Creek, a branch of Cowpasture River; corner land in possession of Thomas Gillaspie.
Will of Charles Lewis
From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records:
- Page 310.--10th August, 1774. Charles Lewis' will--To wife, Sarah; to son, John, tract testator lives on, also tract on Greenbryer called the Great Glade, 1,000 acres; to son, Andrew, plantation gotten from John Lewis, George's son, line where his brother's survey begins; also 1 plantation on Greenbrier where Wm. Crane lives; to daughter, Elizabeth Lewis, plantation on Greenbrier where George Lewis lives; to daughter, Margaret, plantation on Greenbrier where Wm. Bleake lives. Wife is now pregnant, to such child, plantation where Mr. Cowordin lives, also Cuthbert's Lick Place on Greenbryer; to sons, the lands coming to testator as an officer. Executors, brothers Thomas and William. Teste: John Dickinson, Hugh Hicklin, Charles Cameron. Proved, 17th January, 1775, by Dickinson and Cameron. Executors qualified, with Robert (mark) Bratton, Andrew Hamilton, Wm. Christian, George Mathews.
Records in Augusta County, VA
From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records:
- MARCH, 1764 (B). - Letsler, Administrator, vs. Charles Lewis and Sarah.--Account vs. Miss Sally Murray, from 22d March, 1759, to November 14th, 1761. Writ, 28th June, 1763 (third year of George I). (Note: the "Sally Murray" listed in this record is Charles Lewis' wife Sarah, Murray was her maiden name, as verified in the following record, that appeared six pages later)
- MARCH, 1764 (B). - Leister's Administrator vs. Charles Lewis and wife. -- Charles Lewis and Sarah, his wife (was Miss Sally Murray).
- Draffin vs. Thomas--O. S. 186; N. S. 66--Deed dated 22d October, 1766, by Thomas Meriwether of Frederickville Parish, Albemarle County, and Jane, his wife, to Charles Lewis of same place, conveys 1,000 acres on Ivey Creek, part of tract patented by Robert Lewis and devised to his daughter Jane, now wife of Thomas Merriwether. Sarah Lewis's corner. Mary Cobbs' line. William Lewis's line. Witnessed by Mary Cobbs, Nicholas and Charles Lewis, Alexr. Glasby. Recorded in Albemarle, November, 1766.
Information on Col. Charles Lewis
From Genealogy of the Lewis family in America By William Terrell Lewis, pg. 13:
- 7. Colonel Charles Lewis, Son of Pioneer John Lewis, was born in Virginia in 1736. He was noble, generous, gallant and fearless. He was once captured by the Indians and doubtless would have been put to death had he not made his escape by out-running the savages. He commanded a regiment at the battle of the Point, on October 10, 1774, where he was killed. Virginia perpetuated its remembrance by naming a county after him. He married Sarah Murray and left the following issue:
- 1. Elizabeth, born 1762; died unmarried.
- 2. Margaret, born 1765; married Major Prior.
- 3. Captain John, born 1766; married Rachel Miller, of Augusta county, Va. He died on Cow Pasture river, in Bath county, in 1843, leaving issue.
- 4. Mary, born 1768; died unmarried.
- 5. Thomas, born 1771; died unmarried.
- 6. Colonel Andrew, son of Colonel Charles Lewis, born 1772; married Margaret Stuart in 1802, and died in 1833, leaving issue.
- 7. Charles, born 1774; married Jane Dickerson in 1799, and left issue at his death in 1803.
- For a full catalogue of the names, etc., of this branch of the Lewis family, the reader is referred to the History of Augusta County, Va., by John L. Peyton, and published by S. M. Yost & Son, of Staunton, Va., price 13.50; or to a work entitled "Georgian," by ex-Governor George R. Gilmer, of Lexington, Oglethorpe county, Georgia.
From "Annals of Bath County, Virginia", bu Oren F. Morton, pg. 92-93:
- The untimely death of Colonel Charles Lewis at the age of 38 was recognized as a public calamity. His personal magnetism and his social qualities made him a leader of men. He was the youngest of the sturdy, forceful sons of the founder of Augusta and the only one that was born in America. No other was so brilliant and promising, or so beloved by the people. He was a captain when 21 and a magistrate when 27. As a fighter of Indians he was one of the most successful. He was fearless, and had he lived through the war of the Revolution, it is safe to affirm that he would have been one of the best known and most efficient of the American generals. Lewis County in West Virginia is named in his honor.
- Against the remonstrance of his brother Andrew, Charles Lewis went out on the morning of the battle of Point Pleasant arrayed in a red coat, thus making himself too conspicuous a target. He was stricken by a bullet before he had taken a tree. While walking to the rear, he handed his gun to a soldier, telling the man to "go on and be brave." To those who asked about his hurt, he replied that it was "the fortune of the war."
- His untiring energy and the public demands upon his time are attested by the very believable statement that after he came to manhood he was never home more than a month at a time. Like all the Lewis brothers he was practical and thrifty. The tract of 950 acres of fine river bottom that his father selected for him became the plantation of Fort Lewis. He acquired other lands himself, including several surveys on the Greenbrier. His will, dated precisely two months before his death, was proved by John Dickenson and Charles Cameron, the latter being his brother-in-law. The appraisement of his personality, which totaled nearly $4000, was entrusted to John Cowarden, Thomas Feamster, and John and Robert McCreery. Such possessions as 24 horses, 96 cattle, 43 sheep, and 50 hogs made Colonel Lewis a wealthy planter. The will and inventory mention eight slaves and a white man servant, furniture valued at $117.58, a bookcase at $16.67, a looking glass at $10, and a suit of brown clothes at $30. All this indicates a comparative degree of luxury, when we stop to consider that a dollar would go much farther then than now. His watch, scheduled at $30, was probably the one for which his father left hm a special legacy, and provided that his own initials should be engraved thereon as a token of esteem and affection.
- Charles Lewis was spare of figure and upward of six feet in height. He was married to Sarah Murray in 1761. Their children were Elizabeth, Margaret, John, Mary, Thomas, Andrew, and Charles. John, who married Rachel Miller, inherited the homestead, where he died in 1843 at the age of 77. Colonel Andrew Lewis wedded Margaret Stuart and died in 1833, aged 61. Charles, Jr. was bore a little after his father set out on his last expedition. He was married to Jane Dickenson in 1799 and died only four years later. Thomas and Mary lived single. The husband of Margaret was Major Prior.
From Sarah Murray Lewis Chapter of the D.A.R. (http://www.geocities.com/sarahmurraylewis/history.htm):
- HISTORY
- Sarah Murray Lewis Chapter, NSDAR, Warm Springs, Virginia, was organized November 6, 1977, with 29 members. Mrs. Robert D. Metheny of Millboro, Virginia, was the Organizing Regent.
- The chapter was named in honor of Sarah Murray Lewis, a patriot who spent the Revolutionary War years raising her children, managing the plantation "Fort Lewis" and offering safe haven to her frontier neighbors from Indian attacks.
- Sarah Murray was born August 1, 1743 in New York. She married Col. Charles Lewis in 1760 and they lived on the 950-acre plantation on the Cowpasture River in Bath County, Virginia. Col. Lewis was called to command the Augusta County Regiment in the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774 against Cornstalk and the Confederacy of Indian Nations. There he was mortally wounded and buried. Sarah not only lost her husband in that battle, but her brother Captain John Murray and her half brother Private George Cameron as well. Sarah is buried in the family plot behind of the manor house.
http://www.lewisgenealogy.com/
10. Charles4 Lewis (John3, Andrew2, William1) was born Augusta Co., VA March 11, 1736. Charles died October 10, 1774 at 38 years of age.
He married Sarah Murray June 19, 1762. Sarah was born August 5, 1743.
Charles Lewis and Sarah Murray had the following children:
- 40 i. Elizabeth5 Lewis was born October 7, 1762.
- 41 ii. Margaret Lewis was born March 29, 1765. She married Maj. Pryor. (See Maj. Pryor for the continuation of this line.)
- 42 iii. Capt. John Lewis was born November 4, 1766.
- 43 iv. Mary Lewis was born November 10, 1768.
- 44 v. Thomas Lewis was born February 25, 1771.
- 45 vi. Col. Andrew Lewis was born September 27, 1772.
- 46 vii. Lt. Charles Lewis was born September 11, 1774.
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