James M. Lewis, deceased. Was born in Bath county, Virginia, December 14, 1796, and was the son of Capt. John Lewis, of revolutionary memory. He was mostly educated at home, and there being a large family, at the age of twelve, he was sent to the Crutchfield school, Falling Spring Valley. From there he entered the army in the war of 1812, as a substitute, but as it was near the close of the war, he did not see active service. He then went to school in Staunton, Virginia, then, until he was twenty-one, he traveled most of the time, spending the winters in New Orleans. Was in New Orleans when the first train of cars started there, and describes an immense crowd, waiting with intense excitement, to see them start, and one gentleman who stood beside him, he says, was perfectly silent until the train moved off, and then throwing up his hands exclaimed "hell in harness!" At the age of twenty-one he married one of the daughters of Col. John Dickinson, of near Milboro Springs, Bath county, Virginia. He first settled near the White Sulphur springs, Virginia, farming for several years. He then sold out in Virginia, and moved to Missouri in 1836, and settled on a fine farm near Miami. Lived there about eight years, in which time he lost his wife and eldest son. He and his youngest son moved up to Mr. A. M. Francisco’s, and there remained until his second son returned from the Mexican war, in which he was a soldier from the beginning to the end. Mr. Lewis then went back to Virginia, and there married again, and remained until the great civil war was over. He returned to Missouri, where his first wife’s children remained, three in number: Mary B., who married the son of Col. John Francisco; John A., who married Miss Crutsinger, of Saline; Charles S., who married in Arrow Rock, and went to Colorado. Of his last set of children, James R. married a lady from Virginia, and settled in Texas; William S. went west; Margaret A. married Mr. Hite from Virginia, and lives in Saline; H. C. is in Arkansas, and M. H. is settled on a farm in Saline. Mr. Lewis died of paralysis in the 74th year of his age, and was buried in the old family burying-ground of Mr. A. M. Francisco near Mt. Pisgah Church, of which church, Old School Presbyterian, he was for many years an elder.
