Lewis Smith was born on March 4, 1763 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His parents were German settlers. His father was Johann Ludwig Schmidt (This name was anglicized to become John Lewis Smith in America.) His mother was Anna Gertraud Erfert. On April 22, 1760, Johann and Anna were married in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, PA. They had four sons. The church in which they were married is still there and is still an operating church . JoAnn was told that only the door and the steeple have been changed, so today it is very much like it was in 1760.
Before the Revolutionary War, the Smith family moved from Lancaster to Augusta County, VA. At age 17, Lewis Smith became a soldier. He was at Yorktown when Cornwallis was defeated, and he helped disarm Cornwallis’ troops. His military record is in the National Archives. On October 27, 1791, he married Mary (Polly) Wikle in North Carolina and the Lewis Smith/Clara Coward Smith branch of the Coward family are descended from this union.
http://myfamilynames.com/documents/newsletters/Coward%20Letter%20October%202008.pdf
