Origin of the Lewis Name: the history of the Lewis name offers many variations, each grandiose by nature, and I would be inaccurate as to lay claim to any of them.

Although some doubt remains, it is believed that the first of our line of the Lewis family, Thomas Lewis I, was from Delaware and Difficult Run, Loudon County, Virginia. He was born in the late 17th century.

His son Thomas Lewis II was a native of Virginia. He was a tenant farmer for Henry Fitzhugh in Fairfax County, Virginia where he raised ten children. In 1760 he was farming 100 acres for Henry Fitzhugh but owned the land where he was living, having inherited it from his father in Loudon County, Virginia on 13 SEP 1749. Executors for Thomas I's Will were Stephen Lewis (his brother) and Thomas Lewis, a nephew. Witnesses were John Hunter, Charles Mason and John Peake.

Thomas II died on 15 JUL 1771 in Fairfax County, VA. In his Will he names his wife Elizabeth, sons: Thomas, James, William, Henry and John. Daughters: Ann, Sarah, Jane, Frances and Winnifred. Executors of his Will were: Sarah, Thomas, James and Winnifred Lewis. Witnesses: Elijah Williams, John Barrett and Sam Weaden. Recorded 17 SEP 1771.

Thomas Lewis III was a Virginian, born around 1735. He grew up in Fairfax County, VA. His exact birth date is unknown to us, but he was "of age" when he witnessed a Will in 1764 and he was married around 1761. He had a very good friend named John Rhodes. Both men served in the Revolutionary War.

He was listed as a witness in a Will of Thomas Hooud of Amelia County in the Province of Virginia. Will Book 2, p.77 dated 7 APR 1764. William Lewis, Henry Lewis, John Lewis and Francis Lewis were also recorded in this Will which was probated on 27 SEP 1764.

Our ancestor Thomas Lewis married Jane Comer Peake, the daughter of Robert Peake and Elizabeth Comer. (Elizabeth Comer was the daughter of John Comer of Prince William County, VA.) Thomas and Jane were married about 1761.

The Lewis and Peake families migrated to Orange County, North Carolina after the Revolutionary War, most likely because of land grants to the young men in payment for their service in the Continental Army. Recently discovered documents in the North Carolina State Archives confirm two primary land grants to Thomas: The first was 165 acres on both sides of Enoe River on 2 OCT 1761. On 4 December 1778 he was granted l00 acres along Elliby's Creek, to-wit: Lots 1701, 1781 and 1761. Duke University now stands on some of his land.

Thomas Lewis and Jane Comer Peake had a family of eight children. Thomas died in NC in 1805 and was buried in Farthington-Lewis Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina. One of their daughters married into the Duke family of Duke University. Thomas left a Will and it lists extensive real and personal property as well as slaves.

One of Thomas's sons was our ancestor, John Comer Lewis I. He was born in 1779 near what is now Durham, North Carolina. He had three marriages in his lifetime, to-wit: Nancy Forrest, Elizabeth "Annie" McClaren, born in 1781, and thirdly to Agness Powell. Children were born of the first two marriages but none of the third.

Among other things, John Comer I was a Baptist minister, listed in a Marriage Book in Durham, North Carolina Library as performing marriages. Since he was not the oldest son and did not inherit land from his father, he migrated to Middle Tennessee, traveling by oxcart and arriving soon after the removal of the Indians. He was listed as a Magistrate in Hickman County, Tennessee in 1826, the year our forefather, John Comer II was born. In Tennessee, John Comer Lewis I and his wife lived near Farmer's Exchange, about 20 miles below Centerville. He was listed as co-founder of Goshen Baptist Church and owned land on Cane Creek where his sons Shadrack and Fielding built the first carding mill in 1830.

Our ancestor John Comer Lewis II lived a busy and productive life, though a fairly short one by our standards. He died of injuries sustained in the Civil War, most probably gunshot left in his body, which caused him illness and death at 52, some fifteen years after his injuries sustained at the Battle of Shiloh.

He was born 1826 in Hickman County, Tennessee and when he was 20, joined the Hickman Guards. The Hickman Guards were primarily formed to protect property and families from Indians still marauding the area but a contingent of the Guards also fought in the Mexican War. With others, John Comer II was sent to Mexico and fought in the battle of Monterrey, Mexico on 24 SEP 1846. He was listed as a member of a Bible class organized among the Hickman Guards while they were in Mexico. Almost worse than the battle they fought was dysentery experienced by practically all of them because of polluted water.

Upon his return to Hickman County he married Ruth Lloyd Baker about 1848, daughter of Dr.Thomas R. Baker and Ruth Rhodica Lloyd. After their marriage he, Ruth and their five children moved to Howell County, Missouri and Fulton County, Arkansas, buying at least two farms around 1861. The counties straddled the Missouri-Arkansas state line and least one of his properties was partly in Missouri and partly in Arkansas. His Howell County, Missouri property was purchased November 3, l860.

He enlisted in the Confederate States Army on 26 JUL 1861 at Camp Shaver, Arkansas; he was 35 years old and left his wife Ruth at home with five children. He served as a Private in Company I, 7th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry under Captain Milton D. Barber. He was wounded (but reported dead) at the Battle of Shiloh on Sunday, 6 APR 1862. "An ounce of lead struck him in the right side. The bullet was cut out at his back." His wife, Ruth Baker, remained at their farm with the children after his reported death.

One night in the fall of 1862 there was a call at the gate, "Is this where the widow Lewis lives?" The youngest child, James Hale, recalled his sister Docia exclaiming, "That's Pap!" The family all arose to have such a memorable family reunion that Jim vividly remembered it until his dying day and could never retell it without tears. He was less than three years old at the time.

"Pap" had first been cared for by a farm couple near the battle site and later hospitalized at Chattanooga. He was granted a disability discharge 13 OCT 1862 in Chattanooga, Tennessee and after recovering from his wounds, walked home from the hospital where he received treatment, about 375 miles as the crow flies. He would have had a hard trip home; besides his weakness from the injury he would have had to avoid soldiers and mercenaries who roamed the hills and dales looking for "deserters."

Sadly, John Comer's wife, Ruth Baker, died just three months after his return in early 1863. On 18 SEP 1864 John Comer sold off at least one of his farms to his brother-in-law, Noahdiah Baker, and returned to Hickman County, Tennessee with his young family. While in Tennessee he married his housekeeper, Martha J.Thornton, and sired five more children.

The family moved back to Missouri. In 1876 John Comer purchased a farm in northwestern Ripley County, Missouri in the community of Big Barren and a year later (6 NOV 1877) sold a home in the town of West Plains, Missouri. John Comer II made his Will in June, 1878 and died in Ripley County 3 NOV 1878. He was buried in the Old Lewis Cemetery, located on the southern portion of that farm, and just south of the Cave Spring Branch.

In his Will he separated the farm to bequeath half to each of his two separate families, to-wit: The first family by Ruth Baker was willed the northern portion of the farm, including the Lewis Cave, and the southern portion was Willed to his wife Martha J. Thornton and her children. Much of the northern portion of the farm was still wilderness and had not been cleared for crops.

He lived quite a full and adventurous life, having served in two wars and migrating from Tennessee to Arkansas/Missouri, back to Tennessee and then to Southern Missouri. He was only 52 at the time of his death.

Family outline of Thomas LEWIS III