Beason and Elizabeth (Ryons) Lewis

Beason Lewis

Beason Lewis, son of Neriah and Mary Moss Lewis, was born February 23, 1809 in Pendleton, South Carolina. Neriah and family moved from South Carolina to Kentucky about 1810. Beason was Neriah’s fourth son. He married Elizabeth Ryons, a daughter of Leonard and Frances Adams Ryons. Elizabeth was born 19 November 1809. Her sister, Joannah, was married to Beason’s brother, Benjamin. It was after Beason and Elizabeth settled in Utah that they joined the L.D.S. Church.

When Benjamin Lewis was killed at Haun’s Mill leaving his wife and family without his protection, it was Beason and Elizabeth who came to take them back to their former home in Carlinville, Macoupin, Illinois. home, family and friends. While he was dying, Benjamin had asked Johanna and the children to stay with the Church. She did so and when she also died in Nauvoo, it was Beason and Elizabeth who took the orphan children into their home and gave them the love and care and protection they needed.
Children:

• Mary Frances Lewis York (1827 - 1863)
• John Moss Lewis (1829 - 1894)
• William Crawford Lewis (1830 - 1908)
• Martha Ann Lewis Bingham (1833 - 1898)
• Sarah Elizabeth Lewis Davis (1835 - 1866)

Uncle Beason and Aunt Betsy, as they were always known, left Nauvoo with the Saints when they were driven from their homes in 1846, stopped for a short time at Mount Pisgah, then moved on to Winter Quarters.

In the fall of 1847, they came to Utah. Their company was the first band of Saints to follow Brigham Young’s into Salt Lake Valley. They arrived September 19, 1847. (The children’s ages are 20, 18, 17, 14, 12.)

Uncle Beason and Aunt Betsy were well prepared for this trek across the plains, with good horses and strong wagons. They brought their farm stock with them, among which were milk cows. When butter was needed the milk was put in the churn and the churn fastened to the back of the wagon before starting the day’s journey. When they stopped at night the butter was churned and ready for use.

After a short stay in Salt Lake Valley, Beason and Betsy returned to Winter Quarters taking their nephew, William C. Lewis, with them. In January 1848, Beason was among those who voted for a Post Office in Pottawatomie County, Ohio. He returned to Salt Lake in the fall of 1849. Aunt Betsy remained in the East until September 1851.
Uncle Beason was baptized in the Church in January 185l and Aunt Betsy was baptized in December of 1851. In February of 1852 uncle Beason married Elizabeth Pond Whitney as a plural wife, she was a widow with one daughter.

The Lewis family made their first home on a ranch at the point of the west mountain, and lived there until the spring of 1860 when they moved with their family to Richmond, Cache County, Utah. Their family at that time consisted of themselves, his second wife and daughter Almira, Martha and Marie Kingsbury, whose mother had died seven years before, and Wiliam H. Skidmore. A little later B. F. Grant, whose father had died, and his mother had remarried out of the Church and gone to Denver, leaving him with his grandparents, (Mr. And Mrs. Fredrick Kesler) he was taken into the Lewis home.

When the Lewis family arrived in Richmond, they moved into a temporary fort near a stream of water south of the new fort that was built that summer. They moved into the new fort in the fall. Uncle Beason and family lived in Richmond about three years then moved to Three Mile Creek south of Brigham City. Here they lived for a year and a half and then moved back to Richmond.
"While at Three Mile Creek they gathered saleratis from the saleratis beds near Brigham City, this was used as a substitute for soda in baking. It was a gray scaley looking substance. Water was poured over it to soak and then drained off. The water was used for the same purpose as baking soda. Salt was gathered from the salt beds on the edge of the lake. It was course and had to be ground before it could be used."

Beason followed his trade as cooper, making wooden tubs, buckets, and churns. They were made from cedar wood and bound with brass hoops. He promised the girls a set of these when they married. When the time came he was so crippled with rheumatism he had given up his trade entirely. Besides his trade he worked his farm and a few acres around his home where the vegetable garden was planted. His gardens were the attraction of the entire county. The rows were laid out in straight parallel rows and no weeds were allowed to grow. To get enough weeds to feed the pigs, not only was the weeds pulled from uncle Beason’s garden but the neighbor’s also. Uncle Beason’s natural love of fine stock and horses was satisfied as he filled his farm with domestic animals.

Everything on the farm was kept in the best condition and everything was always kept in its right place. Uncle Beason and Aunt Betsy were very orderly. Gravel was hauled from the mountains for the walks around the house and stables. The wood box near the kitchen door was always kept full; the chips were picked up and put in baskets ready for use. In the winter uncle Beason was into the canyon for his wood and hauled it home on sleds while the snow was deep. He was the first man in Cache Valley to invest in farm implements. These were a great blessing to the farmers in that community.

Uncle Beason, was a regular attendant at church, he always went early and sat in the same seat. The people all knew this and left that special seat for him. He was a great lover of children but had none of his own. In the winter he would gather the children in his sleigh and take them to school. He was a good provider for those in his care, and his heart was moved in sympathy for persons in distress. At one time he had made arrangements to build a large new home, but the help he had planned for disappointed him, so he let the people of the Richmond Ward have the adobes from which they build their first good meetinghouse.

March 11, 1883 Beason married Sarah Simpson Bradbury, a widow of English birth. It was she who nursed him through the long years of his last illness. In 1883 he had a paralytic stroke, which kept him bed-fast for nearly six years. He died January 22, 1888. He was a very large man and when he was in his casket the door had to be removed before it could be taken from the house.

B.F. Grant says: "Uncle Beason and Aunt Betsy Lewis had a great influence over my whole life. No boy or girl that lived with them could have a more royal father and mother than they were to all of us, during my stay in their home. I believe God will bless their memory for what they did for us. And I am sure there is a place in the kingdom of God where they can continue in the wonderful work, caring for boys and girls."

The following, is taken from a sketch by Marinda Monson Skidmore:
"Uncle Beason Lewis was a huge man, tall and broad, heavy set, but not obese, there was no double chin, but his cheeks were somewhat sagging. His voice was something like "Scattergood Baines", not quite so thick and fat sounding – if you know what I mean. His heart was so large it fitted well his massive frame. Though he dearly loved children, neither Aunt Betsy nor Aunt Sarah bore him any.

In those early days when food was so scarce, everyone was obliged to work. Small children and feeble ones were cared for by those able to take them in. William L. Skidmore’s mother was a widow and as Billy was too young to work, his mother gave him to Uncle Beason, who worked at a relay station of the Pony Express Company, near Bingham, Utah, and he received remuneration from the government. So he took in several children. I don’t know how many there were in all, but I can count fourteen, and all turned out well. Brig Grant, brother of President Heber J. Grant was his problem child. He ran away, but after he obtained work, he sent Uncle Beason $15.00 per month. When those boys who remained, married, they were each given 10 acres of land and a span of mules. Uncle Beason, for that’s what everyone called him, was a cooper by trade.

One day Grandpa (H. L. Skidmore) watched me putting some scraps of bread into a paper bag to dry. He said to me, "Marinda, I like the way you do things. Once I was hungry, when I was nine years old, mother gave me to Uncle Beason Lewis, and for some time I had not tasted bread, wild roots and weeds cooked was my bill of fare. When Uncle Beason took me to his house, Aunt Betsy cut off a big slice of bread, spread it thickly with butter and gave it to me. That was the sweetest, best food I ever ate in my life."

Uncle Beason was seldom seen at church after they moved to Richmond, but the family attended regularly, and though he did not often attend his kindness to others endeared him to everyone so that he was everybody’s Uncle.

He was an ardent lover of horses. In all my life I’ve never seen a team as beautiful, a high stepping team of perfectly matched dapple-grays. He had a two-seated, pea green sleigh and sleigh bells, the only ones in town. On cold winter mornings he would drive out with his fine outfit. He would stop at some street intersection. Even the Pied Piper had nothing on Uncle Beason. Children ran from every house at the sound of sleigh bells. When the inside of the sleigh was loaded they would cling like leeches to the outside. He would deposit his load at the schoolhouse and go out for more. One day I got left and mother gave me a handkerchief to mop up my tears and told me to run. When I reached the gate Uncle Beason was driving west, after he passed our place he turned back to the stepping block. He patted the seat beside him and as we started off he said, "Taint every little girl that gets a chance to ride alone with Uncle Beason in his sleigh." When we reached the schoolhouse the teacher was ringing the bell. "Well, " he said, "we made it by the skin of our teeth." When I thanked him he said, "I’ll be seein’ ya’." And he was off. I was only six then, but I’ve lived a long time and I could never forget Uncle Beason. He was ill a long time before he died. One day our Primary class went to his home to sing to him. He cried aloud when we sang, "In Our Lovely Deseret" and two more songs. As we filed out and we were to shake his hand and say: "Goodbye, Uncle Beason, he knew the name of every child. When I went to shake hands he held my hand gently in both of his, and looking deeply into my eyes he said, "Oh, this is Ellen’s girl," as if my mother had been a loved daughter. A short time later he died, but he will live in the hearts of those who know him until the last of these have passed on.

A Short Sketch of Elizabeth Ryon Lewis:
Elizabeth Ryon Lewis was the daughter of Leonard and Frances Adams Ryons. She was born 19 November 1809 in Simpson County, Kentucky. She married Beason Lewis and was always known as Aunt Betsy in her later life. Her life’s history is also that of uncle Beason’s. She was greatly loved by all of her foster children.

Aunt Betsy stood by Uncle Beason through their married life and upheld him in all the good he did. Those who were under her care tell us that she was never heard to speak an unkind word to any of them. It is said she was by far the best cook in the county. All of her cooking was done over a fireplace and her baking was done in a Dutch oven. She taught the girls all the essential duties of home making of that day. They were taught how to take care of the wool from the time it was clipped from the sheep’s back until it was made into clothing and ready to wear.
Aunt Betsy had no favorites. She loved every one of the 35 children in her big adopted family.
She is remembered as having blue eyes and white hair. She wore a braid of brown false hair about four inches wide around the front of her head, and fastened in the back. She always wore a lace cap on her head, a black one for week days and a white one for Sundays and special occasions.

Elizabeth died 15 April 1883 at the age of 74.

(Material for these histories gathered and compiled by Mrs. Vilate E. Lewis Elggran)