David and Ann (Beason) Lewis

David Lewis, the first child of John and Priscilla Brooks Lewis. He was born on Tuesday March 21, 1747 at Guilford County, North Carolina. (David is also listed as being born at Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia) He died June 23, 1822, Anderson County, South Carolina. His father John Lewis, born April 11, 1720, Orange Grove, Frederick County, Virginia married his mother Priscilla Brooks who was born January 16, 1725 in Orange- Guilford- Randolph County, North Carolina. The couple established their home also in North Carolina.

David and his 7 brothers and sisters grew up in wilderness of North Carolina during the historical struggles for that time near the township of Franklinville. David was raised on the family farm located near today’s Patterson Grove community just north of Franklinville, NC.

The location of their home is listed in many county locations during this time period of expansion as many county borders were adjusted as people moved into the various territories. In 1771, Orange County was greatly reduced in area. The western part of it was combined with the eastern part of Rowan County to form Guilford County then Randolph County was formed in 1779 from Guilford County.

David’s childhood might have been very turbulent and as his younger brothers had developed a violent and entitled attitude. The record of troubles with the law for these younger brothers, happened after David and Jacob had married and moved away. The ages of these younger brothers, at that time David marries and leaves for South Carolina, are Stephen 9 years, Richard 7 and John 3. They start getting into trouble in the neighborhood and with the courts four years later.

David Lewis and Ann Beeson met and married in Guilford County, North Carolina. Ann's parents, Benjamin and Elizabeth (Hunter Beeson, were staunch Quakers. The record of the Society of Friends (Quakers) of New Garden, Guilford County, show that Ann Beeson "married out of meeting." This meant that she chose a husband who was not a Quaker, which resulted in her dismissal from fellowship.

David Lewis married Ann Beeson at the age of 20 and she 18, on Saturday, January 30, 1768 in the New Garden, Quaker Church, Guilford Co. North Carolina. She was born May 30, 1749 in Hopewell, Fredrick County, Virginia. As a little girl Ann’s parents moved their family to this town site to establish a new Quaker community in about 1754 when she was 5 years old. This Church site is in present day Greensboro. They grew up about 20 miles apart during this time.

Early stories of Randolph County describe the Lewis’s as tall, broad, muscular and powerful. It must have been a great sorrow for Benjamin Beeson when his daughter Ann chose to marry outside her faith, but he may have known the kind of men of valor the Virginia Lewis’s were in their efforts with the Militia against Indians, and as soldiers in the new nations Revolution. (Lewis’s were a rather famous family in Virginia, having military officers and generals, fighting in the Continental Army for General Washington.) Although Benjamin Beeson may not have fired his weapon at men during the Revolution, he is listed in records as helping in the War for Independence and was granted a war pension. Benjamin had a military discharge in 1776 and listed in DAR records has having helped in Revolutionary War. Maybe he was the spy mentioned in family journals. Who would suspect a Quaker?

David and Ann (Beeson) Lewis had at least thirteen children. Their children were born in Guilford County, North Carolina. After their marriage in 1868 she must have helped soften his soul and calm him during this troubling time.

David served from April 12 1781-2 for the year of enlistment. He is not recorded as having enlisted for further campaigns but enlisted as a private in the 10 regiment of the North Carolina Line,(? in Captain Benjamin Bailey’s Company, Col. Abram Shepherds Regiment.)

Ann would have had 6 children by this time, at their first home location, and the oldest being 13 and the youngest being newborn. During the years after his military service, David and Ann had 5 more children, with the last being born in 1789.

Right after 1789 and the American Revolution ended, territory opened up beyond the Appalachian boundaries. Settlers started pouring into the new frontier and the Lewis family was among them. David and Ann Lewis laid out claims and bought considerable land in Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina. They moved their 9 remaining children and property and moved. Here they lived 23 more years. (another note states that “Some time between 1800-1812 they moved from NC to SC”)

Ann’s precise and practical Quaker ways must have rubbed of as the Lewis farms and property were neatly laid out, well organized, and meticulously cared for. The journals of Neriah’s sons tell of these work habits. David’s sons helped their father to clear land, build homes, barns, and buildings so that the family could live well in their new home.

They moved about 200 miles southeast

Ann died December 12, 1812 at the age of 63 at their home in Pendleton District/or now Anderson County, South Carolina and is said to be buried at the Old Stone Church Cemetery but no record of this. David Lewis married Penelope - in 1813 at Anderson County, South Carolina and had two more children by her, before he died on June 23, 1822 at the age of 75.

David Lewis - Revolutionary War Headstone in North Carolina

He was buried on Tuesday, 25 June 1822 at the Old Stone Church, Clemson University, Pickens County, South Carolina. His tombstone is labeled as “David Lewis 10 NC Regiment, Revolutionary War, Mar 21, 1747, Jun 23, 1822.” (This was a Presbyterian Church, built in 1802.) This church is only about 5 miles away from Pendleton City.

David was a farmer and merchant, often making trips to Charleston for goods, one time bringing back a nest of chests for his daughters, one of which is still in existence and in the possession of Mrs. Hale Houts.

David and Ann were the parents of twelve children, all born at the same location in Guilford County, North Carolina. The two oldest are listed born in Rowan County, but remember Guilford County was formed in 1771 out of part of Rowan County and Orange. They were descendants and participants of American colonists who had been a part of the early historical events of America. David was in the 10^th Regt. Line, North Carolina, during the Revolutionary War from April 12, 1781- April 12, 1782.

David Lewis also had 1 brother and his father, who served in the American Revolution. According to the family tradition, there were seventeen uncles, cousins, bothers in the Revolutionary War and their stories of their experiences were exciting especially tales of the soldiers who were spies.

The family members were large in stature. Neriah Jr. was a grandson to David Sr, who was the smallest of Neriah’s sons, stood six feet one inch tall and weighed one hundred and seventy pounds.

1. Isaiah Lewis b. Sep 3, 1769; d. January 25, 1837 - md. Nancy Julian.
2. Priscilla Lewis b. Sep 4, 1770; - md. Thomas Field.
3. Rev. Jacob Lewis b. Mar 14, 1772; d. August 4, 1857 - md. Ailsey Leonard.
4. Joab Lewis b. Dec 23, 1773; - md. Phelba Barton, Katherine Leonard .
5. Catherine Lewis b. abt 1774 - md Joshua Story Jr.
6. Abner Lewis b. Sep 22, 1775.
7. Neriah Lewis b. June 25, 1778; d. Nov. 27, 1843 - md. Mary Moss.
8. Benjamin Lewis b. May 26, 1781.
9. Elizabeth Lewis b. Sep 21, 1783; . October 4, 1840 - md. Micajah Alexander.
10. Cozbi or Cosby Lewis b. July 17, 1785; -md. John Woodall.
11. Tarleton Lewis b. Aug 11, 1787; d, at Cass County, GA - md. Rachel Williams.
12. Hannah Lewis b. Oct 2, 1789; d. July 22 1869 - md. Ezekiel Harlin, Silas Perry

After Ann Beason Lewis died, David married Penelopy. Children born of that union were all born in Anderson County, South Carolina:

1. David Lewis Jr. b. Jan 24, 1814.
2. Rosannah Lewis b. Oct 26, 1815.

Neriah and Mary (Moss) Lewis

Neriah Lewis Sr, son of David and Ann Beason Lewis, was born June 25, 1778 in Guilford County, North Carolina. He married Mary Moss/Morse, daughter of Samuel Moss and Rachel Julian. She was born October 29, 1775,

Samuel Moss was born on 31 Mar 1739 in Wallingford, New Haven, CT. He died after 1800 while living at his farm at Big Generostee Creek, Anderson County, South Carolina. Rachel Julian Moss his wife was born estimated 1735 in ,Cecil, MD. She died after 1830 in while living at Edgefield Co., South Carolina. This county abuts up against Georgia border and specifically North Augusta is in South Carolina. David tells that “her father was named Samuel Moss, her mother was Rachel, and lived in South Carolina, Pickins County or District.”

They were married March 4, 1800 in Pendleton, Anderson County, SC. After their marriage they returned to lived near his father’s family. Their first six children were born in South Carolina but at the “time of the re-adjustment,” after the Revolutionary war, the government was “under the table” encouraging westward expansion into Indian territories so as to lay claim to the land as part of the growing country.

Neriah’s family moved to Simpson County Kentucky in 1809-10. The children’s ages would range from 10 yrs. to newborn infant at the time of the move. In the western borders of the new country, new land was offered simply by entering a claim for it and large tracts were granted to settlers in payment for their military services. It is unclear if Neriah served in the Kentucky Militia’s during this time, as the War of 1812 was just getting underway and Kentucky men were the predominate soldiers during this war. They also had the most causalities of any other state put together.

This Lewis family was farmers, stockmen, carpenters, and coopers. Neriah’s growing family were good workers and well trained in pioneering. They cleared the trees from their land, built homes, plowed and planted. The brothers helped their father clear land for cultivation and building materials. It is said at 6-8 loads of wood per day. In later years, during the Illinois exodus to Utah, Tarlton and Beason were jokingly called “Saw Mills,” because they were so proficient with their axes.

And along with the early settlers of that time and section, they raised corn and grain from which they made whisky and brandy. They made their liquor barrels from wood they cut from their land. Beeson made wooden tubs, buckets and churns. These were made from cedar wood and bound with brass hoops. They raised tobacco and cured it. The liquor and tobacco were sold or exchanged to supply them with their other needs. These men were also breeders of fine stock and horses, and being men of strength they were able to protect themselves and others from other dangers of that time.

Old Lewis Farm near Simpson, Kentucky

The current owner still plows around the small graveyard of about 25 headstones--including Labon and Elizabeth Jennings. The Old Lewis Farm is located 4 miles east of Franklin on Brown Road near the intersection with State Highway 100. (As of 2011 Can’t find it on Google maps as area is now industrialized)

An excerpt from the diary of David Lewis, son of Neriah and Mary states, "My father had four hundred acres of beautiful land, about one hundred acres in farm and the remainder of this land was timber land. A large double house (two story) on a public road three miles east of the town of Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky. A beautiful yard surrounded the house, about one acre square, neatly covered with blue grass. Two beautiful mulberry trees and one beautiful cedar tree growing in the south yard. Beautiful cherry trees grew on the cut edge of the yard one rod distance from each other. These mulberry and cherry trees bore splendid fruit. A beautiful orchard on the west joined the yard and in it were most all the varieties of fruit that were common for the country. My father (Neriah) was a large man weighing about 330 pounds and my mother (Mary) was a large woman weighing 240 pounds."

Neriah and Mary provided a very comfortable living for their large family. Though not affiliated with any religion, they were good, honest, and hard working people, which virtues, they passed on to their children and descendants. David says “My mother and father was not professors of religion, nor none of my connections with whom I was acquainted. My father’s mother was turned out of the Quaker Church for marrying my grandfather, who was not a member of the church and she refusing to acknowledge that she was sorry for the deed. My father and mother believed in a universal salvation but belonged to no church. I believe they were both honest, and I know they taught their children to be honest. My father was a farmer and possessed a sufficient substance to make his family comfortable.” Five of their sons and their families did joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during the 1830’s and later moved west.

The later years of Neriah and Mary were spent in Macoupin County, Illinois as most of their son’s and their families had resettled near Carlinville. Neriah died on Nov 27, 1843 and his wife, Mary, followed in 1844.

Neriah and Mary Moss Lewis had twelve children. The first six were born in Pendleton District, South Carolina and the last six were born in Simpson County, Kentucky - children listed below:

Ann Lewis b. 21 Dec 1800, d. 1876 - md Ellis Wilcox
Martha Lewis b. 6 Mar 1802, d. 3 May 1842 - md Travis Moore
Benjamin Lewis b. 22 Apr 1803, d. 30 Oct 1838 - md Joannah Ryon
Tarlton Lewis b. 18 May 1805, d. 22 Nov 1890 - md Malinda Gimlin
John Moss Lewis b. 19 May 1807, d. Mar 1891 - md Elizabeth Woods
Beason Lewis b. 23 Feb 1809, d. 22 Jan 1888 - md Elizabeth Ryon
Samuel Lewis b. 1 Nov 1810, d. 1882 - md Rebecca Wright
Elizabeth Lewis b. 25 Jun 1812, d. 5 Nov 1843
David Lewis b. 10 Apr 1814, d. 2 Sep 1855 - md Duritha Trail
Neriah Lewis b. 29 Apr 1816, d. 22 Jul 1890 - md Rebecca Hendricks
Hiram Lewis b. 11 Feb 1818, d. 11 Feb 1858 - md Cecellia Harris
Mary M. Lewis b. 25 Nov 1820, d. 1888 - md Jay Blackburn