Joseph and Mary Ann Lewis
Source: Progressive men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida counties; By A W Bowen & Co; Published 1904
Few men of all the
region called the intermountain section of the Great West have witnessed more
varying changes of life, experienced more thrilling experiences, or have been
connected with so many varieties of existence, than the gentleman whose name
stands at the head of this article. Joseph Lewis was born in Bristol, England,
in July 1847, a son of Joseph and Eliza (Heath) Lewis, his maternal grandfather
being in the British naval service and serving as a mariner under Admiral Nelson
at the world-renowned battles of the Nile and Trafalgar Bay and also under the
Duke of Wellington at Waterloo; a maternal uncle, William Heath, was on service
first in Ireland, and later in India as a member of the British army.
The father of our subject was a
skilled shoemaker in his native land, but, joining the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, he came to America, and was a member of the first handcart
company crossing the plains, in 1856, his son, Joseph, then but nine years of
age, assisting him in pulling his handcart from Iowa City to Florence, Neb. On
account of sickness the family remained at Council Bluffs, continuing their
western journey later to Utah, the father taking up his residence in Salt Lake
City in 1861, and coming to Paris, Idaho, with his family, as one of the pioneer
settlers of the county, in 1863, thereafter engaging in farming and stock
raising, his death occurring on March 20, 1900.
Joseph Lewis of this review was but
fourteen years of age when the tocsin of war sounded through the land and the
President called for loyal defenders of the Union cause. Filled with a desire to
serve his adopted country, in July, 1861, young Lewis relinquished his studies
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and accompanied the Second Iowa Battery of Light
Artillery to the front and was identified thereafter with its eventful history,
enlisting as soon as he was of sufficient age as a soldier in its ranks, on
March 26, 1864, and following the fortunes of that organization on many a
hard-fought field of battle, serving under Generals
McArthur, Canby and A. J. Smith, and participating in the battles and many other
engagements sharply contested, and two of historic importance, Tupelo, Miss.,
and Nashville, Tenn. Before he enlisted in the battery Mr. Lewis was engaged
with the company to which he had attached himself at the capture of New Madrid
and Island No. 10, and also in two skirmishes, one on May 9, 1862, the other on
May 28, 1862, both being near Farmington, Miss. He was also active in the
operations connected with the siege of Corinth, the battle of Luka and the
second battle of Corinth, being then under the command of Gen. W. S. Rosecrans.
After the retreat of the Confederate generals Price and Van Doran, whom the
Federals followed to Ripley, Miss., Mr. Lewis accompanied the expedition under
General Grant's command, when he first attempted to invest Vicksburg and had his
supplies burned at Holly Springs, Mr. Lewis going as far south as Oxford, Miss.
He then returned to Corinth and stopped with Gen. Granville M. Dodge at his
headquarters, being then engaged in selling newspapers to the soldiers, the
battery having gone into winter quarters at Germantown, Tenn., on the line of
the Memphis & Charleston Railroad.
The battery was engaged in the siege
of Vicksburg, losing heavily in the assault on the works on May 23, 1863. During
the attack the guns were pulled by hand to the front by an Illinois regiment in
order to cover the storming party. They were also in the battle of Jackson,
Miss., attached to Gen. F. P. Blair's division of the Fifteenth Army Corps under
Gen. W. T. Sherman, commanding officer. Mr. Lewis was not with the battery in
these engagements. The next summer, that of 1863, Mr. Lewis carried newspapers
for a dealer named Hobbs from Memphis to Vicksburg, on steamers running between
these cities after the fall of Vicksburg, also selling papers to Gen. Sherman's
army encamped along the Big Blake River in the rear of Vicksburg.
Here he again joined the battery,
which he accompanied to Canton, Miss., with supplies for Sherman's army, then on
its return from Meriden, Miss., being at that time under command of Gen. Tuttle,
of Iowa. He was with the battery near Memphis, Tenn., in 1864, and in the
command that, in that year, went to the relief of Gen. Sturgis after his defeat
by the Confederate general, Forrest, whom Mr. Lewis's command afterward met and
defeated near Tupelo after two days of hard fighting. In this engagement Mr.
Lewis cut fuse and carried ammunition from the limber chest to the guns.
Throughout the entire war this
battery never lost a gun, but wore out an entire set, drawing new ones. It was
one of the marked organizations of the service, belonging to the famous Second
Brigade, at one time commanded by Joseph A. Mower, afterwards a corps commander.
The battery was first under command of
Captain Spoor, who resigned and was succeeded by First Lieutenant J. R. Reed,
now a judge of the United States court of claims. This brigade was originally
composed of the famous Eighth Wisconsin, which carried the old War Eagle, "Old
Abe," through the war, the Twenty-sixth and Forty-seventh Illinois, the Eleventh
Missouri, and the Fifth Minnesota. The Twenty-sixth Illinois was later
segregated, its place being filled by a Minnesota regiment. After a service of
constant activity, on August 7, 1865, Mr. Lewis was honorably mustered out of
the service at Davenport, Iowa.
Engaged in teaming operations from
Omaha to Denver in the fall of 1865, attending, school during the winter of
1865, in 1866 Mr. Lewis crossed the plains to Montana, taking the Bozeman
cutoff, and was connected with mining operations in that territory until 1867,
when he went to Salmon River, soon going to the Big Hole Basin and from there to
Philipsburg, Mont., where he was employed in the quartz mill of the St. Louis
and Montana Co., thereafter for three years giving his attention to the
development of his mining claim on Henderson Creek, Mont., after which time he
returned to Council Bluffs. His next occupation was in the employ of a
contractor on the B. & M. Railroad between Fort Kearney and Plattsmouth, Neb.,
constructing depots and other buildings, continuing to be thus employed until
1874, prosperity attending his endeavors, and for eight months thereafter the
Omaha Transfer Co. secured his services.
Coming to Bear Lake county in 1874, he
located on the site of his present ranch, engaging in the raising of stock and
in the development of his estate, which now consists of 202 acres under a fine
state of improvement, his earnest and persevering endeavors developing an
attractive and a fertile farm, with a substantial and commodious residence,
barns, sheds, corrals and all the necessary accessories for the pursuit of his
branches of husbandry.
Ever taking an intelligent and
advanced position in all matters tending to the benefit and improvement of the
community, from the first he was a leader in irrigation and canal movements, and
is now a large stockholder in the Peg Leg Island Canal Co. His capability for
the successful discharge of the duties connected with public office early met
due recognition, and he has creditably served several terms as a justice of the
peace, also in numerous minor offices, while his services
were called for as a postmaster of Dingle, which he held
for over four years, his administration of that office, like that of all others
he has held, demonstrating his complete fitness for the place. He has ever taken
great interest in educational matters, was one of the pioneer educators of Bear
Lake County, being a popular and efficient teacher of the Paris schools in 1875,
On March 4, 1875, was celebrated the
marriage of Mr. Lewis and Miss Mary Ann Nate, a daughter of Samson and Mary
(Cottrell) Nate, and for ancestral history and other data of the family the
reader is referred to the sketch of Mr. Nate appearing on other pages of this
work. The family of Mr. Lewis embraces seven children, whose names and births we
here record: Amelia, born February 27. 1876; Mary E., born October 20, 1877;
Lillian G., 1xmti October 31, 1879; Joseph B., born July 7, 1881; Sarah E., born
November 3, 1883; Thomas G., born November 5, 1886; Lucy B., born February 19,
1889.
Mr. Lewis is one of the most active,
persevering and progressive citizens of his section of the state. He is
possessed of broad views a genial disposition, an integrity of thought and
purpose, an industry and a grasp of financial principles that have brought him a
competence of material prosperity, and his home is noted as one of the good old
places where Western hospitality is a part of the every-day life.