Thomas Lewis (April 27, 1718 – January 31, 1790) was an

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surveyor, lawyer, politician and pioneer of early western

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He was among the signers of the

Fairfax Resolves The Fairfax Resolves were a set of resolutions adopted by a committee in Fairfax County in the colony of Virginia on July 18, 1774, in the early stages of the American Revolution. Written at the behest of George Washington and others, they were a ...

, represented

Augusta County Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Its count ...

at four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and the first session of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

during the

American War for Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, and after the conflict, represented newly established Rockingham County at the

Virginia Ratification Convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at ...

, as well as contributed to the settlement of an area that long after his death become part of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

Early life

Lewis was born to John (1678–1762) and Margaret Lynn Lewis (1693–1773) in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

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on April 27, 1718. Needing to leave Ireland after killing his landlord, John Lewis immigrated to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1728; and two years later brought over his family, including Thomas and his brothers

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and William. In the summer of 1732 the Lewis family moved to the western frontier, following the

Shenandoah River The Shenandoah River is the principal tributary of the Potomac River, long with two forks approximately long each,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 in t ...

south into Virginia, and finally settled near the headwaters of the south fork in what was then vast

Spotsylvania County Spotsylvania County is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, Spotsylvania Courthouse. History At the time ...

. The family established a farm and built a stone house for defense against the raids.

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

in 1736 granted Robert Beverley's son, Col.

William Beverley William Beverley (1696–1756) was an 18th-century legislator, civil servant, planter and landowner in the Colony of Virginia. Born in Virginia, Beverley—the son of planter and historian Robert Beverley, Jr. (c. 1667–1722) and his wife, Ursul ...

, a wealthy planter and merchant from Essex County in the

Virginia colony The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, more than 118,000 acres (478 km²)(in what would become

). This effectively made the Lewis family squatters on Beverley's new land grant. John Lewis corrected this in 1739 by purchasing 2,000 acres (8 km²) along Lewis Creek (about a mile (2 km) east of what is now

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

) from Beverley. He named his new home "Bellefonte". Thomas Lewis was considered an ardent student as a young man, partly because he was very nearsighted. Later, he learned surveying and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

. As early as 1739 he began acquiring land of his own to the south and west of Beverley's Manor in what is today Rockingham and Bath counties. Lewis married Jane Strother (from an established family in Stafford County) on January 26, 1749, and moved north to what would later become Rockingham County. The couple built a plantation they called "Lynnwood" near Port Republic and the confluence of the north and south forks of the Shenandoah River. They raised thirteen children. One son, Thomas Lewis, Jr., served in the U.S. Congress as well as the Virginia House of Delegates.

Career

The

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

had authorized creation of still-vast Augusta County in 1738, but seven years passed before European settlement had grown enough to justify organizing the county's government. Thomas Lewis became one of the first county judges (commissioners) in 1745. Shortly afterward, in 1746, Lewis and

Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", creat ...

surveyed part of the boundaries of Lord Fairfax's 5,282,000 acre (61,000 km²) land grant (see the

Fairfax Line The Fairfax Line was a surveyor's line run in 1746 to establish the limits of the " Northern Neck land grant" (also known as the "Fairfax Grant") in colonial Virginia. The land grant, first contrived in 1649, encompassed all lands bounded by the ...

). Lewis kept detailed journals of several surveying expeditions, which provide a historical view of early western Virginia. In 1746 he laid out the first Staunton town plat for William Beverley. Lewis held a number of local offices, and was surveyor of Augusta County for many years beginning in 1746. He also became a founding trustee of Liberty Hall, formerly the Augusta Academy, which in 1776 was renamed in a burst of revolutionary fervor and relocated to

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

. Other founding trustees included his brother

Andrew Lewis Andrew Lewis may refer to: Law and politics * Sir Andrew J. W. Lewis (1875-1952), Scottish businessman and politician; Lord Provost of Aberdeen * Andrew L. Lewis Jr. (1931–2016), American railroad executive and US Secretary of Transportation *And ...

, Samuel McDowell,

Sampson Mathews Sampson Mathews (c. 1737 – January 20, 1807) was an American merchant, soldier, and legislator in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia. A son of John and Ann (Archer) Mathews, Mathews was an early merchant in the Shenandoah Val ...

, George Moffett, William Preston, and

James Waddel James Waddel (or Waddell, July 1739 – September 17, 1805) was an Irish American Presbyterian preacher from Virginia noted for his eloquence. He was a founding trustee of Liberty Hall (later Washington and Lee University), when it was made into ...

.Williams, Richard G (2013). Lexington, Virginia and the Civil War. The History Press, 2013. Retrieved online https://books.google.com/books?id=SnlXXMRrD3MC&pg=PA22 Finally receiving a state charter in 1782, Liberty Hall would be renamed again, to Washington College and eventually became

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

. It is now the country's ninth oldest institution of higher education.Waddell, Joseph A (1902) "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 187
Waddell's Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871
Retrieved October 20, 2012 In the early days of the American Revolution, following unrest over new taxes imposed by Britain to fund the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and

Lord Dunmore's War Lord Dunmore's War—or Dunmore's War—was a 1774 conflict between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations. The Governor of Virginia during the conflict was John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore—Lord Dunmore. H ...

, Virginia governor Lord Dunmore suppressed the

in which his younger brother

represented

Botetourt County Botetourt County ( ) is a US county that lies in the Roanoke Region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Located in the mountainous portion of the state, the county is bordered by two major ranges, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Mou ...

(established in 1772 and which lay south of Augusta County). Augusta County voters elected Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell to four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions that replaced the Burgesses. (His brother Andrew was a delegate for Botetourt County.) When the new state government was created in 1776, Lewis was elected to the state's first House of Delegates. In 1778, the year the Virginia General Assembly split Augusta County in order to create Rockingham County, Thomas Lewis journeyed even further along the Ohio River to what later became to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He was among the men who negotiated a controversial treaty with the

Delaware Indians The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

, guaranteeing their neutrality for the rest of the war. He was one of the Virginia commissioners appointed to negotiate a resolution in 1779 with

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

over the two states' western-border dispute. In 1788, Lewis became one of the delegates for Rockingham County, along with his brother-in-law Gabriel Jones, to the Virginia convention which ultimately ratified the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

. The previous year, either this man (or his son) owned nine enslaved adults and 14 slave children in Rockingham County. When the Virginia General Assembly authorized establishment of

Kanawha County Kanawha County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charlest ...

and established a court to administer the county, Lewis became one of the court's twelve members; the court met for the first time on October 5, 1789, at the house of George Clendenin in Charleston.

Death and legacy

Lewis died at Lynnwood in 1790, by which time his son had begun serving part time as one of Kanawh County's representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates, and would later briefly serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thomas Lewis Sr. is buried beside his wife Jane in the Lewis Family burial ground in Rockingham County. On December 19, 1794, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act which established the town of Point Pleasant on Lewis' property at the mouth of the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the stat ...

(in present-day

Mason County, West Virginia Mason County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,453. Its county seat and largest city is Point Pleasant. The county was founded in 1804 and named for George Mason, delegate to the U.S. ...

). His journal of his 1746 surveying journey was printed in 1925.John Wayland (editor), ''The Fairfax Line: Thomas Lewis's Journal of 1746'';

New Market, Virginia New Market is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. Founded as a small crossroads trading town in the Shenandoah Valley, it has a population of 2,146 as of the most recent 2010 U.S. census. The north–south U.S. 11 and the east� ...

: The Henkel Press (1925 reprint edition).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Thomas 1718 births 1790 deaths American planters American surveyors Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention 18th-century American politicians House of Burgesses members Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from County Donegal People from Kanawha County, West Virginia People from Rockingham County, Virginia Virginia colonial people Virginia lawyers Virginia pioneers American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from Augusta County, Virginia Washington and Lee University trustees

Early life

Career

Death and legacy

See also

References