LEWIS, William^{[1, 2]}

Abt 1620 - 1683  (~ 63 years)

• Name	LEWIS, William
  Born	Abt 1620  [3]
  Gender	Male
  Died	2 Aug 1683	Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut   [4]
  	assuming this is William’s entry
  Person ID	I2669	Shepard and John Tree
  Last Modified	24 Jul 2020

  
  

  Father	LEWIS, William,   b. Abt 1595,   d. 2 Aug 1683, Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut  (Age ~ 88 years)
  Mother	Felix,   d. 17 Apr 1671, Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
  Married	7 Feb 1618	Cardiff, Wales   [5, 6]
  Family ID	F2081	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	CHEEVER, Mary,   b. 1640, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ,   d. 1728  (Age 88 years)
  Married	22 Nov 1671	Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts   [7, 8]
  Children	1. LEWIS, Abigail,   b. 19 Sep 1678, Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut ,   d. 24 Jan 1707, Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut  (Age 28 years)
  Last Modified	2 Jan 2022
  Family ID	F2080	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  He was one of the first slave owners on record in Farmington. He left his two Indian slaves to his wife upon his death. His other slave, Sampson, was given his freedom along with his wife and children. He and Samuel Steele bought from the Indians a hill (now part of Plymouth and Litchfield, CT) and all land within eight miles of that hill where they dug black lead (graphite) in 1657. During that year, the Indians were very troublesome and burned his house and those of others for which they agreed to make an annual payment of 80 fathoms of wampum for seven years. (Each shell bead of white wampum was accepted as worth a farthing.) In 1660 William Lewis (born Aug 19, 1620) built a frame house which became the centre portion of the Elm Tree Inn which was kept by the Lewis family since 1736. In "Early Connecticut Homes" (date unknown) we read: Few visitors to the Elm Tree Inn at Farmington are aware that a house of about 1660 is concealed at the mass of buildings which form the present hotel. As you stand in the passage in front of the stairs you are in the entrance of the original house. If you face toward the door with your back to the stairs you will see above you, flush with the rest of the ceiling, the ancient overhang which shows even the edge of the bottom board of the second story front.

  
  

• Sources

  [S246] LR1p2. [S247] . [S247] source is guessing birth from date of first marriage to Mary Hopkins in 1645. [S1380] . [S247] source says by 1620 as that appears to be about when son William was born. [S1379] this source is pretty specific about where. [S247] this marriage according to source was recorded in Farmington, Barbour collection, p104. [S1378] .