Searching for Nathan J. Lewis

I am a great grandson of Nathan J. Lewis. I have been searching for details about his life for the last 25 years. Unfortunately, I have hit a brick wall when finding Nathan's parents. Below is the collection of families and material I have assembled from various sources over the years in my attempt to make connections, and find answers.

First, some background questions.

James R. Lewis

James R. Lewis was born in 1791 in Sampson County, North Carolina. James and his wife Artesia Stevens had the following children: Oates Stevens Lewis (b. 1815-d. 1872), James M. Lewis (b. 1819-d. 1892), and Henry Dewey Lewis (b. 1823-d. 1899).

I introduce this family for two reasons. The first is that when James R. Lewis dies in December of 1862, there is a Nathan Lewis who was among those listed who purchased items from the estate of James. Below are the items he purchased-

1 ticle for 10 cents

1 wine glass and mug for 80 cents

1 table of books for $1.10

1 lot of books for 40 cents

1 lot of pamphlets for 10 cents

1 bridle for 60 cents

1 pocket knife for $1.10

A cotton sack for 25 cents

1 box of needles for 65 cents

1 iron gray mare for $75.00

 

Totaling $80.10    (In today’s money, that is equal to between $1,800 and $1,900.)

 

The issue with this is three-fold. At the time of this sale, our Nathan was serving in the Civil War. The second issue is why would he need these items if he was a soldier in the war? He bought a horse for $75. Was he back home and planning ahead for when the war might be over? Were did he leave the horse when he returned back to service? Lastly, there are no other Nathan Lewis's living in Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina at that time. One would assume that the Nathan that purchased these items would have been a local farmer, and would have been listed on the 1860 federal census. He is not, nor our Nathan.

The second of the first issue about this family is that James R. Lewis's first son Oates Lewis moved to Mount Andrews, Barbour County, Alabama in 1858. Mt. Andrew's is about 15 miles from Midway, Alabama, where our Nathan will reside in 1866 after his service in the military. Of all the places, two Lewis families move within ear shot on one another. Coincidence?

As a further point of reference, I am including a family connection chart that displays the marriages and descendants from those marriages, as well as any other siblings.

Necy Lewis

This might be a stretch, but hear me out on this. Necy Lewis was born in Duplin County, North Carolina. Duplin County later split and Sampson County was born. In 1829, Necy is listed as a witness in Cumberland County to a Nathan King. The King family have a long history in this part of the world. By 1833, Necy is listed on a census residing in Barbour County, Alabama. This writer should also point out that there are other Lewis families in the area of Barbour County at this time (Daniel Lewis, Harrison Lewis, and Seaborn Lewis). More about these families later.

On the 1866 Alabama state census, Necy Lewis is listed as living in Midway, Alabama, across the street from a Tandy King. Living in the same house as Tandy is our Nathan Lewis. Nathan was furloughed from military service in 1864. Of all the places to land, he chose to settle here? Why. Also in the same house as Nathan and Tandy were a Thomas Lewis (age 21) and a Mary Lewis (age 25), both being born in Alabama. We don't believe there is any family connection to these two Lewis's.

And similar to the family connection tree listed before for James R. Lewis, here is a similar display which lists family connections between Necy Lewis and other families.

The image below is at the location where Tandy King and Nathan Lewis would have lived in 1870 at 253 Depot Street. I can't say for certain that this is the same house, but one would imaging it wouldn't be much different, as most residences in this area look similar to this.

Thomas Clifton Parker

Thomas Parker was born in Johnston County, North Carolina, the son of Pleasant Parker and Edith Lee. The Parker's have a long history on South Carolina, while the Lee family was well established in Johnston. By 1850, Thomas is living in the Northern District of Sampson County, and by 1858 he's getting married to Martha Emma Faulk in Midway, Alabama. The Faulk family is well established in Barbour County, Alabama.

Thomas and Martha had 4 children, Mary Emma Parker (b. 1859-d.1909), Martha Lee Parker (b. 1862-d. 1941), Pleasant Lorenzo Parker (b. 1864-d. 1942), and Thomas Richard Lee Parker (b. 1865-1956). I have extensively researched all of the offspring of these individuals, and there is little to no new information about Nathan that we don't already know.

Unfortunately, Thomas Clifton Parker dies in 1868 of Typhus. But, in 1879, Nathan married Mary Emma Parker. Below is a picture of Mary and her sister Martha. We are not able to identify who is who, but from the understanding of talking with family members, we believe that Mary is the one on the left.

Sampson County, NC

Sampson County is a rural area some 40 miles east of Fayetteville, North Carolina and 60 miles south of Raleigh, North Carolina. Established in 1784 of Scot-Irish immigrants with a population of roughly 6,000, by 1850 that number had grown to about 15,000. In 2010 that number was 63,000.

The main business for this area, and one of the largest in the nation, is hog production. Other areas of economy include agriculture and timber. The diversity of its population ranges from poor to poor, with the average annual income at $32,000.

Clinton is the Capitol of Sampson County. Unfortunately, birth records weren't official recorded until 1919. 

 

Other Lewis's who served in the Civil War

I have collected all the name of the soldiers who came from nearby towns in Sampson County with the last name of Lewis. I have cross reference their service records, their family trees, and even those that served in the same company as our Nathan, and still have yet to find a single connection to any of these other individuals.

I'm not sure what you can tell from the image above, but there are 17 Lewis's that enlisted in the Civil War with origins from Sampson County with the last name of Lewis. This author would like to point out a couple of those listed for further evaluation.

Isaac Lewis, who enlisted on the same day as our Nathan Lewis, and also served in the same company as Nathan, lists that his father is James Lewis. How interesting. But, this is not the same James R. Lewis that was mentioned above. This James Lewis is the son of James M. Lewis, and he is the son of Ully Lewis, a well established Lewis family in Sampson County. What I find interesting is maybe there was a calling of those who's names were in an alphabetical range, and were summoned to enlist. Although his age is ten years older than our Nathan, the similarities are perplexing.

Also on this list is another Nathan Lewis, also from Sampson County, and born around the same time, but following his military history, participated in another regiment (and is probably the Nathan that is mentioned in a news article later posted), and was mustered out of service in 1862. I also believe he was of African-American decent.

What we do know about Nathan

As you might have noticed from the headstone image at the beginning of this blog, it lists Nathan's year of birth as 1841. We have no proof of this. A second cousin of mine was also researching our Nathan Lewis, and when the discovery of the other branch of our ancestral tree existed, we instigated a headstone be erected in his honor. That was in 2004. Where she got that date from is unknown. Most of his military records lists his year of birth as 1843, which would make sense, since these same military files list his age as 17. This author should also point out that on some military records, Nathan's place of birth is listed as Clinton, North Carolina. There might be a couple reason for this. The first is that he really was from Clinton. The second is that he was from a nearby town land, and they used Clinton as a reference point. Clinton was also the capitol of Sampson County, and might have been used for legal reasons.

Searching through old newspaper articles, I found a reference to our Nathan Lewis that describes that the commander of a company is looking for a Nathan J. Lewis to meet him in Fayetteville, NC or else he will be considered a deserter. I can't tell for certain that this is our Nathan as the company W.T. Anderson is of is not the one that our Nathan served with.

Military Files

I have contacted the National Archives and received military history files of our Nathan J. Lewis that include muster rolls, furlough records, payroll files and even pension requests. Rather than include some of these many images that I have received, I will post just a couple for display. I am in the process of compiling a day by day account of his full military record. Here is a partial list.

Here is a sample of some of the muster rolls. Note that Nathan served as a member of the Sampson County Ploughboys, under the command of John Ashford. Follow this link to learn more about the details of this unit.

And here is a sample of a payroll file for two months service during November and December of 1862, totaling $13 a month. As I mentioned earlier about a Nathan Lewis buying a mare for $75 from the estate of James R. Lewis, this is a lot of money for a 18 or 20 year old soldier in the war.

So here we are, Nathan has served his time in the war, gets wounded in the left shoulder, is captured in the Battle of Gettysburg, is release from capture, gets wounded in his right leg, and is finally retired from service by reason of disability from wounds in November of 1864. Though the war wouldn't officially end until April of 1865, I'm certain Nathan felt proud of his military career.

Nathan after the war

The first recorded listing of Nathan after the war is on an Alabama state census of 1866 in Barbour County. As mentioned earlier, he is listed next to Necy Lewis, and Tandy King, and described as a farmer. Whether or not he really was a farmer, considering his physical condition, is in question, and they probably used that term loosely. As you'll note on the image below, Necy is listed having other members in his household, as does Tandy. Nathan is listed individually. John J. Lewis has no relation to this family history research.

This same year of 1866, Barbour County was divided, creating Bullock County to the north, which included the town of Midway.

Nathan would spend the next 12 years living in Midway, Alabama as a clerk for a train depot, as the Superintendent of the Sunday Baptist School, and possibly as a farmer. Below are a couple of news articles that mention Nathan's occupation, as well as his need to beautify his home. This author should also point out that the news article about his house appeared the same day he was married.

Nathan moves to Atlanta

I don't know the circumstances that drove Nathan to move to Atlanta, but by 1888 he and his wife Mary, along with their first born son Clifton Gray Lewis, who was born in 1880, had settled at 6 Brotherton St, working as a bookkeeper at the Delbridge Printing Company. This would be the birthplace of their second son James Roy Lewis. I don't have any pictures of Nathan, but judging by the images of Clifton and James Roy pictured below, one can imaging that Nathan would have looked similar. Nathan was listed as being 5 feet 3 inches tall with grey eyes on his military files. James Roy Lewis was listed as 5 feet 6 inches with blue eyes on his World War I draft registration form.

 

Nathan and family will move to 23 Pullman St in 1890, and then on to 151 W. Hunter St in 1890. Nathan's occupation at this residence is listed as a drummer - salesman. A year later they would move to 258 McDaniel's Street, where he was a grocer, and then finally in 1892 move to 326 McDaniel's, back working as a bookkeeper. This would be Nathan's last residence, as he would die on December 11th, 1893. Nathan's dedication to his military service can be seen in this newspaper article that appeared shortly before his death.

Nathan is buried at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 47 years old, but lived many lives in his short span. If you have ANY information that can help me find out the whereabouts of his parents and possible siblings, this author would greatly appreciate it. I can be contacted at barryjaylewis@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading.