Biographical Sketch of

John Lewis

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 760 - 761 - 762 


John Lewis, of Montello, has been a resident of Wisconsin during its whole existence as a State, and for almost 
forty years has resided in the village which is now his home.  Thus much of his life has been passed among the 
wild scenes of the frontier, for he was reared to manhood in an undeveloped and unsettled section of Ohio.  He 
was born near Mansfield, Richland County, that State, Jan. 31,1826, and is a son of Samuel and Margaret (Slater) 
Lewis.  His father was a native of Kentucky, but when a youth removed to Ohio, where he became acquainted with 
and married Miss Margaret Slater, a native of the Buckeye State, born of Holland ancestors.  When our subject was 
a lad of eight years the family removed to Williams County, Ohio, and in the midst of the dense forest developed 
a farm, upon which the parents passed the remainder of their days.  Their family numbered fourteen children, ten 
sons and four daughters, several of whom died in early life, while now, 1889, there are but five living.
 
John Lewis was early inured to hard labor, being reared among the hardships and trials incident to frontier life.  
As soon as he was old enough, he assisted his father in the development of a farm, and continued to aid him in its 
cultivation until after the death of his father, which occurred Sept. 16, 1839.  His mother died June 13, 1845.  
He left home to do for himself in 1843, and in the spring of 1844 he went to Missouri, where he spent three years 
engaged in various kinds of work.  In the early part of 1847 he returned to his old home in Ohio.  In March of 
that year he was united in marriage with Miss Mary L. Buck.  In the spring of 1848 the young couple started for 
the West with Euphrasia, their eldest daughter, then an infant.  The railroad system had just been started, and 
Hillsdale, Mich., was its western terminus, so that in order to make the journey, Mr. Lewis and his wife traveled 
the entire distance with a team and wagon in true pioneer style.  His objective point was the wilds of Wisconsin, 
but he had not determined upon any particular place in which to settle.  On reaching Burlington, Racine County, 
he left his little family and started out on a prospecting tour, and after some search entered a claim of a quarter 
section of land in Columbia County, on which is now located the village of Rio.  With characteristic energy, he 
began to transform the land.  He had become familiar with the arduous task of developing a farm in Ohio, and his 
experience proved of much advantage to him, but after two years he decided to abandon farm life, and became a 
resident of Montello, Marquette County,  in June 1851.  He was variously engaged for a time, but finally decided 
upon the lumber and logging business as one which he believed would be profitable, and in the prosecution of that 
enterprise he spent his time until 1859.
 
Filled with patriotic impulses, in the fall of 1861 Mr. Lewis could no longer withstand his country's call for aid.  
It was, indeed, a hard task to leave his little family, but he made the sacrifice, and on the 19th of October, 1861,
enrolled his name as a member of Company H, 16th Wisconsin Infantry.  He assisted in raising that company, and on 
its organization was elected Second Lieutenant, in which capacity he served until immediately after the battle of 
Shiloh, when he was commissioned First Lieutenant, with which rank he was discharged in September, 1862, on account 
of disability.  With his company, he served in all the engagements up to the battle of Shiloh, and in that terrible 
engagement was in the thickest of the fight.  His regiment formed a part of Prentiss' Division, and no braver or 
more gallant regiment was found in the command.  The ranks were full, but thick and fast came the rebel shot and 
shell, sweeping all before it till at night, when the roll was called, only one-third who went forth to battle 
responded to their names.  Mr. Lewis escaped without bodily injury, but the hardships and exposure attending the 
campaign had greatly weakened his constitution.  He did not wish to leave the ranks, so accompanied the army to 
Corinth, but on reaching that city, he could no longer remain with the company, and was discharged.
 
It was a long time before Mr. Lewis sufficiently recovered to attend to business, and he has never yet regained his 
former health.  For twenty years now he has had  charge of the lock at Montello, and has also been engaged in milling 
and grain buying.  In his business enterprises he has been successful; his course has always been marked with the 
greatest uprightness, and he is now numbered among the substantial citizens of the county.
 
Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis--daughters:  Euphrasia is now the wife of W. B. Maitland, 
of Montello; Maggie E. is the wife of W. L. Chapman, of Plainfield; and Mary L. wedded James Hardy of Montello.  The 
two youngest were born in Wisconsin.  Mrs. Lewis, the mother, was called to her final rest on the 4th of October, 1887.  
She was a most estimable lady, beloved by all who knew her, and her loss to the family was immeasurably great.  On the 
2d of January, 1890, Mr. Lewis was again married, becoming the husband of Mrs. Emma Davis, nee Norcross.  She is a native 
of Vermont, and a daughter of Solomon and Sarah (Fisk) Norcross, who were both natives of the Green Mountain State, and 
in 1858 settled in Rock County, Wis., and some years later located at Montello, where the father died in the spring of 
1887.  The mother is still living.
 
Mr. Lewis has supported the Republican party since its organization, and takes an active interest in its success and 
welfare.  He was one of the organizers, and is an honored member of W. D. Walker Post, No. 64  G. A. R., of which he 
was Commander four years, and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, He is well known throughout Marquette County, 
where he has resided for the long period of nearly forty years, and is numbered among the worthy and respected citizens 
and its gallant soldiers. 






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