Neriah and Mary Lewis

Old Lewis Farm

          (The current owner still plows around the small graveyard of about 25 headstones--including Labon and Elizabeth Jennings. The Old Lewis Farm is located 4 miles east of Franklin on Brown Road near the intersection with State Highway 100).


          "Neriah Lewis Sr, son of David and Ann Beason Lewis, was born June 25, 1778, in Guilford County, North Carolina. He married Mary Moss, daughter of Samuel Moss and Rachel Julian. She was born October 29, 1775.
          Samuel Moss was born on March 31, 1739, in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut. He died sometime after 1800 while living at his farm at Big Generostee Creek, Anderson County, South Carolina. Rachel Julian Moss, his wife, was born in about 1735 in Cecil, Maryland. She died sometime after 1830 while living at Edgefield Co., South Carolina. David says that his mother's father "was named Samuel Moss, her mother was Rachel, and lived in South Carolina, Pickins County or District.”
          They were married March 4, 1800, in Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina. After their marriage, they returned to live near his father’s family. Their first six children were born in South Carolina, but at the “time of the re-adjustment” after the Revolutionary war, the government was encouraging westward expansion into Indian territories so as to lay claim to the land as part of the growing country.
          Neriah’s family moved to Simpson County, Kentucky, in 1809-10. The children's ages would have ranged from a newborn infant to 10 years old to at the time of the move. In the western borders of the new country, new land was offered simply by entering a claim for it. Large tracts were also granted to settlers in payment for their military service. It is unclear if Neriah served in the Kentucky Militia during this time. The War of 1812 was just getting underway, and Kentucky men were the predominate soldiers during the war.
          The Lewis family was made up of farmers, stockmen, carpenters, and coopers. Neriah’s growing family was made up of good workers that were well trained in pioneering. They cleared the trees from their land, built homes, plowed, and planted. The brothers helped their father clear land for cultivation and to obtain building materials. It is said that they produced 6-8 loads of wood per day. Later on during the Illinois exodus to Utah, Tarlton and Beason were jokingly called “Saw Mills,” because they were so proficient with their axes.
          Along with the early settlers of that time and area, they raised corn and grain. They made...barrels from wood that they cut from their land. Beason made wooden tubs, buckets, and churns. These were made from cedar wood and bound with brass hoops. They raised tobacco and cured it. They also made liquor. The liquor and tobacco were sold or exchanged to supply them with their other needs. These men were also breeders of fine stock and horses. Because they were men of strength, they were able to protect themselves and others from dangers of that time.

          An excerpt from the diary of David Lewis, son of Neriah and Mary, states, "My father had four hundred acres of beautiful land, about one hundred acres in farm and the remainder of this land was timber land. A large double house (two story) on a public road three miles east of the town of Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky. A beautiful yard surrounded the house, about one acre square, neatly covered with blue grass. Two beautiful mulberry trees and one beautiful cedar tree growing in the south yard. Beautiful cherry trees grew on the cut edge of the yard one rod distance from each other. These mulberry and cherry trees bore splendid fruit. A beautiful orchard on the west joined the yard and in it were most all the varieties of fruit that were common for the country. My father (Neriah) was a large man weighing about 330 pounds and my mother (Mary) was a large woman weighing 240 pounds."
          Neriah and Mary provided a very comfortable living for their large family. Though they were not affiliated with any religion, they were good, honest, hard-working people, which virtues they passed on to their children and descendants. David says that “my mother and father was not professors of religion, nor none of my connections with whom I was acquainted. My father’s mother was turned out of the Quaker Church for marrying my grandfather, who was not a member of the church and she refusing to acknowledge that she was sorry for the deed. My father and mother believed in a universal salvation but belonged to no church. I believe they were both honest, and I know they taught their children to be honest. My father was a farmer and possessed a sufficient substance to make his family comfortable.” Five of their sons and their families joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints during the 1830’s, and later moved west.
          The later years of Neriah and Mary were spent in Macoupin County, Illinois, as most of their son’s and their families had resettled near Carlinville. Neriah died on Nov 27, 1843, and his wife, Mary, followed in 1844.
          Neriah and Mary Moss Lewis had twelve children. The first six were born in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and the last six were born in Simpson County, Kentucky." They had 12 children.[1]

References

1. Neriah and Mary (Moss) Lewis. Retrieved from OurFamilyHeritage. Edited by Devin McFarlane.