Orange County
Biographies
MRS. MINNIE CHILDS LEWIS
Mrs. Minnie Childs Lewis, whose
artistic and literary ability has won her nation-wide fame, is a resident of
Tustin, Orange County. She was born in
Kendallville, Noble County, Indiana, her parents being William Corydon and
Luset (Earl) Childs. The father, who was
a native of Wayne County, Ohio, moved with his parents to northern Indiana,
where they were among the early pioneers.
Later he became a prominent and successful wholesale hardwood lumber
dealer in Chicago, where his death occurred on the 29th of August,
1895. William Childs, the American
progenitor of the family, settled in Massachusetts in 1624, and among his
descendants was James Childs, who married Mary De Haven of old
Philadelphia. The De Haven family was
noted for its strong patriotism and loaned large sums of money to the colonies
during their struggle for independence.
John Childs, son of James and Mary (De Haven) Childs, married Diantha Wells, of Wayne County, Ohio, and they were the
parents of William Corydon Childs, father of Mrs. Lewis. In the maternal line Mrs. Lewis traces her
descent from Job Conger, the first representative of his family to come to the
New World. Among his descendants was
Reuben Conger, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, whose niece, Esther Conger,
married Nathaniel Carr. Ann Carr,
daughter of Nathaniel and Esther (Conger) Carr, became the wife of Alison
Green, a veteran of the War of 1812.
Calista Green, daughter of Alison and Ann (Carr) Green, married Avery
Fitch Earl and to them was born a daughter, Luset
Earl, who became the wife of William Corydon Childs. Avery Fitch Earl was orphaned in early
childhood, after which he was reared by his uncle and guardian, Judge Ferris,
of Albany, New York. Mrs. Luset (Earl)
Childs was born in Auburn, New York, and died in Chicago, Illinois, in
1905. She was a woman of rare charm,
refined and home loving, deeply religious and intellectual, an inspiration to
friends and family. By her marriage to
William Corydon Childs she became the mother of eight children, three of whom
survive, as follows: Mrs. Solon Holmes Benbow, who resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan; William Corydon
Childs, who has been connected with the First National Bank of Chicago for
thirty-seven years; and Minnie Calista, the wife of Perry E. Lewis. The above genealogical record shows that Mrs.
Minnie Childs Lewis has in her veins the blood of several of America’s best
families, including the Bradford’s of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620), Carr’s
(1620), Green’s, De Haven’s, Childs’s, Earl’s, Conger’s and others, members of
which families have figured prominently in the affairs of the country since
colonial days.
Minnie Calista Childs acquired her
early education in the public schools of Indiana and Illinois. Following her graduation from high school she
studied technique and design under Louis Millet at the Art Institute of
Chicago. She took several courses in
writing at Chicago, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana, as well as home
correspondence courses from Springfield, Massachusetts, and the National Press
Association. In 1890 she established a
studio in her home in Chicago, where she taught water color, oil and ceramic
painting, her work being exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the
art galleries of Boston, New York, Portland, Philadelphia, Washington,
etc. Her private courses included art,
literature and philosophy, to which she has devoted her life in large measure. In 1911 she gave up her studio in Chicago and
removed to California. She has now abandoned painting on account of trouble
with her eyes but still does considerable writing. Moreover, she has become noted for her
culinary art, has received many valuable cash prizes for recipes and excels in
the art of cooking and home-making as she did in painting.
On the 7th of February,
1928, Minnie Calista Childs became the wife of Perry Eben Lewis, whose
biography appears on another page of this publication. They reside in Tustin, California, on Main
Street and Newport Boulevard.
Mrs. Lewis is a member of the
Chicago Ceramic Art Association, of which she was vice president in 1904 and
1905 and historian from 1906 until 1912; the National League of Mineral
Painters, of which she was treasurer; a member of the National Society of
Associated Artists, serving on the advisory board of this organization from
1903 to 1909; the New England Historic Genealogical Society of Boston,
Massachusetts, and a charter and life member of the Laguna Beach Art Association
of Laguna Beach, California. She is a
member of the Presbyterian Church of Tustin.
She is an active member of the Ebell Society of the Santa Ana Valley, of
which she was director from 1915 until 1917 and first vice president from 1919
to 1921, declining the presidency in 1921 because of the demands of her
literary work. She served on the Woman’s
State Legislative Council of the California Federated Clubs from 1913 to 1915,
was chairman of art for Orange County from 1917 to 1921 and for two years
chairman of the committee on education.
She is a member of the Women’s Relief Corps of Santa Ana. One the occasion of the completion of Mrs. A.
F. Lawton’s term as president of the Ebell Club of Santa Ana in 1915, she was
presented with a beautiful water color, “Sunset at Golden Gate,” painted by
Mrs. Lewis. The Ebell Club records refer
to this incident “as an appreciation of Mrs. Lawton’s service to Ebell. This is mentioned particularly because of the
nature of the gift, as every retiring president has received from Ebell members
a fitting testimonial of esteem, but this is the only instance where it has
been the handiwork of one of our members.”
Mrs. Lewis
served
as first chairman of the ways and means in raising the money for a club-house
when Ebell decided to build one in 1921, and the present beautiful structure
was completed three years later. She
composed the Club House Rally Song which was sung by the members at a banquet
at St. Ann’s Inn in their efforts to gain the necessary support and cooperation
for the erection of a new club-house.
The following comment is part of the Ebell history: “This interest was encouraged by the singing
of the Club House Rally Song, composed by that gifted member, Miss Minnie
Childs.”
In earlier years Mrs. Lewis exhibited
at the Chicago Art Institute, the Pan-American Exposition, and in all of the
other large cities of the country from Boston to San Francisco, particularly in
connection with the exhibits of the National League of Mineral Painters. At the exhibit of the National Association of
Associated Arts at the Palmer House, Chicago, she showed a water color, “Surf,”
a Pacific Ocean scene, which was the honor piece of this exhibit. Of this work the Chicago Tribune said: “One of the best done marines is that of Miss
Minnie C. Childs, showing the surf of the Pacific Ocean, with dashing
spray.” In 1903 the Fine Arts Journal
reproduced “Surf” with this comment: “Minnie
C. Childs evidently understands the contour of breaking waves. Her “Surf” is expressive of the slow, deep,
mellow voice of the restless ocean.”
Mrs. Lewis has written many
articles, poems and stories for the leading magazines, her first work appearing
in Harper’s Young People. In 1920 she
published “Orange Blossom Time in California and Other Poems,” a collection of
her verse which had appeared in magazines and the entire edition was quickly
sold. She is prominently mentioned in
“California Artists and Authors,” and her works, with biography, are in the
California State Library at Sacramento.
Mrs. Lewis is a close and discriminating reader and a constant student,
and is a lover of all things beautiful in nature and art. Among her numerous possessions of historic
value are a land grant given and signed by Martin Van Buren, his secretary, A.
Van Buren, and Colonel Wilson, commissioner of public works; various books,
documents, antiques and relics; the first clock brought to northern Indiana,
where her grandfathers, John Childs and Avery Fitch Earl, were among the
earliest pioneers. She has several letters
of appreciation from the Marine Service, the War Department and the Treasury of
the United States, and from officers at the Hospital (tuberculosis) for United
Sates Sailors at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, for very substantial gifts to their
library. Among her many cherished
letters are communications from the publishers of such leading magazines as
Harper’s, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Business Philosopher, expressing
their appreciation for her work.
An
appropriate ending to this review of the life of Mrs. Lewis is her poem,
“California.”
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The land of golden sunsets and
skies of azure blue, Where sunshine floods the
mountains, the vales and canyons, too, Where flowers bloom forever and
songbirds fill the air With strains of sweetest music of
love-life everywhere. Where rolls the broad Pacific,
with rhythmic swish and sweep, Its rockbound coast a guardian of
the secrets of the deep. Where
mountains tower toward the sky, majestic, grand and tall, Sublime
in glorious early dawn or when evening shadows fall. Where
mighty trees stand stately, as sentinels towering high, Above
the fertile valleys, beneath the cloudless sky. Broad
stretches of sandy desert that shall blossom like the rose, Mysterious
in its vastness, its marvel, its repose. Where
starts shine bright in lonely spots, where moonbeams softly
fall, Where
God is good to mortals and blessings come to all. Fair
land of richest heritage beyond all tongue to say, A treasure-trove of choicest
gifts, a land of perfect day. |
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Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 761-766,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S ORANGE
COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES