Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN
FRANCIS LEWIS
JOHN FRANCIS LEWIS. The versatile talents of John Francis Lewis
have been demonstrated in his various business associations since coming to
California in 1862. Given the best
educational advantages, an attendance at the celebrated institutions of Europe,
such as the Royal Polytechnic school at Dresden and
the Royal Academy of Mines at Freiburg, he was supplied with every possible
equipment in his line of work, and since entering upon independent operations
has brought into practice his ample store of knowledge. He has met with success in all his efforts,
and justly holds rank as one of the representative men of Santa Clara county.
Born in Charleston, S.C.,
February 4, 1847, Mr. Lewis was a son of John and
C. J. Lewis, both of whom were also natives of that city. Until he was ten years old he remained in
Charleston, when he was sent to Europe for the better educational advantages of
that country. On the completion of his
studies in Germany he returned to the United States, taking up his residence in
California. He remained only a short
time in San Francisco, when he went to Virginia City, Nev., and engaged in
mining and engineering. He eventually
became connected with the Western Union Telegraph expedition, having charge of
the surveying parties until the expedition was abandoned in 1867. He then accepted the position of assistant to
Gen. B. S. Alexandre, president of the board of engineers for
the Pacific coast, and was associated with him until the fall of 1878. The following year he bought a vineyard and
winery at Vine Hill, Santa Cruz county, ad at once
engaged in business, the firm of Lewis & Hindes
being established in 1882, and the affairs of the company conducted from
Saratoga for the following four years.
Mr. Lewis then became superintendent of the Los Gatos Cooperative
Mining Company and held the position for a year, when he accepted the superintendency of the winery and vineyard at the Palo Alto
Ranch. This position he still retains,
while at the same time he is extensively interested in placer mining in Alaska,
where, in 1898, he mined on Ophir creek, in Council district; the Saratoga
Bench claim; the Quaking Asp, in British Columbia; Nos. 6, 7, and 8, Snow Fall
gulch, on Seward peninsula, his partner in these mining ventures being Hugh
McDonald. Once a year
Mr. Lewis makes a trip to his claims to look after his interests. He is very successful along the line of
mining, in which his financial returns have been very gratifying.
Mr. Lewis has been twice married, his
first wife being Fannie Eleanor Hindes, who died in
1884, leaving two children, Alvin Francis and Joseph Hindes. His second marriage united him with
N. B. Montrey, a native of Santa Clara county and the daughter of Riley Montrey,
the man who saved the Donner party. Of
this second union one child was born, Nancy Belle. Mr. Lewis has made his residence in Palo
Alto since 1901, where he practices law in connection with his other
duties. A very popular man, and in every
particular an enterprising and public spirited citizen, he was chosen city
attorney, and is also serving his second term as deputy assessor of this
district, the length of the term being six years.
[Inserted by D. Toole]
John Francis
Lewis
1884
Aug 19, Santa Cruz Sentinel, P3, Santa Cruz, California
Mrs.
John F. Lewis, formerly of Vine Hill, died at Los Gatos Sunday. [Fannie Eleanor
Hindes Lewis]
1885
May 21, Santa Cruz Sentinel, P3, Santa Cruz,
California
Miss
Nancy Moultrie[*], of Saratoga, is spending a week at
the residence of J. Daubenbiss, Soquel.
1885
Jun 2, Santa Cruz Sentinel, P3, Santa Cruz, California
Miss
Nancy Moultrie returned to her home in Los Gatos Monday.
1886
Aug 14, Oakland Tribune, P10, Oakland, California
Marriage
Record
Marriages
Recorded During the Week Ending August 14th.
March
6th – John Francis Lewis, native of South Carolina, aged 39, resident of Los
Gatos, and Nancy Bell[sic] Maultrie[sic],
native of California, aged 18, resident of Saratoga; by Justice E. Nusbaumer.
1888
May 11, The Record-Union, P4, Sacramento, California
John
F. Lewis, superintendent of the Palo Alto Winery, estimates that the next
vintage will yield 60,000 gallons, and that when all
the young vines are in full bearing the yearly yield will average from 75,000
to 80,000 gallons. The new winery will
have a storage capacity of about 240,000 gallons, and under the new system each
vintage as it reaches its third year will be shipped to make room for the
incoming vintage. With such a system in
vogue California wines would rapidly win an enviable rank. – S. F. Call.
1905
Mar 22, The San Francisco Call, P4, San Francisco,
California
Deputy
Assessor Dies
Former
Associate of Leland Stanford Passes Away
Palo
Alto, March 21 – J. F. Lewis, a prominent citizen of this section, died
suddenly this morning at the University Hotel, of which he was proprietor. He was associated with Senator Stanford at
one time as manager of the Vina winery and later of
the Stanford winery. Lewis was Deputy
Assessor of this county. He was 60 years
old.
1923
July 20, Woodland Daily Democrat, P7, Woodland, California
Another
Donner Member Passes
San
Jose, July 20 – Mrs. Mary Lucy Moutrey[sic], 92,
cousin of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, and of General
“Stonewall” Jackson, and one of the survivors of the ill-fated Donner party of
pioneer overland immigrants into California, died yesterday at the home of her
daughter, Mrs. Nancy B. Lewis, here.
Mrs. Moutrey[sic] was also credited with being the mother of the first
white child born in California, Will Moutrey[sic],
who was born in Santa Clara, this county, in September, 1847, and who died
twelve years ago.
1924
Nov 13, The San Bernardino County Sun, P4, San
Bernardino, California
Vital
Records
Licensed
Connell-Lewis
– James B. Connell, legal age, California, Salinas; Nancy B. Lewis, legal age,
California, San Jose.
1935
Feb 9, Oakland Tribune, P10, Oakland, California
Daughter
of Donner Party Rescuer Dies
San
Jose, Feb. 9 – Mrs. James J. Connell, daughter of Riley Moultry,
one of the rescuers of the Donner party, died at her home here yesterday after
a brief illness. Surviving are her
husband and three sisters, Mrs. S. D. Adams of Stockton, Mrs. Marcella
MacDonald of Saratoga and Mrs. D. M. Jack of San Francisco, and her children,
Mrs. R. M. Scherf, Mrs. N. Belle Lewis, Alvin and
Joseph H. Lewis.
1962
Aug 28, Daily Review, P4, Hayward, California
Death
Car . . . Still smoldering, this wrecked and burned car owned by Harold C.
Bates, 72, of Palo Alto, was involved in a two-car smash up at the intersection
of Highway 50 and First Street, Livermore, yesterday, which killed Joseph H.
Lewis, 78, 144 Cowper St., Palo Alto, and seriously injured Bates and the other
driver, Walter R. Pringle Jr., 21, of Merced.
Palo
Alto Man Killed in Collision
Livermore
– a 78year-old Palo Alto man was killed and two others injured in a grinding
two car collision yesterday at the intersection of First Street and Highway
50. Dead on arrival at Valley Memorial
Hospital was Joseph H. Lewis, 78, 144 Cowper St., Palo Alto. He was thrown from an auto driven by Harold C.
Bates, 7, Palo Alto, when it collided with a car driven by Walter B.
Pringle, 21, of Merced. Pringle’s
vehicle was eastbound on Highway 50, and Bate’s[sic] car was making a left turn into the southbound lanes
of First Street. Bate’s[sic] car burst into
flames after the collision. Livermore
firemen were called back a second time when the wrecked car broke into flames
again while under tow to a local garage.
Bates was treated at Valley Memorial Hospital for a dislocated shoulder
and numerous cuts and bruises, then transferred to
Stanford Memorial Hospital, Palo Alto.
Pringle was taken to Valley Memorial for treatment of numerous cuts and
bruises, where his condition was reported fair today.
1973
Nov 14, Santa Cruz Sentinel, P43, Santa Cruz, California
Nancy
Lewis Dies at 86
Nancy
Belle Lewis, a descendant of the Donner Party, died Monday in a local hospital
after a long illness. A native of Los
Gatos, she was 86. Mrs. Lewis was
trained as a nurse at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and married her husband,
Carl K. Lewis, while a nurse there.
Following her husband’s death in 1924, she returned to nursing and
retired in 1954. She moved to La Selva Beach in 1963.
She is survived by a niece, Nancy Deana De Lara of San Francisco, and
several cousins. Funeral services will
be Friday at 9:30 a.m. from White’s Mortuary, 138 Walnut Ave., to St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church of Capitola for a mass of the resurrection at 10. Interment will be in the family plot in Madrone Cemetery, Los Gatos at 1 p.m. Friday. The rosary will be recited Thursday at 7:30
p.m. in White’s chapel.
* Seen as Moultrie, Moultrey, Montrey, Moutrey, Maultrie
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 1371. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Donna Toole.