San
Joaquin County
Biographies
LYMAN MOORE LEWIS
On the list of San Joaquin County’s
successful viticulturists appears the name of Lyman Moore Lewis, who since 1902
has made his home upon his present ranch near Victor. He was born in Albion, Michigan, on April 13,
1850 a son of J. R. and Caroline (Herrick) Lewis, natives of Burlington,
Vermont, and New York, respectively. His
father was a sash and door manufacturer and was the first man to start a
factory in Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan; and his brother, Dr. Edward
Lewis, was the first practicing physician in the county. Thus the family was early settlers in that
part of Michigan. His father lived to be
fifty-nine years old, and his mother passed away at forty-five.
Lyman Moore Lewis received his
education in the public schools of Jackson, Michigan, and learned the sash and
door manufacturing trade in his father’s shop.
In 1871 his father sold his shop, and Lyman Lewis continued to work for
his successor for six years. On account
of impaired health, Mr. Lewis was obliged to leave the factory because of the
dust, and in 1884 went to the Dakota Territory, settling at Milnor, in Sargent
County. Here he farmed for two years on
a tract of land he had homesteaded.
Soon, however, realizing that he had not been trained for a farmer, he
left the farm and bought a machine shop in Aberdeen, South Dakota, which he
fitted up for a sash and door factory, and for the next three years did a
thriving business. While
there, he exhibited his products at the State Fair, having the center display
space of a four-winged building.
In this way he became acquainted with many of the prosperous farmers who
were anticipating building better homes.
For two consecutive years, however, there was a crop failure, and his
business was ruined. Meanwhile, his
partner had gone to Tacoma, Washington, and reports came back to Mr. Lewis that
the city was in the midst of a building boom; so he moved to Tacoma and there
engaged in business as a builder and contractor. The next spring he located at Ocosta, on Gray’s Harbor, where a railroad was being
built. There he built a sash and door
factory and did a thriving business; in fact, he practically built the town
that year. Mr. Lewis employed eight men
in his factory, which was kept constantly busy; so much so, that green lumber
had to be used. Anticipating an active
summer, he ran a full force all during the winter months, filling every
available storage place with finished sash and doors; but a fire entirely destroyed
his plant and he sustained a complete loss.
Undaunted by this misfortune, he commenced anew, installing new
machinery and erecting a larger plant, and was preparing to manufacture
shingles as well as sash and doors, when the Panic of 1893 checked building
operations. Mr. Lewis then turned his
thoughts toward agriculture and went to southern Oregon, where he rented a
ranch near Ashland. He remained there
until 1897, when he went to Dawson during the gold rush, making his way over
Chilcoot Pass to Lake Bennett, where he built a boat and then came down the
Yukon to Dawson. He made a good strike,
but lost it again in a worthless pit. In
1899 he returned home, and in October of the same year went back, with his
wife, to Alaska. His wife remained at
Skagway, while he went on to Dawson.
They again returned home, and the next year his daughter Cora went with
him, first to Teller City and then to Dawson, where she was stenographer for
the steamship company. There she was
married by Bishop Row to J. M. Elmer, a mining engineer who afterwards
introduced the first dredger on the Yukon.
In Alaska Mr. Lewis had some hard times, bitter experiences, and narrow
escapes. After spending five year off
and on in Alaska, he returned and went east to Kansas City, where he engaged in
building operations, building houses on vacant property, and selling as soon as
they were built. Six months of that
climate sufficed, and Mr. Lewis returned to California in the fall of 1902,
where he bought twenty acres of the old Green tract at Victor. This property he has developed from a
stubble-field to a full-bearing vineyard, setting every vine and tree and
building the house. When he landed in
San Joaquin County, he had $400 with which to purchase the twenty acres, which
today is worth in the neighborhood of $40,000.
On November 2, 1872 in Jackson,
Michigan, occurred the marriage of Mr. Lewis, which united him with Miss
Lucinda Barrett. She was born in
Pennsylvania, the daughter of Samuel J. and Elizabeth (Hall) Barrett, born in England
and Scotland, respectively. They came
first to Pennsylvania and later removed to Michigan, where Mr. Barrett was a
merchant at Kinneyville; and there the parents passed
on. Mrs. Lewis is the eldest of their
seven children. She received a good education
in the public schools, and is a cultured and refined woman, greatly loved and
esteemed by all who know her. She finds
much comfort in her membership and attendance at the Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are the parents of three
children, two daughters and a son. Cora
is now Mrs. J. Moore Elmer, of Seattle; and they have two sons, Andrew Moore
and Lewis Gibson. Ella is Mrs. R. G. Huestis of Lodi, and the mother of four children: Stephen D., who is married, has a son,
Gerald; Agnes L., attending the University of California, Berkeley; Martha E.,
Mrs. George Buckley; and Winfield Scott.
George J. Lewis, a rancher of Lodi, is married and has two children,
Ralph and Dorothy May.
On November 2, 1922 Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage. The “golden wedding” was held at their home
and enjoyed by all. Mr. Lewis is a
member of the Jackson Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F., at Jackson, Michigan;
politically, he is a protectionist and a strong Republican.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1374-1379. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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