History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 168

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 168

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At Washington the two Friends had interviews with Mr. Madison, then President, Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of War, and, if I mistake not, with Mr. Crawford also, Secretary of the Treasury. At Rich- mond they had free consultation with the Governor of Vir- ginia, and with other men of distinction in the executive and judicial departments of the State government. Hope was entertained at that time that slavery would be abolished in several of the slave States bordering on those that were free by their own voluntary action, and the information gathered in this visit tended to confirm that hope. In the Legislature of Maryland the proposition for the gradual abolition of slavery was shortly after considered and dis- cussed, and in a convention assembled at Richmond to revise the constitution of the State a majority of one vote only

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

prevented that State from taking its stand on the side of freedom.

As October approached Mr. Lewis began to experience the need of active mental occupation, and he gave notice that on the first of that month he would re-open his school. From that time till April, 1824, he taught for half the year only, preferring to attend to his farm from April to Octo- ber, and devoting his spare time to literary and scientific work, and to the service of the society, of which he was so active member, and in which he had important appoint- ments. During that interval he prepared for publication and published a work on arithmetic, designed for the use of schools. Several editions of this work have been printed, but it is now superseded by books which require less learn- ing in the teacher, and less thought and study in the pupil, and which therefore, without equal merit, are more popular.

During the same period he wrote a series of essays for the press, the object of which was to demonstrate the un- profitableness of servile in comparison with free labor, and a pamphlet on the militia system of Pennsylvania, in which he attempted, and I think successfully, to prove that persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms had a constitu- tional right to complete exemption from military requisi- tions in time of peace. Of this pamphlet there were several editions, the last of which was carefully revised, and a con- siderable part of it rewritten.

In May, 1815, Mr. Lewis remarried. His second wife was a daughter of John Jackson, of Londongrove, a first cousin of his first wife, a woman of sense and more than ordinary culture.

In 1825, in order to save himself from pecuniary loss, Mr. Lewis purchased s house in Wilmington, Del., and in April removed with his family thither, and opened a school for the instruction of young men in mathematics. His school filled immediately. In the following year appeared the first edition of his treatise on Algebra, which, like his Arithmetic, was intended for the use of schools, but which was too abstruse for the generality of teachers, and there- fore not so popular as other works of inferior learning. He could not well understand that what was so easy to him should be difficult to others, yet to satisfy the objections of complainants he published a Key, in which he furnished solutions of all intricate questions.

Mr. Lewis, while teaching in Philadelphia, became a member of the Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, and was a zealous advocate of emancipation. During his residence at Westtown he was frequently called upon to interfere for the protection of alleged fugitives from slavery, to save them from the grasp of fictitious claimants. Once he purchased a runaway slave from his master, and took the bond of the slave for the repayment of the purchase-money. In 1820 he was a leading member of s committee to a Meeting for Sufferings of Philadelphia that petitioned the Legislature of Pennsylvania for the enactment of a law forbidding justices of the peace to take cognizance of claims for the rendition of fugitives. He visited Harrisburg repeatedly during that and the following year, and brought the subject of the petition, and the evidence of the abuses perpetrated under the existing laws, to the attention of the Legislature, with a favorable result. In 1824 he visited Washington,

and collected from the national archives many interesting facts relating to the existence of the slave-trade, and wrote a large pamphlet on the subject, which was published under the auspices of the Meeting for Sufferings. When, there- fore, early in 1827, it was proposed by a company of benevo- lent gentlemen in Philadelphia to publish a monthly periodical devoted to the interests of human freedom, with particular reference to slavery as existing in the United States, Mr. Lewis was solicited to become the editor. He promptly accepted the position, and in April, 1827, removed to Philadelphia and entered upon his editorial duties. The enterprise was not successful. Other subjects were then occupying the public mind, and in the Society of Friends there was much agitation and excitement, caused by the preaching of Elias Hicks. The publication, which was called The African Observer, failing to receive the expected support in the society, was abandoned at the end of a year. His reflections on the subject of slavery, while editing the African Observer, led him to forbode the conflict which afterwards occurred unless the slave system should be abolished. He therefore proposed that a fund should be provided by the national government sufficient to pay for all the slaves in the several States where slavery obtained at an appraised value ; and that to each of the States should be appropriated a proportionable share of the fund, accord- ing to the value of their slave-property, on condition of their abolishing slavery. It was estimated that the cost of the purchase would not be more than from eight to ten hundred millions of dollars, and it was the opinion of Mr. Lewis that the great evil, which so darkened the prospects of our republic, could not be destroyed more easily, or at less cost. Such a proposition, at that time, would have been accepted gratefully by several of the Southern States, and it is very certain that the others would not have been long behind them. The wisdom of the proposition, it is unnecessary to say, has been fully proved by the events that have since occurred.

Mr. Lewis having received the appointment of city sur- veyor, remained in Philadelphia till 1834, when, at the in- stance of the committee having charge of the Westtown Boarding-School, who deemed that the institution had need of his invigorating energy, he removed thither and took charge of the mathematical department. He remained there, doing efficient work for the school, till 1836, when he returned to New Garden.

In the year 1834, prior to his removal from Philadelphis to Westtown, he published a pamphlet of seventy-three pages, entitled " Vindication of the Society of Friends ; Being a Reply to a Review of Cox on -Quakerism, Pub- lished in the Biblical Repertory." The unfavorable way in which both the author of the "Review" and Dr. Cox had set forth the principles and usages of the Society of Friends seemed to call for some notice. Mr. Lewis' pam- phlet is an answer as well to the " Review" as to Dr. Cox's book, and he undertook to show that the charges exhibited by the author, as well as the " reviewer," were groundless. This was satisfactorily accomplished in a style of calm dig- nity, to which an occasional caustic touch adds point and force.

In the interval between 1836 and 1847 he was much occupied as a surveyor and engineer. He located. several

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

railroad routes, surveyed large tracts of wild land in the northern part of Pennsylvania for Stephen Girard and the Bank of North America, and, at the instance of the muni- cipal authorities, regulated the streets and alleys in Reading, Easton, West Chester, and other corporate towns.

As a member of the Indian committee of the Philadel- phia Meeting for Sufferings, he twice visited the Indian settlements at Tunessasseh, under the care of Friends,- once in the depth of winter, at the age of seventy,-to . furnish food and clothing to the settlers, they being, in consequence of the severity of the season, in a suffering condition. He was also instrumental in preventing the ratification by the United States Senate of a fraudulent treaty, which had been obtained from some of the chiefs of the same Indians, for a large portion of their lands. The task of exposing the corrupt practices by which the treaty had been procured was not accomplished without consider- able expense of time and effort.

In 1844 he sent to the press his treatise on " Plane and Spherical Trigonometry." This is a work of profound learning, and, though at present out of print, it has not been superseded by any work of superior merit. He wrote also in a series of essays, published in The Friend, a me- moir of William Penn, the object of which was to present a view of the religious life and labors of his subject, rather than his character as a legislator and statesman.

In 1844 he visited Washington, and remained there for several weeks, for the purpose of obtaining from the na- tional archives authentic information as to the slave-trade, in which several European states then participated and shared the infamy of its abominations. Furnished with this information, added to such as he obtained from other sources, he wrote a large pamphlet, which was published by the Meet- ing for Sufferings, in which he exposed in vivid colors the horrors of this traffic, and held it up to-public reprobation.

In the year 1838, Mr. Lewis prepared for the press and published " A Dissertation on Oaths." In this small vol- ume of a hundred pages he has condensed much valuable information, and reasoned with unanswerable cogency, against the use of oaths as a means of discovering truth. About eight years later he pursued the subject, and in an- other pamphlet, of about the same size as the former, called the attention of the public particularly to the measures of the British government for the abolition of unnecessary oatlıs, and urged that the experiment be immediately made of substituting a solemn declaration for the oath in all matters relating to the revenue, auditors' accounts, and the performance of official duty, under the Federal authority ; being satisfied that experience would justify the substitution and open the way for further innovations in the same direction.

His book on " Baptism" is of an earlier date. This is his only purely polemical work. In it be maintains, by arguments drawn from Scripture authority, the correctness of the doctrine held by the Society of Friends on the subject of water-baptism.

In the early part of 1846 a committee was appointed by the Meeting for Sufferings to call the attention of our Leg- islature to the unprotected condition of our colored popu- lation under the operation of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Prigg vs. Penn-

sylvania, and to ask of that body the repeal of so much of the act of 1780, abolishing slavery, as authorized the own- ers of slaves to retain them within the State for six months in involuntary servitude. Mr. Lewis having suggested the appointment of that committee was made a member of it. He, in company with several of his colleagues, went to Harrisburg early in March, and had interviews with some of the leading men of both branches of the Legislature, in which the committee explained the objects of their mission and their views as to the course of legislation required by the decision of the Supreme Court. A bill was reported to the House in conformity with the wishes of the commit- tee, which, however, was not acted upon during the session. Understanding that there was some objection to the bill, Mr. Lewis prepared a petition containing a terse and vigor- ous argument in favor of the proposed measure, which, being signed by the members of the committee, was for- warded to the Legislature early in the ensuing session. After some further efforts on the part of the committee, finding the bill still to linger on the Senate calendar, Mr. Lewis again went to Harrisburg, and had the satisfaction while there of seeing the bill become a law. While Mr. Lewis was at Harrisburg on this errand his wife suddenly sickened, and died immediately after his return home.

Sept. 1, 1847, Mr. Lewis issued his prospectus for the Friends' Review, a religious and literary journal, to the editorship of which he was invited by an association of Friends belonging to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, who deemed that a periodical of a description in some respects different from The Friend was needed as an expo- nent of the opinions and principles of the major part of the society. The design of the publication was more compre- hensive than is usual with periodicals professedly of a sec- tarian character. It was not only to uphold and defend the doctrines promulgated by the primitive Friends as the doc- trines of the Christian gospel, and to support the established order of Society on the basis prescribed by its discipline, but also to maintain the great moral truths on which the happiness of civil society depends, and to diffuse useful in- formation in a popular and attractive form on all subjects interesting to the reflective mind. As Friends have always taken a leading part in opposition to war and slavery, "the twin progeny of a barbarous age," the prospectus proposed to combat those evils by arguments addressed as well to the heart as to the understanding, but yet in a catholic and Christian spirit. The first number of the Review was issued on the 4th of September ; and from that time to the end of his life Mr. Lewis gave his time and attention un- reservedly to his duties as editor. Its character was soon determined. Though always grave it was never dull. It generally contained some pages suited to every undepraved taste; sketches of the lives of persons eminent for their piety and usefulness, religious and moral essays, notices of philanthropic enterprises, popular disquisitions on scientific subjects, occasional discussions of questions of general poli- tics, and whatever was calculated to convey useful instruc- tion in an entertaining form. The editor was sometimes assisted by able correspondents, but the original matter was principally the product of his own pen. Some of his arti- cles, and especially those of a political character, are writ-

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ten with great force of argument, and in a strong, compact, nervous style, showing not only a complete mastery of the subject, but a correct literary taste, not usually expected in one whose studies for a lifetime have been almost solely sci- entific and utilitarian. His moral essays, scattered through- out the Review, have an air of ease and elegance well suited to that kind of writing.

Although from about the 1st of April, 1856, he was un- able from failing strength to leave his room, and for much of the time was confined to bed, he never neglected his duties as editor. Unable to write, he dictated various arti- cles for the Review, which were published without correc- tion, and which exhibit the same vigor of thought and finish of style as those composed when in health. At the time of his death he had on hand a number of original essays, which he had thus composed while lying prostrate, and which were afterwards published. He died July 14th of the same year, at his residence in Philadelphia, aged eighty years, five months, and sixteen days. He retained the possession of his intellectual faculties till near the end of the last week of his life, and no one could perceive, in his conversation or writing, any sign of declension or failure.

His retentive memory gave him the full command of his mental resources, and he had no need to have recourse to books for the purpose of recalling what he had once learned. He was in the habit, as long as he lived, of solving every week some intricate mathematical problem mentally, with- out aid of book, pen, or pencil, for the purpose of retaining his power of concentration. His habits of investigation were thorough and his learning profound, and he was well fitted for a wider sphere than that in which he acted. When Robert Patterson, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania, died, Mr. Lewis was strongly urged to consent to be chosen as his successor. But he declined, and gave for the reason that the professorship would involve the necessity of omitting his attendance at the week-day meetings of his society for worship. His religious duties were to him of paramount obligation, and he preferred to be free for work that would be useful to his kind rather than to earn for himself a brilliant name. Though he had naturally a high and quick temper, he kept it down under strong bolt and bar. No man ever knew him, under any provocation, to return an angry answer ; not but that he had a keen sense of insult or injury, but he possessed too much of philosophic dignity and of Chris- tian forbearance to allow his self-command to be overcome by his emotions. No man ever set a more vigilant watch upon his own conduct, was more guarded in his language, or was more scrupulous. as to what he believed was right. In his dealings he was careful to pay what he owed with reasonable promptitude, while to his debtors he was liberal and indulgent to a fault. He frequently lent money on insufficient security, and sometimes lost it. The strong cast of his features, his heavy brow, his deeply-set, sharp, and piercing eye, his firm mouth, and his look of decision and self-command indicated uncommon individuality, and gave the impression of a character somewhat severe and stern, yet no one had kindlier feelings, a more generous and forgiving disposition. In judging of other men he habitu-

ally took the charitable view, and whatever his judgment might be he was never censorious. No one, however inti- mate with him, ever heard him speak ill of any one. His heart was tender and his affections strong, yet he seemed to regard any manifestation of feeling as a weakness, and neither to crave nor to need sympathy. He stood by the graves of his two wives and of several of his children tear- less, and to a casual observer, knowing nothing of his true nature, he might have been thought devoid of ordinary sensibility. But the fact was far otherwise. His sorrows were deep, poignant, and lasting. Every death in his family impressed him profoundly, and the impression was never obliterated. He took a lively interest in the welfare of those around him, and a number of his dependents profited largely by his considerate care and timely aid. More than one family was rescued from want by his timely interpo- sition, and several of his employés were saved by his means from destruction by intemperance. Many men have lived more brilliant lives than Enoch Lewis, but rarely has any man lived a better one.

HON. JOSEPH J. LEWIS was born Oct. 5, 1801, at West- town, Chester Co., Pa., about four miles from West Chester. At that time his father was teacher of mathematics in the boarding-school established there under the auspices of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. He resigned his place in 1808 and returned to New Gar- den, Chester Co., where he purchased a plantation and opened a boys' boarding-school the same year. In that school the subject of this sketch mainly received his early education. After Mr. Lewis had finished his mathematical course he was sent to Philadelphia to study Latin and Greek, under the instruction of Thomas Dugdale, at the Friends' Academy on Fourth Street, where Mr. Lewis' father had taught twenty years before. From April to October, 1819, he taught the Friends' school at New Gar- den, and afterwards until 1821. He was soon after invited to take charge of the Chester County Academy, in the Great Valley, about six miles from this borough, and on Oct. 1, 1821, being then within a few days of twenty years of age, he took charge, and soon had a good number of students of both sexes and all ages.

In May, 1822, Jonathan Gause, principal of the West Chester Academy, invited Mr. Lewis to assist him in teach- ing mathematics, which he did at the close of the summer vacation, and immediately resigned his place in the Chester County Academy. In the autumn of 1824 he went to New York to complete his legal studies, which he com- menced Jan. 12, 1823, while assisting as a teacher in the academy, and remained for some time under the direction of Chancellor Kent, and in April, 1825, returned to West Chester, and on the first day of May of that year was ad- mitted to the bar, at which he is now the oldest practitioner in the county. On Sept. 28, 1827, he was married to Mary S. Miner, daughter of Hon. Charles Miner. In 1829 he was nominated for the Legislature by the Anti-Jackson party, but was defeated by the Anti-Masonic party. The next year he was again placed on the Anti-Jackson ticket, but the Anti-Masonic had grown to be very strong in Chester County and was again successful. In 1835 he was appointed deputy attorney-general of Chester County.

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

This office he held until the following December, when Joseph Ritner succeeded to the Governor's chair. In 1844, Francis R. Shunk was elected Governor, and in the follow- ing year he made John M. Read, of Philadelphia, his at- torney-general. Mr. Read immediately sent Mr. Lewis a commission as deputy attorney-general of Chester County.

Mr. Lewis held the office of deputy attorney-general of Chester County as long as Attorney-General Read continued in office. From 1825 to 1860 his practice steadily increased, and gradually became the most extensive at the bar of this county, which was due to his untiring devotion to his pro- fession and the careful preparation which he gave to his cases.

He was one of the counsel for the defendant in the cele- brated case of the United States vs. Castner Hanway, tried in Philadelphia, for treason. At the time of the celebrated Passmore Williamson case, which occurred about 1853, he wrote several able articles reviewing the whole case. They attracted considerable attention, and appeared in the columns of the North American and Friends' Review.

In 1857 he was one of the candidates of the Republican party for judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Republicans were unsuccessful, but it brought his name prominently before the public.

He took a leading part in politics, and in 1860 was active in procuring the nomination of Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for the Presidency, believing him, from special inquiry, to be the man for the times.

He held the office of commissioner of internal revenue from March, 1863, to July, 1865, and brought up the de- partment to a standard of high excellence. He drafted many important acts necessary for the efficient working of the internal revenue system, which were passed by Con- gress.

Mr. Lewis was held in high esteem by President Lin- coln, who upon more than one occasion assured him of his appreciation of the manner in which he had conducted his office. The relations between them were intimate, and he was frequently consulted by the President about matters of public interest.

He was married June 5, 1872, to Mrs. P. A. Brooks, widow of James Brooks, Esq., of New Albany, Ind., a gen- tleman of high standing in that State. He has .con- tinued to practice his profession, but for the past two years has been gradually withdrawing from business. He has always been a public-spirited man, taking an active part in matters of interest to the community. He took a great in- terest in the adoption of the district school system, and from 1833 to 1848 was one of the directors of the public schools of this borough, and for a number of years was president of the board. He was elected chief burgess of West Chester in 1839, and was continued in office for five years.

He was president of the old West Chester Railroad for fifteen years.

About the year 1850 he was elected president of the board of trustees of the West Chester Academy, of which Dr. Darlington was then secretary, and continued to serve in that capacity until the academy was merged into the West Chester State Normal School. He was also a mem- ber of the Chester County Cabinet from an early period.

This was an institution started about the year 1837 for the cultivation of natural science, but was merged into the academy. He has always taken an active part in educa- tional matters, and was one of the most active in the estab- lishment of the Normal School, of which he is still one of the trustees.

HENRY LEWIS married, 1, 12, 1670, Margaret Philpin, alias Proutherin, and had issue,-1. Henry, b. 10, 26, 1671; 2. Sarah, b. 5, 2, 1673, buried 12, 8, 1674; 3. Samuel, b. 8, 1, 1676; 4. Elizabeth, b. 12, 14, 1677, m. Richard Hayes.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 168

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162