Ed Lewis, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Ed Lewis
ED LEWIS, is a native son of Porter county and a scion of the well known Lewis family of which the founder in this county was his grandfather, Dr. L'Mander Lewis, It has been given Ed Lewis to account well for himself in connection with business activities and responsibilities, the while he is known to his host of friends as a person of unbounded cheer and good will, of buoyant and optimistic temperament, and as one to whom life in its varied relations has brought its lull measure of compensation of subjective order.
On other pages of this publication is entered a memoir to Dr. L'Mander Lewis, and in that connection are given adequate data concerning the family history and the identification of the name with Porter county.
On the old homestead farm of his father, in Washington township, Porter county, Ed Lewis was born on the 14th of November, 1870, and is a son of Thomas H. and Caroline (Austin) Lewis. Thomas H. Lewis was born in Butler county, Ohio, on the 26th day of November, 1835, and thus was about fourteen years of age at the time of the family removed to Porter county, Indiana, where he was reared to manhood under the conditions and influence of the pioneer days. He became one of the prosperous agriculturists of the county, where his sterling character gained for him the confidence and high regard of the community in which he so long lived and labored to goodly ends. It was given him to render valiant service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company B, Sixty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he continued in active service until victory had crowned the Union arms and the integrity of the nation had been preserved. On the 25th of January, 1866, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Caroline Austin, who was born and reared in Porter county and whose parents were numbered among the pioneers of the county. Thomas H. Lewis was a man of strong individuality and was steadfast in all things, with well fortified opinions concerning matters of public polity. He gave unqualified allegiance to the Republican party and while he had no ambition for public office, he served two terms as trustee of Washington township. He was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and was one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Porter county at the time of his death.
Ed Lewis found his childhood and youth compassed by the invigorating influences and environment of the home farm, and it is to be inferred that he early manifested boyish reluctance to desert his downy pillow at the early matutinal hours in response to a demand for his services in connection with the manifold activities of the old homestead place. His educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools, and after leaving home he entered the employ of the Milk Shippers' Association of Chicago. Later he identified himself with the affairs of the Lewis Publishing Company, of Chicago, and for a number of years he continued in effective service as traveling auditor of this company in various states of the west, including a number of those on the Pacific coast. He was thus engaged until he was transferred to the New York office of the company, and from that headquarters he was employed in a similar capacity until 1906. In that year was affected the organization of the Lewis Historical Publishing Company, of New York, and he was made treasurer of the same, as well as a director of the company. In 1912, at the founding of the American Historical Society, he was elected treasurer of the same, besides becoming a member of its directorate. Of these offices he remains the incumbent, and he has resided in Brooklyn from the time he assumed his active connection with the eastern business of the Lewis Historical Publishing Company. He takes a lively interest in political affairs and is a staunch adherent of the Republican party. Both he and his wife are affiliated with the Christian, or Disciples', church, and as a native Hoosier he is an appreciative member of the Indiana Society of New York.
On the 24th of December, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lewis to Miss Myrtle Mosher, of Chicago. They have no children.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 417-418
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook