Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 293 - 294 

WILSON F. LEWIS, one of the solid men of Grant Township, came to this county during its pioneer days before its school districts had been organized, and assisted in this work as well as many others connected with its development and progress. He is now one of the most prosperous farmers and stock-raisers of this section, his fine farm being pleasantly situated about four miles from the village of Valley Center. He has watched the growth of Southern Kansas with the interest which every intelligent man feels in the section of country where his possessions lie and where his labors have been rewarded with success. 

     Mr. Lewis, like many of his compeers, is a native of New York State and was born in Delaware County, June 26, 1851. He was the youngest child of William and Nancy (Burns) Lewis, whose family included ten sons and one daughter. The father was a native of Scotland and the mother of New York State. William Lewis emigrated to America when a young man twenty years of age, and settling in Delaware County, N. Y., carried on farming a few years and thence, in 1858, made his way into Grant County, Wis., where he was an early settler and where he spent the remainder of his days. His death occurred in the spring of 1866, when he was about eighty-four years of age. The mother survived her husband ten years, also dying in Grant County, Wis., in 1876. The paternal grandparents of our subject were natives of Scotland, the grandfather also being named William, which name has already descended down through three generations and will probably continue through as many more. On the mother's side, the grandparents were Moses and Catherine Burns, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of New York State. 

     The subject of this history completed his education in the graded schools of Patch Grove, Wis., and since a boy has been familiar with farming pursuits. The year after reaching his majority he was married, in Grant County, to Miss Mary J. Woffenden. Mrs. Lewis was born in Ulster County, York State, in 1849, and was the eldest child of John and Mary (Nowel) Woffenden, who were natives of England and whose family consisted of five children. They left their native soil soon after their marriage, locating in Connecticut, and spent their last days in Wisconsin. Richard Woffenden, the grandfather of Mrs. Lewis, also of English birth and parentage, came to the United States in middle life and died in Wisconsin in 1863. The mother's parents remained in England. 

     Before permanently settling in this county Mr. Lewis had already visited Kansas upon the lookout for a homestead. He found nothing that suited him better than the land in Grant Township, and accordingly purchased a quarter of section 17, which was railroad property. Of this he and his young wife took possession soon after their marriage, and have labored together in building up the homestead and preparing a comfortable abiding place for themselves and their children. The land has been brought to a good state of cultivation, and the live-stock now includes high-grade Clydesdale and Hambletonian horses with full-blooded Short-horn cattle and pure-bred Poland-China hogs. Mr. Lewis had for his produce a market at Sedgwick City at the start, and of late years especially has been in the enjoyment of a handsome income. His industry and enterprise are proverbial. 

     The Republican party in this section numbers Mr. Lewis among its most reliable members, although he has steadily declined becoming an office-seeker, but has officiated as Township Clerk for two years and consented to assume responsibility whenever it seemed for the good of his township to do so. While in Wisconsin he identified himself with the I. O. O. F., in which he still holds membership. 

     To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis there were born six children, namely: Frank A., Mary A., John, Mabel, Sarah and Daisy. They all continue under the home roof, and are pursuing their studies in the district school not far away.

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