Lewis was born in Llandaff, Wales, on March 21, 1713. He was the son of Morgan Lewis and Anne Lewis (née Pettingale) of Newport.[2][3] Lewis was educated at Westminster School in London.[2]
Career
Lewis entered a mercantile house in London until he turned 21 and inherited some properties left by his father. Lewis sold the properties and used the proceeds to acquire merchandise, set sail for New York City, arriving there in 1734 or 1735. He left some of the goods in New York to be sold by Edward Annesley, his business partner, and brought the rest to Philadelphia.[4] After two years in Philadelphia, he returned to New York.[5]
Lewis made several trans-Atlantic trips, visiting several northern European ports, Saint Petersburg, northern Scotland, and Africa. He was taken prisoner while he served as a British mercantile agent in 1756 and sent to France for imprisonment. On his release and his return home, he became active in politics.[5]
He helped his son Francis Lewis Jr. open a dry goods business named Francis Lewis and Son. His son Morgan served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later held many offices in New York State, including governor.[5]
In 1745, Lewis married to Elizabeth Annesley (died 1779), a sister of his business partner, Thomas Annesley.[6] Together, they were the parents of seven children, three of whom survived to adulthood:[7]
Ann Lewis (1748–1802), who married Captain George Robertson (1742–1791) of the Royal Navy.[8]
Francis Lewis Jr. (1749–1814), who served as churchwarden of St George's Parish in Flushing, New York, from 1791 to 1794. He married Elizabeth Ludlow (d. 1831),[9] daughter of Gabriel Ludlow, Esq.[4]
In 1775, Lewis acquired and relocated his family to an estate located in Whitestone, in present-day Queens. The home was later destroyed after the Battle of Long Island by British forces, who also arrested his wife Elizabeth. She was eventually released in a prisoner exchange for the wives of two wealthy Loyalists from Philadelphia, though the hardships Elizabeth endured in captivity ruined her health and led to her death in 1779.[11][12]
Through his eldest surviving daughter Ann, he was a grandfather to Marianne Robertson (1779–1829), who married John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury and brother of Charles Richard Sumner, bishop of Winchester.[13] Through his son Morgan, he was a grandfather of Margret Lewis (1780–1860), who married New York lawyer and politician Maturin Livingston and became parents to twelve children.[10] Through his son Francis Jr., he was a grandfather of Gabriel Ludlow Lewis.[14]
Lewis died on December 31, 1802, although his memorial in Trinity Church Cemetery gives his year of death as 1803.
In Queens, New York, Francis Lewis High School and P.S. 79 "The Francis Lewis School" are named after Lewis. Francis Lewis Boulevard, which locals sometimes refer to as "Franny Lew" or "Franny Lewie," stretches almost the entire north/south length of the borough. Francis Lewis Park is located under the Queens approach of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. A society of the Children of the American Revolution located in Queens, NY, is named for him.[15] A masonic lodge, Francis Lewis #273, is located in Whitestone.[16]
^ abcd"Francis Lewis". www.dsdi1776.com. The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
^"Robertson, Thomas Campbell". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23813. the youngest son of Captain George Robertson RN, who was offered a knighthood by George III for his intrepid conduct at the battle of the Dogger Bank in 1781, and of Anne, daughter of Francis Lewis of New York, formerly of Llandaff, south Wales.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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