Stephen Merriweather Lewis
Our 2nd-great-grandfather Stephen Merriweather Lewis was born 11 November 1819 in Blount County, Alabama, judging from census data. His parents were Mordecai Lewis and Lecia Brown, according to unverified online family history data. The below excerpt is taken from this unverified family history data and highlights the possible background of Stephen’s parents:
Mordecai was born circa 1790 in South Carolina. On 20 January 1803, Mordecai and his brothers as citizens of Montgomery County (Tennessee) signed a petition for the formation of a new county from the western part of Montgomery. Stewart County, Tennessee was formed in 1803. As of 1809, Mordecai was living in Stewart County where he appeared as “Malachi Lewis” on a tax list for Capt. Warden’s Company. He was taxed for 50 acres on Wells Creek and one white person.
Mordecai married Lecia Brown, daughter of Jesse Anderson Brown and Obedience Leggett, on 14 February 1809 in Stewart County.
During the War of 1812, Mordecai enlisted in Captain Haggard’s Company of Tennessee Militia in 1814. He was a corporal and received a bounty land grant in Perry County, Alabama in 1817. There is record of a 29 December 1817 petition to Congress that carried, among others, Mordecai’s signature stating:
“your petitioners humbly Shewth that we have emmegrated from different parts of the union and Settled our Selves in the poor Broken & remote parts of the Alabama Teritory Montgomery County being generally of the poorer Class we doubted Success in Setling in the richer Soil below. wee pray that you would devise a plan in your wisdom that we might obtain a preference for a time prescribed by you to pay the Stipulated price as its generally belived the lands aluded too will never be sectioned by government & your petitioners will ever pray.”
Mordecai and Lecia were divorced on 26 October 1826 in Centreville (Bibb County), Alabama. They lived together happily until they moved to Bibb County. They had six infant children, the oldest being a girl of nine in 1823. Mordecai neglected to provide for his family and beat and abused Lecia. He left in July 1823 and she had not heard from him since. She was granted status of femme sole subject to sanction of general assembly of state by Judge R. Stafford on 1 May 1828. Mordecai died circa 1845 in Blount County, Alabama.
Excerpts from unverified online family data.
Stephen’s three marriages
According to Alabama marriage records, Stephen married his first wife, Elizabeth Swan, on 2 March 1842 in Jefferson, Alabama. Together they had a son named Alex. Unverified information on findagrave.com indicates Elizabeth died in 1943. Stephen married his second wife, Mary L. Hamilton, on 30 January 1844, according to Alabama marriage records. Together they had the following children:
- Alex S. (mother is Elizabeth) (about 1842- )
- Wilson F. (about 1848- )
- Francis (about 1851- )
- MH (about 1856- )
Mary died sometime between the birth of her youngest child in 1856 and Stephen’s next marriage in 1859 in Texas to our great-grandmother Medora, according to Texas marriage records (see adjacent graphic of marriage certificate). According to the certificate, S.M. Lewis married Medarah Ann Reneck on 9 November 1859 in Texas. The name Medarah is probably a misspelling and nickname for Theodore Ann Rennick.
Theodore “Medora” Ann Rennick
Our 2nd-great-grandmother Theodore was documented under several different names including Medora and Medarah. She was born in 1834 in Lafayette, Missouri to father Burton Lytton Rennick and mother Susan Galbreath, judging from census data and information on findagrave.com. She was their fourth child. Her family eventually moved to Texas.
Marriage and children
As of 1860, according to census data, Stephen had moved to and was living near Lampasas, Texas, working as a school teacher and married one year to “Ma Lewis” (probably our Medora). Stephen and Medora had the following children, all born in Texas:
- Alice M. (about 1864- )
- Charles E. (about 1865- )
- James R. (about 1862- )
- Alonzo M., our great-grandfather (1868- 1925)
- Maggie H. (about 1869- )
- Susan T. (about 1872- )
- Cora E. (about 1874- )
Texas settlers
Stephen and Medora were noted as some of the earliest settlers in the 1870s in San Saba, Texas, as can be seen in the adjacent photo of a historical marker memorializing Stephen M. Lewis (Harmony Ridge is in San Saba).
On 1 April 1875, Stephen became a postmaster in San Saba’s Red Bluff area earning $10.42 per year, according to records of US Appointments of US Postmasters and registers of Civilian and Military Service personnel. That post office closed just three years later.
RED BLUFF (San Saba County), TEXAS. Red Bluff was a stage stop and ferry landing nine miles east of San Saba on the Colorado River in San Saba County. By 1882 the ferry approaches were in disrepair, and a bridge was built. Construction of later bridges north of Red Bluff caused further decline in the settlement.
Later years
Stephen reinvented himself as a farmer and then a Presbyterian reverend for the next 10-20 years in San Saba. As a farmer, the Lewis family had 15 acres of tilled land, approximately 150 acres of untilled land, livestock, and a farm valued at $400, according to 1880 census data. Probably during his farming years, Stephen also served as a reverend at Cumberland Presbyterian Church in San Saba, with documentation of his service in 1895 as a minister.
Medora died on 13 March 1895 in San Saba and was buried in Harmony Ridge Cemetery. Stephen died on 2 January 1899. His grave included masonic honors. According to findagrave.com, the following obituary was printed in the Friday, 13 January 1899 issue of THE LAMPASAS LEADER:
“Rev. S. M. Lewis died suddenly January 2 at his home, this side of the Red Bluff bridge. He had been an invalid about four years. He was born in Alabama about eighty years ago; had lived in this county about forty years; and been a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church about fifty years. His remains were buried with Masonic honors Tuesday afternoon at the Harmony Ridge Cemetery. He was highly esteemed by all who knew him.”
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