My Genealogy Hound

Marion M. Lewis, farmer, was born in St. Louis, in 1828, and is the eldest of eight children born to John and Nancy M. (Curry) Lewis. John Lewis was born in Virginia about 1790, and in 1796 came with his father, John Lewis, to St. Louis, where the latter immediately erected a grist and saw mill on Creve Coeur Creek, about sixteen miles west of St. Louis, which he operated for a number of years, until after the death of his wife, when he went to Texas, and here spent the remainder of his days. He was of rather a roving disposition, and had in early life acquired a taste for frontier life. He was among the earliest white settlers of what is now St. Louis County, being there when it required the united efforts of the whites to subdue the Indians. The father of Marion M. was reared in the pioneer days of Missouri with but very little education. At the age of seventeen he joined what was called the “Government Rangers,” in which service he continued in the Missouri River country against the Indians until twenty-one years of age. He was twice married, and lived in St. Louis County many years, where his wife died, and where he married the mother of Marion. In about 1839 he removed to Jackson County, but about one year later returned to St. Louis County, and from there moved to Greene County, Ill., soon after. Not being satisfied, he again returned to St. Louis County, and two years later settled fourteen miles from the city, on the “Bonhomme Road.” He remained there until 1846, when he removed to where St. Paul is, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, where he died one year later. He was a life-long, and well-to-do farmer. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Kentucky, and died about 1865. Her father, James Curry, was a native Kentuckian, but came to St. Louis soon after the arrival of Mr. Lewis, but afterward removed to Greene County, Ill., where he died. He was a captain in the War of 1812, under Gen. Harrison, and was at the battle of the Thames. He was of Scotch descent. Marion M. Lewis remained at home until twenty-two years of age, and received his education in the common schools. In 1852 he married Miss Clara Byrd, a native of Jefferson County, and the daughter of Austin and Mary Byrd, natives, respectively, of Georgia and Kentucky, but who in a very early day came to Jefferson County, being one of the pioneers of that county. Of the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis only three are now living: Nannie, Alexander and Mary May. Mr. Lewis lived in St. Paul and vicinity until 1877, when he came to Jefferson County, and settled near Maxville, on the Byrd farm. He has been a life-long farmer, is a Democrat in politics (as his father was before him), and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.