Asa Lewis and John W. Lewis

[Joy Durrett]

Good Morning Everyone

I hope everyone hi having a wonderful day.

I’ve been looking at DNA matches on Ancestry for Ron.

Using Truelines as a guide not fact. I found that Diane’s line keeps coming up as matches.

It appears Diane’s John W. Lewis and Ron’s Asa Lewis. Maybe half siblings. Same father different mother obviously. That would explain a lot.

Diane figured it might be in Ostego County, New York.

It appears the year Asa Lewis was born 1784. Everyone including me assumed he was born in Delaware County, New York. Big problem Delaware County wasn’t formed until 1791. He enlisted in the war of 1812 from Delaware but the year he was born it wasn’t a county yet. So where was he born?

Diane’s ancestor John W. Lewis was in Chanago. This County which was split of of parts of Montgomery County, New York and Delaware County was once part of Montgomery County, New York. When the County lines change old records are in another county and the new formed. Also Diane’s line was also in Ostego County, New York and Oswego County among others. Now did they move or did the county lines just change. So now back to looking at counties to see where I might find records. This County was also part of Montgomery County, New York. Everything leads to Montgomery County. I have contacted them. The can’t find records because the county line changed. So until I have another name for them to check that might have been in Montgomery County they can’t help just yet.

This is how it might look per his cousin. I still need to verify it myself.

This might be how it goes. Still needs work and documents. The DNA is leading me this way.


Edmund Lewis b. Abt. 1601 Wales d. Abt 1650 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts.
Jonathan Lewis b. Abt 1631 in Probably Wales d. 1690 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island m. Mary Button
Israel Lewis b. 1668 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island m Mary Marsh. He also married a Jane
Elisha Lewis b. 1719 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island m. Lydia Irish and Dorcus Contrell. (Dorcus is Asa’s mother there is a birth record sowing she had a son Asa Lewis)
Asa Lewis b. 1754 Westerly, Washington, Rhodesia Island. Mary Polly Dyer (Ron and Diane’s 3rd Great Grandparents). This is subject to change
Asa Lewis b. 1784 Ron
John W. Lewis b. 1810.

If anyone see’s anything they feel might be wrong let me know. I am going to start verifying what I have discovered with documentation.
Joy

Sent from my iPhone

[Michael Lewis]

    Hello Joy and all:

    Good sleuthing on the DNA work!

    I have important corrections on Edmond (Edmund) Lewes (Lewis) and
his descendants. There is no evidence that Edmond Lewes, our common
ancestor, was born in Wales. There is no record of Edmond's birth,
siblings, or marriage. All we know is that he and wife and two sons
sailed on the Elizabeth to Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634.
That's it ... no more.

    There is no evidence that Jonathan Lewis of Westerly, Rhode Island
was a son of our Edmond. The Westerly Lewises were descended from John
Lewis of undocumented origin, assumed to be Wales. We have no
documentation of any connection between the Westerly Lewises and the
Massachusetts Leweses.

    Is your Jonathan et al descent from Edmond documented with primary
records? If the descent from Jonathan is documented, then our DNA
connection is further back than Edmond Lewes of Massachusetts.

    Fascinating stuff! Thanks!

    Michael

[Joy Durrett]

Thanks Michael for your input.

I will keep following the DNA for now.

From what I understand Ron’s Aunt did the work and there was no DNA back then. She even went to Wales to check it out. I don’t know who has her documentation. Hard to know when Ron is adopted. The family does share some information with us but not all yet.

Someone could have made a wrong turn. It does happen. I will be looking at DNA right now I will look at and documents later. I will keep you updated on what I find.

The Autosomal DNA does show Ron and Diane are half cousins at 3rd Great grandparents. Which is what Diane and I were trying to figure out. It gives me a place to start.

Joy

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 10, 2023, at 12:02 PM, Michael Lewis <mal...@calcentral.com> wrote:
>
>  Hello Joy and all:

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Descendants of Edmond Lewis" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to descendants-of-edmo...@googlegroups.com.
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[Dave Lewis]

Joy, you share, what, one or two SNPs with Geoff below the one we all
share, BY45299(???). Ron and Geoff will share a common ancestor in early
North America probably in the 1700s. So you cannot deviate too far from
his line, and you need to come together somewhere back there. Either you
need to stay near his line, or he needs to stay near yours, somewhere in
the 1700s. If it looks like the two of you are going in different
directions back there, you need to heed the red caution flag. Geoff's
line stayed, and still is, close to the Lewis family's roots in Lynn,
MA. People move around, but I would think Ron's line would have to be in
the same vicinity for at least its first century in North America. If
your line doesn't pass through Malden(???), you are in the wrong place.
(My dates and places may be inaccurate.)

A lot of people who claim descent from Edmund claim he left Wales for
North America. Michael's research proves that to be incorrect. Edmund's
line, if Welsh, which I think it is, left Wales and ended up in East
Anglia before coming to America. We don't know when his line left Wales.
We do have the Allison and Ruggles matches on Big Y. These are
relatively close matches in the bigger picture, about 1000 years ago.
Allison states his father was from Cardiff, Wales. The Ruggles matches
have not confirmed their ancestral home in the Old World, but I suspect
it will prove to be Welsh, directly or indirectly. Just a hunch. I could
be wrong.

Dave

[Joy Durrett]

Thanks Dave.

I will head Michael’s warning.

I still have to look for documents. What I posted is how his aunt had it. She could have made a wrong turn. Which is easy to do.

so nothing is etched in stone. I still think my line went to Canada at some point. Several of Ron’s matches are in New Brunswick Canada. One of his matches has lived in the area 10 generations. I am still waiting to hear back from him. He had a skiing accident and is still recovering. I will contact him again soon.

Joy

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 10, 2023, at 3:04 PM, 'Dave Lewis' via Descendants of Edmond Lewis <descendants-o...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Joy, you share, what, one or two SNPs with Geoff below the one we all share, BY45299(???). Ron and Geoff will share a common ancestor in early North America probably in the 1700s. So you cannot deviate too far from his line, and you need to come together somewhere back there. Either you need to stay near his line, or he needs to stay near yours, somewhere in the 1700s. If it looks like the two of you are going in different directions back there, you need to heed the red caution flag. Geoff's line stayed, and still is, close to the Lewis family's roots in Lynn, MA. People move around, but I would think Ron's line would have to be in the same vicinity for at least its first century in North America. If your line doesn't pass through Malden(???), you are in the wrong place. (My dates and places may be inaccurate.)

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/d1e8ac90-9e72-d393-d070-dbf467b5c63e%40zohomail.com.

[Geoff Lewis]

There were a variety of family stories from generations back independently in my family pointing to wales, yet across ftdna and 23andme there are literally zero markers tying to that place, yet there are strong indications pointing to London and Liverpool. Possible he had moved there and did I'm fact depart from Wales but was not Welsh.

Similarly my grandmother from my mother side was always thought to be German through and through, yet after testing she was mostly polish and swedish. Turns out they immigrated from the polish corridor of Germany. All it takes is a generation to naturalize and the stories drift. Could be a similar situation.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/d1e8ac90-9e72-d393-d070-dbf467b5c63e%40zohomail.com.

[Michael Lewis]

    I am late in coming to DNA genealogy, after many years doing paper genealogy research on all of my family lines. I insist on primary documentation, that is, first hand paper resources such as birth, death and marriage records, census records and other official documents. DNA data is too nebulous to be of use on this scale of research. We may be able to compare our DNA with some other descendants of Edmond's ancestors, but, so far, this has not come to the fore.

    My Lewis family had a family history story of having originated in Wales, with no documentation to support it. In doing my paper research, I found that this claim originated with the book The Lewis Family of Wales & America, Origin, Ancestry and Some of the Descendants by Edward Simmons Lewis, published in 1928 by The Journal of American History, Volume XXII, Third Quarter, Number 3. The author claimed that Edmund Lewis was born at Llys Talybont, Glamorgan, Wales (no date given), the third son of George Lewis and Catherine Mathew of Llys Talybont. Unfortunately, the author did not reveal the source of this information; he just made the claim without documentation. In my subsequent research, including a 2007 trip to Wales, I was unable to verify this claim, nor find any information about an Edmund Lewis born at Lys Talybont. I have found a record of an Edmund Lewis in residence at Llys Talybont ... in 1637, three years after our Edmond left for Watertown. So that pretty firmly lays the Welsh origin to rest.

    The claim is also made that Edmund Lewis was the brother of William Lewis of Roxbury, who came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, implying that William of Roxbury was born in Wales. We now have a detailed genealogy of William Lewis of Roxbury, published in 1932, demonstrating clearly, with primary documentation, that William was born in Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk, England to William Lewes of a long line of Leweses daring back to Edmunde Lewes, born in 1519. There is no record of Edmond Lewes born in this Lewes line at the right time to be our Edmond.  The origin of the Stoke by Nayland Lewes line is unknown.

    The only thing we can say with any certainty is that Edmond Lewes came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, with his wife Mary, and their two oldest sons, who were born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England in 1630 and 1633.

    Michael

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/CALQrqrwewKmPkQ3sn0a03VJLX6yKuEOWXi9opevkWc--YELSzA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Joy Durrett]

Micheal

Who were Edmund of Lynn, Massachusetts other children?

Thanks

Joy

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 10, 2023, at 6:33 PM, Michael Lewis <mal...@calcentral.com> wrote:

     I am late in coming to DNA genealogy, after many years doing paper genealogy research on all of my family lines. I insist on primary documentation, that is, first hand paper resources such as birth, death and marriage records, census records and other official documents. DNA data is too nebulous to be of use on this scale of research. We may be able to compare our DNA with some other descendants of Edmond's ancestors, but, so far, this has not come to the fore.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/ee56a837-2928-dc97-eb3c-bd6bfbcf9309%40calcentral.com.

[Michael Lewis]

    The known children of Edmond Lewes and Mary were:

    John Lewes, b.1630, Ipswich, England - d. 1711, Lynn, MA
    Thomas Lewes b. 1633, Ipswich England - d. 1709 Bristol, MA
    James Lewes b. 1635, Watertown, MA - d. ?
    Nathanell Lewes b. 1639 Unrecorded, Watertown or Lynn, MA - d. 1683, Salem, MA
    Unnamed Lewes b. 1642 Unrecorded, Watertown or Lynn - Buried 1642, Watertown
    Joseph Lewes b. abt. 1647, probably Lynn - d. 1675, Swansea, MA
    Benjamin Lewes b. abt. 1648, unrecorded, probably Lynn - 1714, Stratford, Connecticut)

    Michael

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/1C8DC92A-9FA0-4E9C-8940-CB9CD90B6810%40yahoo.com.

[Joy Durrett]

So John Lewis m. Mary Button. Isn’t the son of Edmund Lewis. 

Is he or isn’t he. 

Thanks. 

Joy

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 11, 2023, at 8:47 AM, Michael Lewis <mal...@calcentral.com> wrote:

     The known children of Edmond Lewes and Mary were:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/6261632a-1d95-9313-6c2f-a2af72bb7ebd%40calcentral.com.

[Dave Lewis]

Joy, I'm attaching a listing of Edmund's descendants prepared by Michael and provided to the group some time ago. He has Edmund's son John b. 1601 marrying a Hanna Marshall. As John is Edmund's oldest son, his entry is the second entry on the first page of the attachment with his descendants listed in order below. There are a lot of holes in these lineages, as information on them has yet to be discovered, if it exists at all. To my knowledge, this document is the extent of Michael's research to date. The name Button does not appear in it, as least from my search.

This is a PDF file. You can search for the names of people and places in Acrobat Reader or another PDF reader. Geoff's ancestors were centered around the town of Malden and were also in nearby locations. Malden appears on this list a fair amount of times. Perhaps you can spot a recognizable name, or likely candidate, based on yours or Diane's research.

Dave

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/A85AE857-F8EC-4374-B2F5-44CD10D2F8AD%40yahoo.com.

[Michael Lewis]

    John Lewes, son of Edmond Lewes and Mary, married Hannah Baker, Elizabeth Walker and Sarah Merriam, all recorded in primary documents in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts. The John Lewis of Westerly, Rhode, Island was not a son of Edmond Lewes of Watertwon and Lynn, Massachusetts.

    Michael

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/A85AE857-F8EC-4374-B2F5-44CD10D2F8AD%40yahoo.com.

[Michael Lewis]

    Thanks for sending this document, Dave.

    Skimming through it, I see that I have updated some of the missing information over the years, though not all, of course. This is still a pretty good Lewes/Lewis descendants list.

    Michael

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/61239a9a-9910-8afb-417a-48ce5101fa13%40zohomail.com.

[Joy Durrett]

Thank you for the Decedents of Edmund Lewis. 

Here is what Diane had figured out before she died. 

We would start our search in Vermont and Connecticut because those are the states closest to where our ancestors lived. However, she said they could have gone further north. So finding them in Rhode Island is no surprise. People moved. We even figured they could have gone on to Canada. One of Ron’s matches has been in New Brunswick area 10 generations. So nothing will surprises me at this point. 

Here are the states that boarder New York. Pennsylvania 

New Jersey

Vermont

Connecticut 

Massachusetts

Rhode Island 

So if I find the Westerly Lewis’s where mine live that wouldn’t surprise either. We have 2 different Durrett lines living in the same town. Unfortunately for us, they named their children similar names. Making it hard for us to untangle but we did by using what was available to us. No DNA was used. 

My line and Diane’s line both left Massachusetts. So they probably lost touch with family. It happens even today. 

So I will continue to look and verify what I can. My only hope is that I won’t find two Lewis men with the same name who married women with the same name. It did happen back then   It happens more than we know. My daughter said no imagination back then when it came to naming children. She’s right. They used naming patterns too. 

I do now now through DNA.  That Diane’s John W. Lewis and my Asa Lewis were half siblings. 3 to 4 generations back. So I am going to focus on that for now. 

I have in my DNA Tree on Ancestry in the box not verified so I can see what turns up. 

Ron dores match Asa Lewis b. 1754 m. Mary Polly Dyer. He matches the Dyer surname. 

Elisha Lewis m. Amie Green(e) he also matches the Green(e) surname. 

I can only go so far with Autosomal DNA. I think with Dyer and Green(e) and may have reached my limit using Autosomal DNA. I have seen it go back further sometimes but not often enough. 

I will keep you posted. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. 

Joy

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 11, 2023, at 7:15 PM, Michael Lewis <mal...@calcentral.com> wrote:

     Thanks for sending this document, Dave.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/descendants-of-edmond-lewis/1533eb4d-e8dd-2661-b53d-db8e7f36ff97%40calcentral.com.