Lewis was born at Warner Hall, a plantation in Gloucester County, Colony of Virginia. He was third of seven children born to John Lewis IV, a merchant and planter, and Frances Fielding. After the death of his mother in 1731, his father remarried to Priscilla Churchhill Carter, the widow of Robert Carter II. His paternal uncle, Robert Lewis, became the grandfather of Meriwether Lewis, who would explore the Louisiana Purchase. His father had a store in Fredericksburg. In 1749, John Lewis had a fine retail building constructed to display his wares and provide space for a selling floor and storage. The sandstone quoins, usually found only on larger mansions, were a sign of his aspirations. His son Fielding joined him in the business, taking it over in the 1750s.
Career
Lewis was established as a successful merchant before the American Revolutionary War. He was appointed as Commissary General of Munitions during the war, and commissioned at the rank of Colonel. He and his second wife Betty resided on a plantation in Fredericksburg. Like others in the planter elite, they enslaved people and forced their labor. Betty's mother Mary Ball Washington frequently visited them and had a favorite spot she called her "meditation rock". In 1769, Fielding and Betty started construction of a large Georgian mansion on their property, which was completed in 1775. It has some of the most refined colonial interior finishes of any surviving mansion. Named by later owners as Kenmore Plantation, it has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Personal life
Lewis married Catharine Washington on October 18, 1746. She was his second cousin, the daughter of John Washington and Catharine Whiting. Before his wife's death on February 19, 1750, they were the parents of three children, including:
John Lewis
A few months later, on May 7, 1750, Lewis married Betty Washington, the sister of George Washington and another second cousin. She was 17 years old. They had 11 children together, including:
Fielding Lewis, Jr., who married Anne Alexander and, after her death, Nancy Alexander. He had issue by both wives.
Robert Lewis, who married cousin Judith Carter Browne and had issue.
Howell Lewis Sr., who married Ellen Hackley Pollard and, after her death, Henry Howell Lewis. He had issue by his first wife.
Lewis died in Fredericksburg in 1781 at the end of the Revolutionary War. Before her death in 1789, Mary Washington asked to be buried at her favorite spot at Kenmore, and her daughter Betty arranged for that. Betty outlived Lewis by 16 years, dying in 1797. In 1833 a memorial was started at Mary Washington's gravesite, but never completed. Following the United States Centennial in 1889, numerous historic and lineage societies were formed; the Mary Washington Memorial Association held fundraising events and commissioned a memorial for her gravesite. It was dedicated in 1894 at Mary Washington's gravesite in a ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland of the United States.
Legacy and honors
The Lewis mansion and property was later named Kenmore Plantation when purchased before the Civil War by people outside the Lewis family. It is now operated as a house museum, and is open to the public for viewing.
In the late 20th century, the Kenmore Plantation purchased Ferry Farm, the property said to be George Washington's boyhood home, to keep it from being developed.
Fielding and his wife Elizabeth "Betty" Lewis are each commemorated with street names in the Ferry Farm subdivision outside Fredericksburg, with Fielding Circle and Betty Lewis Drive.
