Francis Lewis


Francis Lewis was a Welsh merchant and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New York.

Early life

Lewis was born in Llandaff, Wales on March 21, 1713. He was the only child of Morgan Lewis and Anne Lewis of Newport.
Lewis was educated at Westminster School in London.

Career

He 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, then set sail for New York City, arriving 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. After two years in Philadelphia, he returned to New York.
Lewis made several trans-Atlantic trips, visiting several northern European ports, St. Petersburg in Russia, northern Scotland and Africa. He was taken prisoner while serving as a British mercantile agent in 1756 and sent to France for imprisonment. On his release and return home, he became active in politics.

Politics

He was a member of the Committee of Sixty, a member of the New York Provincial Congress, and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1779. In 1778, he signed the United States Articles of Confederation, and in 1779 served as the Chairman of the Continental Board of Admiralty.
He helped his son Francis Lewis Jr. open a dry goods business named Francis Lewis and Son. Morgan served in the army during the Revolutionary War and later held many offices in New York State, including Governor.

Personal life

In 1745, Lewis married to Elizabeth Annesley, a sister of his business partner. Together, they were the parents of seven children, only three of whom survived to adulthood:
In 1775, Lewis acquired and relocated his family to an estate located in Whitestone, in present-day Queens. The home was later destroyed in the American Revolutionary War by British soldiers, who also arrested his wife, Elizabeth, and denied her a change of clothing or adequate food for weeks while in captivity. Her hardships in captivity ruined her health and led to her death in 1778 after being released in a prisoner exchange.
Lewis died on December 31, 1802, although his memorial in Trinity Church Cemetery gives his year of death as 1803.

Legacy

Through his eldest surviving daughter Ann, he was a grandfather to Marianne Robertson, who married John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury and brother of Charles Richard Sumner, bishop of Winchester.
Through his son Morgan, he was a grandfather of Margret Lewis, who married New York lawyer and politician Maturin Livingston and became parents to twelve children. Through his son Francis Jr., he was a grandfather of Gabriel Ludlow Lewis.
In Queens, New York, Francis Lewis High School and P.S. 79 "The Francis Lewis School" are named after Lewis. The 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 Masonic Lodge, Francis Lewis #273, is located in Whitestone.