MyFamily Archive - History - 21

Descendants of William Lewelling (N.C., Indiana, Oregon, Calif., Iowa, Nurseryman, Quaker)

Billie Harris - Jun 12, 2008

PLEASE NOTE THIS GENEALOGY IS INCOMPLETE.   If anyone can add to it, please do.   All suggestions and ideas are appreciated.



WILLIAM LEWELLING FAMILY
The information for this particular family comes from various sources, including “Luelling, Lewelling, Llewellyn-Campbell” book compiled by Miss Jane Harriet Luelling (1864-1926/9) , from notes prepared by Mrs. Ellen Luelling Givens (1857-1912), and others.   I would be remiss, however, if I did not include Mrs. Mabel Johnson as one of the contributors who, with her niece, Janice Wight, gave much information on the John Lewelling family (son of Meshach Lewelling), and Roy E. Luelling on his ancestor, Alfred Luelling.

The family’s name was originally spelled Llewellyn but for various reasons, was changed.   See the Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. VII, page 34 footnote for more on the spelling.

It would appear based on the approximate ages of his children, he would have been born somewhere around 1750.

William Lewelling’s wife’s name was Mary.   He was lited in the 1779 Randolph County Tax list; no other Lewellings were listed.   In the census for 1890, William lived next door in Randolph County, N.C. to Jonathan, probably his son.   His Will is dated November 1799, in Randolph County, North Carolina.     In 1800 he was deceased and his wife Mary was listed in the census, as well as John and Jonathan,   the names of his two sons.   In the 1810 Randolph County census, Jonathan, Thomas and Shadrach (children of William and Mary) were all listed in the census, leaving one to believe Mary was either deceased by that time since she wasn't listed, or perhaps living with one of their children but since William died in 1799, a guess is that she had probably passed away by 1810 )   The 1815 Tax List shows Meshec and Jonathan.   The 1830 census gives none of William and Mary's children which makes us assume they had either moved or were deceased by this time.   It does, however, contain the names of Jonathan, William and W (or Mc?) Larin, who were probably descendants.

Their children were:

1. MESHACH LEWELLING, (also Meshack) born January 29, 1787 Randolph County, McGhee’s Creek, North Carolina.   In the Luelling book mentioned above, his birthdate is given as 1770, however, most sources agree with the 1787 date.   He died Dec. 1840 in New Castle, Henry County, Indiana, of pneumonia.   He was a nurseryman, a medical doctor, and of the Quaker faith.   He is listed in the 1815 Tax List of Steed’s District, Randolph Co., N.C., and in the 1820 and 1830 census for Henry County, Indiana.   He married:   (1)   Jane Brookshire in 1805-6.   She was born Aug. 25, 1789 and died Aug. 11, 1835 in New Castle, Ind. and the children (Seth, Jane, Henry, Henderson, John, William, Mary, Thomas J)   were with her   (2) Mrs. Margaret Williams on 7/27/1837 in Henry Co., Ind. and the remainder of the children (Harrison G. and Jefferson W.) were with her.   His stepson was Daviux Williams.   Margaret was born in New Castle, Ind. and died there Nov. 15, 1847.   After Meshach's death, on Feb. 28, 1844, Margaret married Stephen Burris in Henry County, Indiana.
Note:   While information given shows Margaret to be "Mrs.", the Quaker marriage records just show her as Margaret Williams, daughter of James and Julia Ann Williams.    
   His Will was dated Nov. 13, 1840 and made the following provisions:
To my Wife Margaret (Williams) Lewelling: The following land, To-wit: WSW 21-17-10, SE 20-17-10 and ESW 20-17-10 all in Henry township.   My Children:   The NW 1/4 of section 20-17-10 divided by four (4) to wit:   (1) Seth Lewelling: The NW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of section 20-17-10   (2) Jane Lewelling: The SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of section 20-17-10
(3) Henry Lewelling, no provisions.   (4) Henderson Lewelling, no provisions. (5) John Lewelling, no provisions, (6)   William Lewelling, no provisions, (7) Mary Lewelling, no provisions, (8)   Thomas J. Lewelling, no provisions, (9)   Harrison G. Lewelling: The NE 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of section 20-17-10m (10)   Jefferson W. Lewelling: The SE 1/4 " " " " " "
(11) Davius Williams (stepson), no provisions for land.   Witnesses to the Will were:  
John Bond, James Barnard.   Executors were: Henry Lewelling and Seth Lewelling
Seth Lewelling


Meshach’s children were:

(1)   WILLIAM HENDERSON LEWELLING.   He went by “Henderson” and changed the spelling of his last name to Luelling.   He was born April 23, 1809, 1810 or 1811 in Randolph County, No. Carolina.   The dates of his birth vary, but most sources indicate 1809.   He died Dec. 28, 1878 in San Jose, California.   Buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.
In 1825 Henderson was in Greensboro and New Castle, Indiana.   He was in the nursery business with his brother, John, in 1835 and both moved to Salem, Iowa, in 1837.   Other members of the family then moved to Iowa.   In 1847 he had a nursery in Milwaukie, Oregon, forming a partnership with William Meek in 1849.   Mr. Meek had gone to Oregon in 1847 but not with the same wagon train as the Lewellings.   Meek and Lewelling organized the Milwaukie Milling Co. and operated several saw and grist mills.   Henderson sold his business to William Meek in 1853 and moved to Alameda County, Calif.   Alfred, his son, named the locality Fruit Vale, which adjoins Oakland.   In 1859 he sold the Fruit Vale property and he and his two younger sons, with his partners and their families, embarked for the Honduras.   His venture was not a good one financially and he returned to California to engage in the fruit business.   He married (1) Margaret Elizabeth Presnal (or Presnell) on Dec. 30, 1830.   She was born April 8, 1815 Randolph Co., N.C. and died Mar. 7, 1851, Milwaukie, Oregon.   (2) Phoebe Grimes (Lee).   She had been previously married and at the time of her marriage to Henderson, had four children, listed below.   Henderson’s children were:

A. ALFRED WILLIAM LUELLING, born Nov. 30, 1831, Newcastle, Ind.   Died Nov. 11, 1904 Oregon City, Oregon.   Married Mary Elizabeth Campbell Apr. 10, 1851, at Milwaukie, Oregon.   She was born July 27, 1834 at Chester, Mass. And died Aug. 23, 1919 Orofino, Idaho.   Children:

   a.   ALFRED WILLIAM LUELLING, JR., born Feb. 19, 1853, Milwaukie, Oregon.   Died May 19, 1894.   He was a lawyer, county clerk of Washington County, Oregon.   He changed the spelling of the name Llewellyn in about 1882.   He married Marion McLeod on Dec. 1, 1875.   Child:

         l.   FRED WARDE LLEWELLYN born May 8, 1878, Hillsboro, Oregon.   Attorney and Army Officer.   Adjutant General, State of Wash. 1911-14.   Married (1) Maude Flesher; (2) Mildred Shrewsbury.   Children:   (1) Fred Warde Llewellyn, Jr., born Mr. 4, 1907 Bellingham, Wash; (b) James Glenn Llewellyn, born Sept. 17, 1910, Seattle, Wash.

   b.   ANNIE MARY LUELLING, born Apr. 28, 1855, Alameda, Calif.   Died Oct. 5, 1880, Hillsboro, Oregon.   Married William H. McEldowney, born 1855, Chico, CA.   Children:
1. WILBUR W. McELDOWNEY born Feb. 16, 1878, Hillsboro, Ore.   Married (1) Elinor Russell and (2) Maude Buxton Kinney.   Children (2) Helen McEldowney married C. Nelson Johnson
2. MARY HELEN McELDOWNEY born July 27, 1879 Hillsboro, Oregon.   Married M. C. Strickkland, M.D. and had children (a) Robert Lee Strickland, M.D., born May 8, 1902 Oregon City and married Jewell Whitehouse; (b) Graeme Hammond Strickland born May 25, 1906 Oregon City; (c) Janice Alice Strickland born Sept. 27, 1910 Oregon City

   c. ELLEN ELIZABETH LUELLING, born Aug. 1, 1857 Fruit Vale, CA.   Was a teacher and writer and died June 26, 1912 Boise, Idaho.   Married John W. Givens, M.D. who was born Dec. 28, 1854 Placerville, CA.   Children:
1. MARY ELLEN GIVENS born Nov. 23, 1879 Skokomish, Wash and died Dec. 3, 1881, Milwaukie, Ore
2. RAYMOND LUELLING GIVENS, born Feb. 9, 1884, Salem, Oregon.   Was on the Idaho Supreme Bench in 1923.   Married Margaret O’Donnell
3. WALLACE GIVENS, born Aug. 23, 1895 Blackfoot, Idaho and died Milwaukie, Ore. Aug. 25, 1895
4. JOHN ALFRED GIVENS, born May 21, 1878 Skokomish, Wash.   Was an accountant.   Married Ethel Mitchel and had children: (a)   John Alvered Givens born July 12, 1907 Nampa, Idaho; (b) Richard M. Givens born Aug. 5, 1911 Nampa, Idaho

   d. HENRY HECTOR LUELLING (or Henderson) born Aug. 29, 1859, Fruit Vale, CA.   Died Dec. 7, 1866, Greenville, Ore

   e. JANE HARRIET LUELLING born Dec. 1864 Greenville, Ore.   Died Canby, Ore. 1926-9

   f. JOHN CAMPBELL LUELLING born Apr. 23, 1866 Greenville, Ore.   Died Canby Ore. Dec. 27, 1951, unmarried

   g. CHARLES ALBERT LUELLING born July 23, 1868 Hillsboro, Oregon.   Died 1950 or 1953 in Canby, Oregon.   Married Laura M. Zeek.   Children:
1. JANE ELLEN LUELLING, born Dec. 3, 1892.   Married (1) Joseph Colyer and (2) Terrance Byrnes.   Daughter Genevieve
2. ANNIE AVIA LUELLING born Feb. 17, 1894 Milwaukie, Ore.   Died Aug. 3, 1921 Prineville, Ore. Married Sylvester Faulkner
3. LLAURA MAY LUELLING born Mar. 5, 1896 Milwaukie, Ore.   Married Homer T. York.   Children: (a) Viola May York born Mar. 30, 1914; (b) Robert Luelling York born Apr. 10, 1916 (c) Olive Louise York born Dec. 28, 1918
4. CHARLES ALFRED LUELLING, born June 12, 1901 Prineville, Ore.   Died. Feb. 21, 1925, Oregon City, Ore.
5. OLIVE RUTH LUELLING born Aug. 19, 1904 Oregon City, Ore. Died Nov. 29, 1909 Prineville, Ore.

   h. OLIVE AVIS LUELLING born Sept. 16, 1870 Greenville, Ore.   Died June 2, 1899 Oregon City, Ore.

   i. SETH PATTERSON LUELLING born May 20, 1873 or 1875 Greenville, Ore.   Died July 13, 1939 Madras, Oregon.   Married Cora Ellen Converse, born Mar. 19, 1877 Grundy Center Iowa and died Oct. 30, 1969 Madras, Ore.   Children:
1. ELLEN ELIZABETH LUELLING KLANN born June 20, 1897 Amith Ore
2. JOHN GERALD LUELLING born June 11, 900 Amith, Ore.   Died Mar. 4, 1960 Medford Ore.   Married Hattie Rader
3. CHESTER SETH LUELLING born Jan. 19, 1902, Redland, Ore
4. LLOYD HENRY LUELLING born Aug. 6, 1904 Viola, Ore.   Died May 18, 1977 Madras, Ore
5. MARY CONVERSE LUELLING born Nov. 3, 1907 Madras, Ore
6. ROY ELMER LUELLING born June 20, 1911 Madras, Ore.   Married Marion E. Bolter


B. MARY LUELLING born 1833 Newcastle, Ind.   Died Dec. 10, 1850, Milwaukie, Ore.   Married William Meek, who was born in Iowa and died in Alameda Co., Calif. Mary was his second wife and he had at least one daughter, Sarah, by his previous marriage.   Child:

   a. ANDREW MEEK, born June 10, 1850, Oregon and died in either 1850 or 1852

C. ASENATH LUELLING, born 1835 Newcastle, Ind.   Died 1875 Lewis River, Washington.   Married John Bozarth May 9, 1850 Milwaukie, Ore.   John was born in Mississouri and died in Lewis River, Wash.   Children:
   a. MARY ELIZABETH BOZARTH
   b. MARTHA BOZARTH
     c. LUELLA BOZARTH
   d. HOWARD BOZARTH
   e. COLUMBUS BOZARTH
   f. JANE BOZARTH
   g. EMMA EL VIRA BOZARTH
     h. AMELIA ALAMEDA BOZARTH
     i. LODENIA BOZARTH
     j. ALIZE BOZARTH
     k. ALBERT BOZARTH
     l. LEVI BOZARTH
     m. JOHN BOZARTH
     . RALPH BOZARTH

D. RACHAEL (Hattie) LUELLING born 1837 Salem, Iowa.   Died 1917 San Leandro, Calif.   Married Seth Eddy Feb. 3, 1853 Milwaukie Ore.   Seth was born in New York.   Children:
   a. GEORGIA EDDY
   b. CLINTON EDDY (died as infant)
   c. ANDREW EDDY
   d. DELLA RUETTE EDDY, married Will Edwards
Seth Eddy died and Rachael married (2) Charles Wilson, and had
   e. NELLIE PEARL WILSON, died as infant
   f. LLEWELLYN BURG WILSON

E. JANE LUELLING born 1839 Salem, Iowa.   Died 1872 Milwaukie, Ore.   Married Henry Eddy born New York.   Children:
   a. HENDERSON EDDY
     b. ELLA JANE EDDY
   c. CHARLES EDDY
   d. ELVA EDDY ALDRICH   married Luman Aldrich.   Children:
       1.   HELEN KLEEBERGER married Frank Kleeberger
         2. HAROLD   ALDRICH
         3. HELEN LOUISE ALDRICH
         4. ROBERT W. ALDRICH

F. HANNAH LUELLING born 1841 Salem, Iowa.   Died 1916 San Leandro, CA.   Married Walter Wood in 1857.   Child:
     a. CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH WOOD married William Lynch, M.D.   Children:
         1. LOTTIE LYNCH
         2. RUETTE LYNCH
         3. WILLIAM CARSTON LYNCH
Hannah was divorced from Walter Wood and then married (2) William J. Brandbury and (3) Col. A. P. Hawes.

G. LEVI LUELLING, born Feb. 25, 1843 Salem, Iowa.   Died 1878 Hillsboro, Oregon.   Married Emma Eaton 1874 Woodland, Wash.

H. ALBERT LUELLING born Feb. 14, 1845 Salem, Iowa.   Died Feb. 7, 1885, Woodland, Wash.   Married Mary Gardener Oct. 4, 1874.   Children:
   a. TRESSIE ASENATH LUELLING married Carl Swanson
   b. WINNIFRED MARY LUELLING married C. Guy Younger
   c. VIOLA LUELLING born 1881, died 1887

I. OREGON COLUMBIA LUELLING (or LLEWELLYN) born Dec. 2, 1847, beside the Columbia River, opposite Ft. Vancouver.   Died June 27, 1912 Fresno, CA.   Married Emily Jane Norris Dec. 16, 1874.   Children:
   a. CLARA LOUISE LUELLING, born 1880, died 1881
     b. GENEVA NORRIS LUELLING born Feb. 1, 1882, died Feb. 26, 1908 Fresno, CA.   Married gilbert Judson Hamilton
   c. ALICE HENDERSON LUELLING (LLEWELLYN) born Feb. 20, 1885.   Married Robert Henry Wallis.   Child:   Richard Llewellyn Wallis
   d. ADDIE ELEANOR LLEWELLYN born Feb. 28, 1890; married tom Jones Berry
     e. OREGON COLUMBIA LLEWELLYN, JR. born Nov. 28, 1892; died Jan. 18, 1932, Sacramento, CA; buried Fresno, CA
   f. HELEN PRESSNAL LUELLING born Sept. 20, 1894.   Married (1) Lawrence Donovan (2) Pat Brooks.   Child:   Eloise Hope Donovan married Roy Anderson

J. ELIZA ANNE LUELLING born Sept. 9, 1849, Milwaukie, Ore.   Died after 1925 Burbank, CA.   Married (1) Isaac Wood and (2) ? Glasscock.   Children:
   a. DORA WOOD married ? Laidlow.   Children Helen and Bob
   b.   NINA LLEWELLYN WOOD born June 22, 1879; died Jan. 10, 1950.   Lived in Iowa.   Married Milo M. Loomis; children:
         1. ALICE HEALY
         2. CHARLES LOOMIS
         3. MILO LOOMIS
         4. MARTIN WALTER LOOMIS

K. HENDERSON LUELLING born 1855

Stepchildren:

A. MARY JANE LEE LEWELLING married Lucian Huff and lived in Oakland, CA

B. THERESA LEE LEWELLING married Louis Calvert and lived in Oakland, CA

C. C and D were boys, names unknown



(2)   JOHN LEWELLING, born Randolph County, North Carolina in either 1810 or 1811 on January 16th.   He died in St. Helena, CA. Dec. 25, 1883.   in 1822 he was in Henry County, Indiana.   He was in the nursery business with his brother, Henderson, in 1835, and moved to Salem, Iowa, in 1837; in 1840 he was in Henry County and then moved to Oregon.   He left Oregon in 1850, moving to California, where he engaged in mining until 1852.   He returned to Iowa and brought his family to California in 1853.   In 1854 he had a nursery in San Lorenzo, Alameda County, CA.   In 1865 or 1868, he had a nursery in San Lorenzo, Alameda County, CA.   In 1865 or 1868 because of ill health, he moved to Napa County, Calif.   Married Elva (Elvy) Elliot who was born Richmond, Ind. 1815 or 1816 and died 1907.   Children.

A.   ELI LEWELLING, born 1835.   Died March 1926 Hayward, CA.   Married Carmen Madden of San Francisco.

B.   ELISHA D. LEWELLING, born 1841.   Died May 1 or 2, 1872, in Napa, CA, aged 31 years 11 months and 6 days.   He was a California State Assemblyman.

C.   SILAS LEWELLING, born 1845, died Feb. 26, 1860, aged 15 years, 4 months and 14 days

D.   SETH LEWELLING, born 1848 and died Apr. 10, 1858, aged 10 years, 10 months, 22 days

E.   DELILAH LEWELLING, born Dec. 9, 1849.   Died 1850 at age 10 mos. 25 days.

F.   ARTHUR LEWELLING, born 1854 and died Mar. 22, 1873 at St. Helena, CA aged 19 years 8 months and 5 days

G.   HARVY JOHN LEWELLING, born Feb. 14, 1855 at Mission San Jose, CA.   Died May 6, 1939 at St. Helena, CA.   Married Annie Letetia Alstrom.   Children:
   a.   ETHEL EMILY LEWELLING, born Feb. 11, 1888, St. Helena, CA.   Died Feb. 28, 1976.   Married Albert John Taplin.   Son:
         l.   KENNETH LLEWELLYN TAPLIN, married Alice Gaylord and had children Mellinda, Stephen and William A.
   b.   MABEL DOROTHY LEWELLING, born Dec. 4, 1889, St. Helena, CA.   Married Hamilton Crabb Johnson who died Dec. 28, 1958
   c.   LESTER ELLIOT LEWELLING, born Feb. 24, 1891.   Died June 10, 1963.   Married Lillian A. Nelson.   Child:
         1.   JANICE WIGHT.   Married Russel A. Wight.
   d.   RAYMOND LEWELLING, born March 20, 1898.   Married Vera Hansen

H.   SARAH LEWELLING, born June 29, 1833 Greencastle, Ind.   Died. Sept. 6, 1865.   Married Robert King June 23, 1852 at Salem, Iowa.   Children:
   a.   LEWIS LEROY KING, born Mar. 30, 1855 Mission San Jose, CA.   Died Nov. 26, 1914, Oakland, CA.   Buried Roseville, CA.   Married Annie C. ?   Children:
         1.   ELVA MAY KING, born July 1, ? San Lorenzo, CA.   Married Arthur T. McBride 9/14/1904.   Children:   Kenneth, Wesley, Catherine, Donald, Thomas
         2.   LELIA ELIZA KING, born May 26, 1885 San Lorenzo, CA.   Married William Christopher Keehner 8/22/1906.
         3.   LEWIS LEROY KING, born June 20, 1866, San Lorenzo, CA.   Died May 7, 1953.   Married L. Madge Berry 6/1/1918 and had children Katheryn and Dorothy
(There is some question as to whether Sarah was one of John’s children or a child of one of the others.)



(3)   WILLIAM LEWELLING, born Sept. 28, 1817 (the Luelling book has the date as 1807) in Randolph Co., N.C.   He moved to Salem, Iowa 1838.   His wife was Serena (or Cyrena) Wilson, daughter of Michael and Rebecca Wilson.     He was a minister of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and died in Indiana in 1848 while engaged in missionary work.   After his death, his wife married Eric Knudson and had one daughter, Louise.   His wife was accidentally burned to death in 1855.    
Children:

A.   RACHAEL LEWELLING, born Salem, Iowa

B.   ELIZABETH LEWELLING
   (NOTE:   Possibly either Rachael or Elizabeth’s name was Elvina and married Benjamin Trueblood)

C.   ANNA LEWELLING, born Jan. 10, 1842 Henry Co. Iowa

D.   ASA LEWELLING, born Feb. 3, 1845 Salem, Iowa.   Died Jan. 29, 1940.   He taught in a boy’s reform school in Illinois and was superintendent of the boy’s department at the Oregon State Reformatory.   After living in Illinois, they moved to Nebraska and then to Oregon.   He married (1) Amanda Virginia Hord (died 1895) and (2) Mary Eliza Blevins Nov. 1, 1896.   She was born June 28, 1860 and died May 29, 1924, daughter of Andrew and Alvilda Miller Blevins.   Children:
   a.   LUCIUS GUY LEWELLING, born Sept. 8, 1882, Kearny, Neb.   Died Nov. 8, 1946.   He was a lawyer, was Circuit Judge for Linn, Marian and Benton counties, Oregon   Married Edna Mae Blevins (cousin of Mary above).   Children:   ASA LORENZO (born 1915 and died Sept. 7, 2007 in Salem, Marion Co. Oregon - see obit at bottom of page), BLEVINS, JAMES, LUCIUS GUY JR.
   b.   CLAUDIA LEWELLING
   c.   ETTA FRANK
   d.   FREDERICA PATTERSON WILEY (or Riley)

F.   LORENZO DOW LEWELLING, born Dec. 21, 1846, Salem, Henry Co., Iowa.   Died Sept. 3, 1900 at Arkansas, Kansas.   Married April 18, 1870 Angeline M. Cook and they had three daughters.   After her death, he married Ida Bishop.   He was the 11th Governor of Kansas.   See article   in references below from the Beacon newspaper about Lorenzo Down Lewelling which gives a good accounting of his life.
Children:
   a.   JESSIE LEWELLING, born about 1873 (Note:   Jessie was probably a female since he and his wife, Angeline, had three daughters.)
   b.   PAULINE LEWELLING, born about 1877 (See information following on her)
   c.   Name unknown

(4)   SETH LEWELLING, born march 6, 1820, North Carolina.   Died Feb. 20, 1896 or 1897 Milwaukie, Oregon.   He married (1) Clarissa Horser (or Hosier), born Green Castle Ind. Mar. 26, 1826; (2) Sophronia Vaughn Olson at Salem, Oregon.   She was born Aug. 2, 1828 and died Aug. 2, 1928.   In 1850 Seth arrived in Oregon.   He prompgated the Bing Cherry and was a nurseryman and a Quaker.   He also originated the Black Republican Cherry and had the first Italian prune orchard, 5 acres, near Milwaukie.   Henderson left Milwaukie in 1853 and in 1857 William Meek quit the nursery business, leaving Seth as sole owner of the Milwaukie nurseries.   His children:

A.   ELVA LEWELLING, born Indiana and died Milwaukie, Oregon

B.   ALICE LEWELLING, born Indiana and died Milwaukie, Oregon

C.   ADELAIDE (or ADELINE) b. LEWELLING, born Indiana and died Napa, Calif.   Married Professor James Dale Smith, who established Livermore College in Livermore, CA.   He was born Sept. 19, 1845, in Scotland.   Their son:
   a.   DUNCAN LLEWELLYN SMITH, married Lotta Cused.   Son:   Duncan Llewellyn Smith Jr.

D.   WILLIAM ANTON LEWELLING, born April 10, 1854 Milwaukie, Oregon.   Died Aug. 30, 1879.   Married Mary Harlan, daughter of Joel Harlan.   Children:
   a.   LORIN LEROY LLEWELLYN, born May 6, 1879, Milwaukie, Ore.   Married Helene Hazel Harlan.   He was an engineer in Oakland, CA.
   b.   LAURA LORRAINE LLEWELLYN, born Apr. 22, 1915, Los Angeles, CA.

E.   DON VAUGHN LEWELLING, born Milwaukie, Oregon 1888.   (He was born to Seth’s second wife, Sophronia.)



(5)   HENRY LEWELLING, born Randolph County, North Carolina, Oct. 14, 1807.   He died in Newcastle, Indiana.   He was a Quaker minister.   He married Rachel Presnal (or Presnell) who was born Dec. 31, 1806, in North Carolina and died New Castle, Ind.   Children:

A.   JONATHAN LEWELLING, born Jan. 14, 1828 Henry Co., Ind. and died May 10, 1848

B.   JANE B. LEWELLING, born New Castle, Ind. Feb. 27, 1830 and died 1917 Tacoma, Washington.   Married Jonathan Votaw.   Children:
   a.   HENRY L. VOTAW, was Postmaster of Washington
   b.   MOSES VOTAW, was in the banking business in Washington

C.   JOHN P. LEWELLING, born New Castle, Indiana Dec. 14, 1831.   Died Los Angeles, California.   He was a mining engineer

D.   JEHU LEWELLING, born New Castle, Indiana Jan. 22, 1834.   Died in California.   He was a Baptist minister.

E.   MESHACH LEWELLING, born Sept. 2, 1836 Henry County, Indiana

F.   ELIZABETH LEWELLING, born May 2, 1839, Henry County, Indiana

G.   HANNAH H. LEWELLING, born Jan. 5, 1842 Henry Co., Ind.

H.   HENRY CLAYTON LEWELLING, born Dec. 18, 1843, Henry Co. Ind.0

I.   MARTHA ANN LEWELLING, born Aug. 4, 1846, Henry Co., Ind.

J.   RACHEL E. LEWELLING, born New Castle, Ind. Aug 8, 1847 or 1846



(6)   MARY LEWELLING, born May 11, 1815, Randolph Co., N.C.


(7)   JANE LEWELLING, born Aug. 21, 1825 Henry Co. Ind.   Died New Castle, Indiana.   Married ? Johnson


(8)   THOMAS LEWELLING, born Aug. 29, 1827, Henry Co., Ind.


(9)   ?   LEWELLING

(from second marriage)


(10)   HARRISON G. LEWELLING, born New Castle, Ind. July 25, 1838.   Died High Hill, Mo.


(11)   JEFFERSON W. LEWELLING, born New Castle Ind.   Dec. 9, 1839.   Died Los Angeles, Calif.


(12)   JAMES MESHACH LEWELLING, born Feb. 8, 1841 New Castle, Ind.   Died Mar. 6, 1935, Newburg, Oregon.   He was the last survivor of the honor guard at the burial of President Lincoln.   In 1829 he was living in Newburg, Oregon.   As an orphan, he lived in Cadiz and Spiceland, Ind. with a family named Pressnal (note:   This would probably be his mother’s family.)




Children of William and Mary Lewelling, continued:

2.   JOSEPH LEWELLING


According to the descendants of Jonathan Lewallen, their father was Joseph Lewelling of Randolph County, North Carolina.   While Joseph's brother moved West, Joseph moved into South Carolina and Joseph.   He was in Pendleton (96th District) South Carolina by 1790, in Franklin County, Georgia 1805.   His first wife's name was Martha, last name unknown.   The genealogy for Jonathan was provided by John Corn)

Children:

(1)   JONATHAN LEWALLEN
Born 1794 Pendleton District, South Carolina.   Died 1872 in Hambersham County, Georgia.   Wife Sarah, last name unknown.   Children:
   A.   WILLIAM LEWALLEN
Born Feb. 1812 Georgia and died August 11, 1900.   Buried Line Baptist Church Cemetery in Banks County, Georgia.   Married Margaret Whorton March 6, 1848 in Habersham County, GA.   Children:
         a.   LURANY MARGARET (LOUISE) LEWALLEN born ca 1846 Habersham County.   Daughter Martha Elizabeth Lewallen
         b.   JESSIE G. LEWALLEN born Dec. 30, 1846 Habersham County, GA.   Died Feb. 18, 1932 Banks Co. GA.   Buried Line Baptist Church Cemetery, Banks County.   Married Louisa (Eliza) Miles born Dec. 1, 1853 Banks County.   Married 1869 Banks County.   She died 16 Jun 1927 Banks County.   Buried Line County.   Children:
             1.   Thomas Riley Lewallen born Oct. 1869
               2.   Elizabeth Lewallen born Jan. 1, 1870 GA; died Feb. 24, 1943 San Bernardino, CA.   Married Pat Westmoreland about 1863 in Georgia.
             3.   Martha Lewallen born 1872
             4.   William Ryley Lewallen born June 27, 1876 Banks Co. GA; died May 2, 1951 Banks.   Married Emma D. Nally Aug. 7, 1897 Banks County GA and (2) Lozzie Isobel Nally Mar. 15, 1920 in Winder, Barrow Co. GA.
               5.   Walter Brofford Lewallen born Feb. 22, 1880 in Banks Co. GA; died 16 June 1954 Habersham Co. GA.   Married Harriet Farmer about 1899
               6.   Dock Rolleigh Lewallen born sSept. 22, 1884 GA; died Feb. 14, 1950 Fulton Co.   Married Lola V. ?
               7.   Noah Lumpkin (Dig) Lewallen born Apr. 22, 1886 GA and died Aug. 5, 1966 Habersham Co. GA   Married Ruthie Sheridan


I have included the following as descendants in this particular family based on the fact they were from North Carolina, moved to Indiana, and the names given the descendants coincide with many of the names given to those who descend from Meshach Lewelling.   The genealogy was provided by Dora Lewellen Pile and she gave nothing to substantiate it.

(1)   JOHN L. LEWELLEN born Dec. 30, 1778.   Son:

   A.   WESLEY LEWELLEN

   NOTE:   There is some question of John L. Lewellen being a son of Joseph's because of his birth year.   IF Joseph was the son of William Lewelling, then he, himself, would have been born around 1770 so he couldn't have had a son born 1778.   He could, however, have had the following named children:

(2)   CHRISTINA LEWELLEN, born June 1792

(3)   RHODA B. LEWELLE BORN 1797

(4)   WILLIAM LEWELLEN, born   1800

(5)   MOSES LEWELLEN born Nov. 9, 1794 and died Jan. 2, 1887.   He is buried in the Lewellen Cemetery, Jennings County, Indiana.   He moved from Wake County, North Carolina, to Jennings County, Indiana.   His wife was Matilda Oliver and they married Oct. 27, 1821 Wake County.   Children:

   A.   THOMAS JEFFERSON LEWELLEN born May 7, 1829 Wake County.   Died May 24, 1899 Jennings County, Indiana and is buried in the Lewellen Cemetery

   B.   HASTINGS LEWELLEN.   Married Carolina Alloway (could I have mistyped and this should have been Calloway or ? ...bh)   Children:
         a.   HASTINGS JEFF LEWELLEN, Jr
         b.   RILEY BILL LEWELLEN
         c.   ANDERSON LEWELLING
         d.   EMMALINE M. VERMILLIAN
         e.   ROSE LILLY (married Silas Illy)
         f.   ZULA ARMOND (married Lile Armond)
         g.   ALICE CARSON.   Married John Carson and had sons Kit and Cecil
         h.   FRANCIS MARION LEWELLN, died at age 6 or 7

   C.   EMMALINE LEWELLEN married William Herring

   D.   PERMALIE LEWELLEN born 1824 North Carolina and died Sept. 24, 1897 unmarried

   E.   CHARLES MANUEL LEWELLEN died April 2, 1901.   Married (1)   Sally Sextine on May 18, 1869 at Vernon, Ind. and (2) Louise Goter.   Children:
         a.   SETH LEWELLEN born Nov. 30, 1872 and died July 1, 1942; buried Bear Creek Cemetery
         b.   LON LEWELLEN born 1875 and buried Bear Creek Cemetery

   F.   ALFRED LEWELLEN died at age 23 years

   G.   MARY A. LEWELLEN.   Born April 2, 1840 North Carolina.   Died April 24, 1914 Hope, Indiana.   Married (1) Milton Carneal and (2) Peter Costello.   No children.

   H.   HARRY SAUL LEWELLEN born Mar 14, 1842 Indiana.   Died May 7, 1919.   Buried Bear Creek Cemetery.   Married (1) Elizabeth Baird May 13, 1866 at Vernon, Indiana.   She died May 10, 18890   (2) Florence viola Rudicel on Oct. 12, 1890 at Venron, Ind.   Had 8 children by first marriage and six by second.   Children:
         a.   MENNIAL LEWELLEN born May 4, 1867; died Jan. 26, 1892
         b.   HENDERSON LEWELLEN born Oct. 17, 1869; died May 26, 1898
         c.   ELDO LEWELLEN born Mar. 25, 1872; died Jan. 2, 1892
         d.   HOMER LEWELLEN born Mar. 21, 1874; died Sept. 22, 1947.   Married (1) Hattie Wolfinger and (2) Maud Burns.   Children:   Lester Thomas (born Nov. 21, 1896 and died Jan. 20, 1969; married Verna Hedric and then Mabel Andrews.   Children:   Norma who married Noble Pervis and sons Raymond Edward (born Aug. 13, 1905 and married Grace ? and had two girls
         e.   LYDDA OLIVE LEWELLEN born Mar. 18, 1878 and died June 8, 1896, unmarried
         f.   ALVA (Jinks) LEWELLEN born Nov. 15, 1880; died Jan. 10, 1966.   Married Anne Coryelle.   Children:   Lena Emmaline, Alfred Oren, Gladys Mary, Alva Jennigns, Harry Saul and Francis Marion
         g.   CORA EMMA LEWELLEN born Oct. 15, 1855 and died Aug. 12, 1941.   Married John Samuel Howard.   Children:   Floyd Lewis, Clara Mae, Earl Edward, Ruth Margarite, Dora Jean
         h.   MARY ELIZABETH LEWELLEN born Apr 23, 1890 and died May 7, 1969.   Married (1) Hary Boody; (2) Cline Wade.   Children:   Jean Elizabeth and John Harry Boody
         i.   CLARA BELLE LEWELLEN, born June 18, 1892 Jennings Co., Ind.   Died May 13, 1967 at Bluffton, Ind.   Married George J. Steienhilber.   Children John Martin, Robert Rowland
         j.   JESSIE MAE LEWELLEN born Sept. 8, 1893 and died Oct. 5, 1906
         k.   CLARENCE WINIFIELD LEWELLEN born Sept. 9, 1895; died Oct. 27, 1936 in wyoming.   Married Mayme Shafer and had no children
         l.   RUTH LEWELLEN born June 1, 1898 Jennings Co., Ind.   Died Mar. 31, 1971.   Married (1) George L. Shafer; (2) Virgil Williams. Children with George Shafer:   Bernice, Robert Franklin, Clarence Eugene, George Jr.
         m.   HARRY NORTON LEWELLEN born Mar. 18, 1901 Westport, Ind.   Married Josephine Viola Nicholson.   children:   Harry Marvin, Alice Marjorie, Lettie Lurie, mary Louise, John Lewis, Billy Lee
         n.   DORA FLORENCE LEWELLEN born April 6, 1904 Jennings Co., Ind.   Married (1) Meredith M. Snively (2) Charles Edward West (3) Maurice Feaster Pile.   children:   Patricia Flo Snively and James David West.



3.   JONATHAN LEWELLING.
   Was living next to his father, William, in the 1790 census in Randolph County, N.C.   He isn't shown in the 1779 Randolph County Tax list; no Lewellings are shown in 1779 Randolph County other than William Lewelling.   He's listed in the 1800 census for Randolph County as well as the 1810 census.   In addition to Jonathan, there was a Thomas and Shadrach listed in that census.   The 1830 census contains the names of Jonathan, William and W. Laren Lewelling.  





4.   JEAN TURNER





5.   WILLIAM LEWELLING.
Married Temperance Chandler.   They had a son
   (1)   LEVI LLEWELLYN who married Ruth Gabbert ?) and they had a son
           A.   WILLIAM THOMAS LEWELLYN who married Martha Davison.   They had a son:
                 a.   ARCHIE LLEWELLYN who married Rosa Denson?
Is he the William listed in the 1830 census for Randolph County NC?  





6.   JOHN LEWELLING.   Listed in the 1800 census for Randolph County, N.C.





7.   THOMAS LEWELLING
(this genealogy was provided by John Corn and found on Ancestry.com)
Born 1782 Randolph County, North Carolina.   Died 1860 Columbus Twp, Bartholomew County, Indiana.   Married Temperance Dawson (Note that Thomas' brother, William is also supposed to have married a woman by the name of Temperance...bh).   She was born 1789 NC and died 1867.   They were married ca 1810.   Children:

   (1)   MARGARET J. LLEWELLYN

   (2)   MARY LLEWELLYN
           Died 1842

   (3)   WILLIAM LLEWELLYN
           Born 1813 and died 1860

   (4)   LEVI LLEWELLYN
           Born 1815 Bartholomew County, Indiana.   Died Oct. 1844 Indianapolis,
           Bartholomew County, Indiana.   On August 20, 1835 in Indianapolis, he
           married Ruth Gabbert who was born Dec. 6, 1818 Casey Co., KY and
           died June 6, 1890 Bedford County, Tennessee.   Their children were:
           A.   MELISSA ANN LLEWELLYN
               Born 1835 Indianapolis, Marion Co., Ind.   Died 1892.   Married
               William Evans, born 1832 Ohio
           B.   WILLIAM THOMAS LLEWELLYN
                 Born 1838 Indianapolis, Marion Co, Indiana.   Died April 4, 1892
                 Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama.   Married Martha Davidson
                 born 1840 Bedford Co., TN and died 1881 Lawrence Co, TN.   Married
                 Dec. 18, 1867 Bedford Co. TN.   Children:
                 a.   BERDIE LLEWELLYN born ca 1869 TN
                 b.   WILLIAM ELBERT LLEWELLYN born ca 1871 TN and died Jan.
                       29, 1947 Lauderdale, Alabama.   Married Annie M. Flynt born
                       Nov. 29, 1889 Lauderdale, AL and died April 5, 1967 Lauderdale
                       Married ca 1907
                 c.   ARCHIE F. LLEWELLYN born ca 1873 TN, wife Rosa Lee Denson,
                     had a son Jesse
                 d.   MINNIE M. LLEWELLYN born ca 1874 TN
                 e.   OLLY D. LLEWELLYN born ca 1876 TN
                 f.   LEVI B. LLEWELLYN born 1878 TN
           C.   JOHN WESLEY LLEWELLYN
                 Born June 9, 1840 Indianapolis, Marion Co. In.   Died Dec. 1904
                 in Gate, Beaver County, Oklahoma.   Married Gartha Ann Snell born
                 Dec. 30, 1847 Shelbyville, Bedford Co., TN and died May 14, 1934
                 in Gate, Beaver County, OK.   Married Feb. 16, 1870 Shelbyville,
                 Bedford Co., TN   Children
                 a.   ETTA U. LLEWELLYN born Nov. 28, 1870 Bedford Co. TN; died
                     Aug. 26, 1960 Nashville, Davidson Co. TN.   Married George
                     Washington Burns born Feb. 24, 1860 Bedford Co. TN and
                     died Feb. 16, 1929 Bradshaw, Giles Co. TN.
                 b.   GERMAN OSCAR LLEWELLYN born June 21, 1873 Bedford Co.,
                     and died Mar. 10, 1948 Liberal, Seward Co., Kansas.   Married
                       Zella Winingham about 1895   Son:   Paul H. Llewellyn born ca 1906
                       Married (2) Ethel Delila Oliphint born Mar 12, 1899.   Married Oct
                       7, 1942.
                 c.   D. B. LLEWELLYN born Aug. 10, 1875 Giles Co., TN.   Died Feb.
                       28, 1947 Englewood, Clark Co., KS.   Married Pearl Langmore born
                       Aug 26, 1879 and died Feb. 17, 1961 Gate, Beaver Co, OK.
                 d.   RUTH S. LLEWELLYN born Apr. 24, 1878 Giles Co. TN.   Died
                       Dec. 11, 1962 Englewood, Clark Co., KS.   Married Virgil Lee
                       Hamlin Sept. 6, 1900 Lincoln Co. TN
                   e.   LONNIE L. LLEWELLYN born Feb. 8, 1885 Fayetteville, Lincoln Co
                       TN.   Died Feb. 17, 1950 Knowles, Beaver Co OK   Married
                         Nora M. Benn born June 20, 1893 Lincoln Co. TN and died Aug
                         22, 1977 Beaver Co., OK.   Married Mar 5 1909 Beaver Co
           D.   SARAH JANE LLEWELLYN
                 Born April 1844 Indianapolis, Marion Co. Ind.   Died Sept. 28, 1916
                 Bedford Co. TN.   Married Nathaniel Lewis Dryden born Jan. 22, 1839
                 Bedford Co and died Feb. 18, 1916 Bedford Co.   Married Jan 22, 1867

   (2)   NOAH LLEWELLYN
           Born 1817

   (3)   POLLY LLEWELLYN born 1819








8.   SHADRACH LEWELLING,
Said to have been born 1777 Randolph Co., N. Carolina, however in 1798 when his father made his Will, neither Shadrach nor his brother Thomas was of age.   Thomas was named before Shadrach in the Will, therefore, Shadrach was probably born 1780-85.     He married Sarah Hobbs who died September 21, 1874 in Indiana.  
   In 1810 Shadrach Lewelling is listed in the Randolph County, N.C. census.   He's listed in the 1820 and 1830 census for Washington County, Indiana and apparently died between 1830 and 1840.   He and Sarah had the following children:

   (1)   JANE LEWELLING BANTA, married Jarvis P. Banta

   (2)   WILLIAM LEWELLING, born 1818, Indiana and died in Indiana 1870-80.   Wife Ruth born 1827 Indiana and both her parents were born North Carolina.
During its November 1877 term, the Supreme Court of Indiana heard a case, “The Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lewelling,” in which Western Union appealed a lower court decision in favor of William Lewelling. In the earlier case, William Lewelling had alleged that a Western Union agent had failed to deliver a proper message, delivered to him during office hours on 22 September 1874 in Salem, Indiana, which had been accompanied by payment or tender of the usual charges. The message was from William Lewelling to his sister Jane Banta, in care of T.A. Banta. It appears Jane Banta was living in Bloomington, Indiana, at the time. In the telegram, William Lewelling advised his sister Jane that their mother had died on the evening of 21 September 1874, and that she would be buried at 11 o’clock on 23 September. Jane Balta apparently never received the telegram. The draft message had been delivered to the Western Union office in Salem by farmer Josiah Diefendorf (58, who lived three miles north of Salem) at the request of William Lewelling.   In 1880 Ruth and her children were living in Washington County, Indiana with her sister-in-law, Jane Lewelling Banta.   See notes about this family following.
Children:
             A.   GEORGE F. LEWELLING, born 1856
             B.   THOMAS S. LEWELLING, born 1858
             C.   WILLIAM PENN LEWELLING, born March 1862.   Moved to Learned, Kansas.   His wife's name was Ada D. and they had two children:
                   a.   MERLE THERMOND LEWELLING.   Born August   15, 1888 and died November 11, 1918, in the War where he served as a Corporal.   “Lewelling, Merle Thurman - - - Corporal,   Son of William P. and Ada D. Lewelling; born August 15, 1888, Salem, Ind. Graduate of Northern Illinois College of Optometry. Optometrist. Entered service September 15, 1917, Kansas City, Mo. Reported as the first man from seven states to report at Camp Funston, Kan., for training. Assigned to Company E, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Overseas June 3, 1918. Killed in action 11 November 1918, Armistice Day, near Beaumont, just before crossing the Meuse River. (Burial place not known.)”
                   b.   WILBER A. LEWELLING, Born January, 1891.   On February 4, 1922, he married Coral E. Lozier in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas.   The Social Security Death Index has an entry for a Wilbur Lewelling, born 21 January 1891, who died in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, in July 1977.     The Social Security Death Index has an entry for a Cora Lewelling, born 19 September 1887, who died in Altus, Jackson County, Oklahoma, in February 1974.




9.   MARY LEWELLING




Much has been written on the William Lewelling family, particularly since they were so prominent in the nursery business and so active in their Quaker faith.   For anyone wishing to review articles on the family, reference is made to the following:
“History of Napa and Lake Counties” (California
“History of rural Alameda County, California,” Vol 1, pages 316-320
“History of Henry County, Iowa.”   Chicago:   Western Historical County 1879, page 571
“Alta California” newspaper, article of 9/18/1860, page 1; 5/5/1872
Oakland Tribune newspaper 10/11/1970
San Francisco Call newspaper of 9/4/1900
“History of Alameda County” 1876, pages 130, 144, 145, 158,338
“California Blue Book” (1907), page 600
“The Bay of San Francisco,” pages 68 and 69
“Who Was Who In America 1847-1942”
San Francisco Examiner newspaper, Dec. 30, 1883
“St. Helena Star” newspaper, page 1, May 12, 1939
“Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy for No. Car” page 724
“Extract from a History of N.C. Yearly Meeting” page 176
A brochure entitled “Commemorative Tree Planting April 13, 1969.   The Lewelling Quaker Shrine Inc. Pioneer Nursery.   The Quakers and Underground Railroad, Salem, Iowa”
“The Milwaukie Review” newspaper, August 1928
“The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography” pages 346-347, page 82
The Pioneer Record file at the California State Library
“San Jose Weekly Mercury” newspaper Jan. 2, 1879
“Dictionary of American Biography” Vol XI page 204
“Oregon Historical Quarterly”
“The Iowa Journal of History and Politics” published by the State Historical Society of Iowa City, Iowa, Vol 27 (1929)
Seth Lewelling made a journal March 23, 1850 –  Sept. 10, 1852.   Excerpts have been typed and a copy is on file with the Calif. State Library
“Beacon” newspaper
“The Livermore Herald” Mar. 26, 1926
Sacramento Bee newspaper


-----------------


WILL OF WILLIAM LEWELLING, Randolph County, N.C.

“North Carolina, Randolph County.   Bee it known to all men that I William Lewelling of the aforesaid being in a perfect mind and Memory thanks be to god for it there fore knowing that it is once appointed for all Men once to dy and the time when an sartain as touching such Worly Estate whar with it hath pleased god to Bless me with in this Life I give and Dismiss and Dispos of in the following Manner and form.
“First My Will is that all my just Debts shall be paid and 2ly I give to my Dear Wife Mary Lewelling my house and plantation and two horse beasts and my plantation hulls and 3 cows and five sheep and as manny hogs as she wants and two feather beds and furnetur and all my house hold property to be for her soport while she lives a widow and if she marrys nothing to remain hirs but one feather bed and furnitur one horse beast and hir saddle and one cow and calf and all the rest to be for the youse of the fore youngest children and the plantation to be rented and kept for them till they come of age and 3ly I leve five shillings to my son Joseph Lewelling, 4ly I leve to my son Jonathan Lewelling five shillings and 5ly my son William Lewelling I give one hundred acres of land beginning on Margret Belfours Line and runing south to a corner from thence West to the Long Branch on scarlots line thence down the Long Branch to the mouth of the first Branch   thence to Margret Belfours Corner. 6ly I give to my son John Lewelling Fifty Acres of land lying between Samuel Alexanders line and John scarlots line. 7ly I give to my daughter Jean Turner five shillings and 8ly I want the two hundred acres I know liv on equally devided between Thomas Lewelling and Shadrick Lewelling and Mashack Lewelling when they come of age and each of them one horse beast and saddle if to be had out of my estate and 9ly to my daughter Mary Lewelling I give one feather bed and furniture and one horse beast and saddle if it to be rasid out of my estate and some of my house hold ware and Lastly I nominate and appoint my dear wife Mary Lewelling and son Jonathan Lewelling and son John Lewelling My Executors to my Last Will and Testament and I do hereby utterly disalow all and every other Will and testament requests Executors by me in any before this time by me Naimed Willed and Rattifiing and confirming this and no other to be or contain my last Will and testament in witness Whoreoff I have hereunto set My hand and Seal this 7th day of May 1798 signed and sealed in the presents of us.  
William Lewelling (Seal)
Elisha Hobbs, Barnabas Hobbs, Joseph Newby, Richard Hutton



----------------------




1840 Census for Henry County Iowa shows:
WILLIAM LEWALLING, 1 male under 5, 1 male 20-30, 2 females under 5, 1 female 20-30
HENDERSON LEWALLING, 1 male 5-10 years, 1 male 10-15 years, 1 male 30-40 years, 2 females under 5, 2 females 5-10, 1 female 20-30
JOHN LEWALLING, 2 males under 5, 1 male 20-30, 1 female 5-10, 1 female 20-30



Quaker Records Indiana Yearly Meeting Duck Creek M.M. Marriages (Henry County) shows:
Meshach Lewelling, son of William and Mary (dead) married Margaret Williams, daughter of James and Julia Ann (dead) 27 July 1837

Henry County Census shows:
1820 –  Meshach Lewellen
1830 –  Meshach Lewellin
1850 –  No Lewellens



“History of Wayne County, Indiana”, Vol. 2, page 396:
“The Early settlers of the southeastern part of the township (Franklin) were:   Micajah Jones from N.C. on Section 33; John Simmons, Thomas Fisher on the same section; Joseph Brown from Pa. John Venard, Edward B. Hunt from N.C.; Elijah Mundin, Mesheck Llewellyn, on a farm afterwards owned by William Starbuck; Paul Swain from N.C.; Benjamin Harris and William Starbuck from N.C.; Jonathan Grave from Del. aNd John P. Thomas on the south line where his son now owns.   He is nto listed among the early Quakerks.”

(This township is in the northeastern corner of Wayne County, the State of Ohio adjoining it on the east and Randolph County on the north.   It was formed from a portion of New Gardin in May 1834.

Quaker Records (also see Virginia and Pennsylvania records) show:
New Garden MM, Waney Co., Ind. Set off from Whitewater MM and first held 18 Mar. 1815 encompassed the northern part of Wayne County.   New Garden is one mile south of Fountain City; was first settled in 1809.
6-19-1819 Lewallen, Meshack, recf Whitewater MM
Whitewatter MM, Wayne Co., Ind. Set off from West Branch MM, Ohio and first held on 30 Oct. 1809.   This was the first MM to be established in what was then Indian Territory.   The eastern limits of Whitewater MM extended into Ohio.
3-28-1812 –  Meshach Lewellin rec. in mbrp
6-28-1817 –  Meshack Lewellin r con his telling untruths
5-29-1819 –  Meshack (Lewallen) got New Garden MM
9-14-1888(?) –  Cert rec for Meshack (Lewallin) and sons Henry, Henderson, John, Seth and William from Back Creek MM N.C.; and to West Grove MM (West Grove MM was held in Wayne Co., Ind.; est. 1818.)


Randolph County –
Alfred Lewelling, born about 1796 married Rachel Williams, born about 1800



There is a Lewelling Quaker House in Salem, Iowa, ticket office of The Underground Railroad.   I have an old, old brochure stating it's open April through October, Sunday 1-5; weekdays by appointment.   Costs at that time for tours were 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for school children.   The brochure reads:

"Once known as the ticket office of the underground railroad, the Lewelling Quaker House of Salem, Iowa, contains grim reminders of the Quakers anti-slavery movement, such as slave leg-iorns hanging in the kitchen, and several hiding places for the runaways who were feeing from the evils of slavery.

"the first recorded incidence of slave arrest in Salem dates from 1838-39, before the building of the Stone House.   In 1837, Henderson Lewelling and his brothers John and William, with their families moved to the Salem area from Indiana.   Operating a nursery and general store, the devout Quaker brothers were undoubtedly appalled at the enslavement of the blacks, and aware that one of the escape routes from Missouri was through the Salem area.   When Henderson built his stone house, which was completed between 1840 and 1845, he intended it to be a refuge.   A trap door in the kitchen, plus numerous other closets and cubbyholes were designed to thwart the slaveowners looking for their lost slaves.

"At one time, so the story goes, a Missouri slaver set a cannon before the Lewelling Stone House; another time he brought a small army intent on destroying the town.   Neither of the scare tactics were fruitful, and the slaver returned home empty-handed.   the same man, in 1848, sued nineteen men of Salem for $10,000 for their part in the flight of his 'chattels.'

"Henderson Lewelling was not alone in his slave-saving venture, and it is claimed that more runaways were helped through Salem than any other Iowa station on the underground railroad.

"...William Lewelling built a frame house, later known as the Gibson House, about three blocks east of the Stone House.   It had a tunnel running out from the cellar and many have claimed it once connected with the Stone House as part of the railroad.   the Gibson House no longer stands, and the tunnel has long been filled.  

"Duvall Henderson, a Salem merchant, built a large two-story brick house at the southeast coerner of the park, which became another of the Salem hide-aways for the slaves.   Across the street from Henderson was the 'Bee Hive.'   So-called because of the great amount of activity centered there during the anti-slavery period. this home has a unique arrangement by which a floor in one of the first floor rooms could be lifted by a wheel and rope in the attic, opening the secret cellar hideaway.   The wheel is still in place in the building, but the movable floor has been replaced....".

"...Henderson Lewelling and his family left Salem in 1847, transporting by ox cart about 700 small trees and shrubs, to settle near Milwaukie, Oregon.   There the man who became known as the father of the West Coast fruit industry cleared land for his orchards, planting the first grafted fruit stock on the Pacific Coast....."


Seth Lewelling made a journal March 23, 1850 - September 10, 1852.   Excerpts from the journal have been typed and a copy is on file with the California State Library.   On page 33, there is a note "(There then follows a written ink and in a handwriting other than that of the journal, a group of poems:   THE DYING CALIFORNIAN signed E. Luelling:   THE WANDERER signed E. Luelling:   THE OREGON SONGUnsigned..."   "...(then follow some pages of childish drawings and scribbling bearing variously the names 'Alice Luelling', 'Wm Lewelling', 'Mr. Moor,' 'Margret Beeny', 'Elisha E.D. Lewelling', 'Mary Tonner, Milwaukie Ogn').
   "(There appear these written in indelible pencil:)   Henderson & Phebe went back to the States in the Fall of 1851 and Clarrissa & the children Elva Addie & Alice came back with them.   They had a hard trip by water were 3 months on the way detained one month at Panama & 12 days at Sanfrancisco arrived in Portland the 22nd of March 1852.
   "I was born in North Carolina Randolph Co March 6th 1820.   Father moved to Indiana 1822.   Clarrissa was born in Henry Co. Indiana Mar. 26, 1826."
   Page 34:
   "It is reported that Henderson and Seth had some differences at one time, which led to H. spelling the surname Luelling while Seth rendered it Lewelling.
   "Mrs. Herman O. Ledding of 2105 Harrison St., Milwaukie, Oregon, is owner of the journal from which all the foregoing is transcribed.   She states that Henderson and John were the eldest children of Meshach Luelling by his first wife; that Seth and others were issue of a subsequent marriage; that H and J had the advantage of college education (probably in North Carolina) while Seth and others did not.   Could be accounted for by pioneer state of life in Indiana in those years..."


Sacramento Bee", October 31, 1951:   (Obituary)     "In St. Helena, Napa County, October 25, 1951, Mrs. Annie Lewelling, mother of Mrs. Ethel Taplin, Mrs. Mabel Johnson, Lester Lewelling, Raymond Lewelling, all of St. Helena, sister of Mrs. Marie Huntington of Stockton, San Joaquin County; a native of White Sulphur Springs, aged 85 years.   Funeral services were held Oct. 27, 1951, in St. Helena."
"St. Helena Star" of Nov. 1944     "1883.   John Lewelling died on Christmas morning, at the age of 73 years.   He had arrived in California in January of 1854, planted a large orchard of one hundred acres, mostly in cherries, at San Lorenzo, and came to St. Helena in 1864.   He bought the Murray place of four hundred acres adjoining town, planted a vineyard and built a home.   For many years he was president of the Grangers Bank of California.   An outstanding leader of the community, he was active in local enterprises, in particular the Grangers and viticulture associations."
The following information was given to me by Mrs. Mable Lewelling Johnson, as well as the one immediately above.     "Henderson Luelling's Wife.   From the brown folder of Jane Lewelling's records.   Elizabeth Presnall, b. April 8, 1815.   d. March 7, 1851.   In 1825 she moved to Indiana with her parents and settled at Newcastle at the same time the Lewellings came north, traveling with ox teams and covered wagons over Cumberland and other mountain ranges and unbridged streams.
   "At ten years of age, married to Henderson.   When fifteen moved to Iowa in 1837 - a good team of young mares on that trip instead of oxen.   Ten years there with five more children to love and work for.   Then the long toilsome journey across the plains in 1847.   Her youngest son born in a camp a few days after their arrival in Oregon.   No wonder she laid down her life at the age of 36 years, in a land so many weary miles from where she was born.   She was a very pretty woman, fair complexion, blue eyes, and wavy brown hair, almost auburn, very beautiful. A wise, loving mother."
(NOTE:   Surely I made a typo when I wrote that she married at ten years of age...billie)


History
Hayward, Ca.

   William Meek, planner and builder of Meek Mansion, was one of the first pioneers of commercial agriculture in Alameda County. From his arrival in 1859 to his death in 1880, Meek worked energetically to develop the fertile agricultural region lying in and around Eden Township.
   Born in 1817, Meek grew up in Ohio and Iowa. Following the tragic death of his young wife and two sons in 1847, Meek left home and emigrated to Oregon. He established a nursery in the Williamette River Valley with Henderson Lewelling and began shipping trees and fruit to California. Meek received fabulous prices for his goods from the lucrative San Francisco Bay Area Market. In 1859 Meek decided to sell his holdings in Oregon and relocate to Alameda County.
   By 1869, when the Meek Mansion was built, Meek had acquired some 3000 acres, most of which were former grounds of the Lorenzo Spanish land grant held by Soto. Meek's estate included all of the land from what is now Mission Blvd. to Hesparian Blvd. to just past Winton Ave. His former partner, Lewelling, purchased adjoining land to the north. These properties became known as "Cherryland" because of the many cherry trees planted by Meek. The trees had been carried from Iowa by wagon train, and they were the first grafted fruit trees to reach the Pacific Coast. Meek also had extensive apricot, plum and almond orchards.
   In addition to his distinction as the "first farmer" of Alameda County, William Meek was known for his participation in all facets of life in early Alameda County. He was elected County Supervisor for four terms, beginning in 1862. Meek organized Hayward's first Agricultural Society, which chose him as its president in 1867. Meek was a member of the first board of trustees of Mills College and was active in many other community services.
   After Meek's death in 1880, the estate was left to his sons, Horry and William, who continued to manage the property for many years. Horry Meek was distinguished as the president of the Bank of Hayward, while William Meek headed the firm that built the first electric car line from Oakland to Hayward in 1892.
   The Meek Estate remained in the Meek family until 1940, although most of the 3000 acres were sold gradually in small parcels. In 1940 Dr. Milton P. Ream purchased the last 10 acrs and the mansion. In 1964 the mansion was slated to be razed in preparation for a housing development. The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, with citizen backing, bought the estate. In 1973 Meek Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. For a number of years the mansion was available to the public for rental for parties and wedding receptions. However, over-use and the need for greater supervision caused H.A.R.D. to discontinue the rental policy.
   The Carriage House restoration was completed in 1995. In May 1996, H.A.R.D. approved funds for architectural planning for restoration of the mansion

(the above was found on the internet in the Meek section of GenForum, I believe...bh)



An article appeared in the "Beacon" on March 4, 1936, with the caption "In Honor of Ex-Gov. Lewelling.   Yesterday.   His Funeral Tomorrow.   Body Will Arrive Here This Morning at 11:05."

the article reads in part:

"An escort of Knights Templar from the Olivet commandery here went to Arkansas City last night and will bring the body of Ex-Governor Lewelling to Wichita on the morning Santa Fe train at 11:05 today.   The body will lie in state today and the funeral will occur at 10:o'clock Thursday morning, in charge of the Knights Templar.   The escort sent to Arkansas City last night consisted of Major Bristow, W. J. Frazier and Oscar Barnes.

"The news of the governor's death brought genuine regret to every citizen of Wichita and Kansas generally.   Whatever political enemies he may have had, everybody who knew him personally was a warm personal friend.   He was of a gential, good nature, quick to forget a wrong and the last to become ill-humored.

"Was His Last Dollar.   He was unselfish.   One day last July, as he turned the corner at Market and Douglas, by Herman & Hess' clothing store, he saw a woman on the opposite corner holding a child in her arms and in one hand a cup for public charity.   He walked probably ten steps up Market, then turned around, walked across to the beggar and dropped a dollar into the cup and hurried away.   A friend remarked 'Governor, you took a great deal of trouble to give up that dollar.'   'Oh, not much,' he said.   'the trouble is to come yet.   That dollar is the last one I had and I'll have to do without stogies for two days now.   It's awfully not to keep that child there in the sun and now that the mother has a dollar, maybe she'll take the baby in.'

"He was suspecfiable to any kind of plea for help from anyone at any time.   He nver could learn that there are imposters, men who had harrowing tales of want for a chance to steal, or men who misrepresented the truth for some advantage with him...

"...His ancestors came from Wales, the name in that country having been spelled 'Llewellyn'.   His father, William Lewelling, was a minister of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and died in Indiana in 1843 while engaged in missionary work in that state.   The mother was accidentally burned to death in work in 1855, after which Lorenzo for a time made his home with an older sister.

"At the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, he enlisted in an Iowa regiment.   This was contrary to the religious tenets of the Friends, and the fact that he was not of legal age enabled his relatives to secure his discharge.   However, he was with the quartermaster's department for some time, and later was employed with a government bridge building corps about Chattanooga, Tenn.   In 1865, just after the close of the war, he taught a Negro school, under guard, at Mexico, Mo., being employed for that purpose by the Freedmen's Aid Society.

"Then, after attending a business college at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for a short time, he worked as a tow-path boy on the Erie Canal; as a carpenter in Toledo, Ohio; as a section hand and bridgebuilder for several railroad companies, after which he returned to his native town and entered Whittier College, where he graduated about 1868.

"On finishing his schooling, he became a teacher in the Iowa state reform school.

"On April 18, 1870, he married Miss Angeline M. Cook, a teacher of Red Oak, Iowa.   In 1872 he was made superintendent of the girls department of the reform school, his wife at the same time being appointed matron; and this position he held for 14 years.   He then spent about two years in founding and editing the Des Moines Capital, an 'anti-ring' Republican newspaper, at the end of which time he returned to the reform school.   His wife died while matron of that institution, leaving three daughters, and subsequently Mr. Lewelling married Miss Ida Bishop.   In 1887 he removed to Wichita, where he engaged in business.

"While in Iowa, Mr. Lewelling held several positions of trust and responsibility.   He was several times a delegate to the national congress of charities; was one of the Board of Directors of the state normal school, and was president of the board at the time of his removal to Kansas...

"...state convention of that year was held in Wichita and Mr. Lewelling appeared as a private citizen to welcome the delegates to the city.   W. J. Costigan, an intimate friend of Governor Lewelling, says:   'Up to that hour scarcely a delegate in that convention had ever seen or heard of him.   His address stirred the convention to its inmost fiber, and within the next 24 hours he was its candidate for governor.'   The Democrats endorsed his candidacy and he was elected.

"In 1894 he was renominated, but the platform declared in favor of woman suffrage, which alienated Democratic support and this, together with the recollections of the stormy scenes attending the opening days of his administration, encompassed his defeat.   In 1896 he was a delegate to the Populist national convention that nomated Bryan and Watson, and the same year was elected to the Kansas state senate, which office he held at the time of his death.   He died of heart disease at Arkansas City, Kas. on September 3, 1900."



Iowa Journal of History
Volume 27 October, 1929 No. 4




THE LEWELLING FAMILY—PIONEERS

The pioneers of Iowa were possessed of unusual courage and self reliance. There was no place among them for the weak and timid. Among the pioneers who gathered their belongings into covered wagons and traveled for hundreds of miles into an unknown land was Henderson Lewelling and family who came from Indiana to Iowa in 1837, and in the southern part of the town of Salem in Henry County a large substantial two-story stone dwelling still stands as a monument to the energy and enterprise of this man.
Henderson Lewelling, a skilled nurseryman, was soon supplying southeastern Iowa with the choicest of trees and vines. After ten busy years in Iowa, he again assumed the role of an adventurous pioneer and moved to Oregon where in his zeal as a nurseryman he helped lay the foundations for the great fruit industry of the Pacific northwest.
The Lewelling family originated in Wales and early history speaks of the members of this family as noted and powerful lords of the kingdom. They were a sturdy, independent clan who successfully resisted the progress of the Roman legions at the time of the Roman invasion, and in later days fought against the tyranny of the English kings.
At just what date the Lewelling family emigrated to America is not known, but there are traditions of the family in America for several generations prior to any recorded history of their activities. When the record of the Lewellings begins in North Carolina they were not like the chivalrous and warlike clans of Wales. Although they possessed many of the characteristics of noblemen, like William Penn, they had been converted to the peaceful ways of the Society of Friends or Quakers, and were living according to the tenets of that benevolent society. The grandfather of Henderson Lewelling was said to have been a pious, God-fearing man, well versed in Biblical literature. He named his three sons Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. Meshack was the father of Henderson Lewelling, the Salem pioneer.
Meshack Lewelling was a practicing physician and a professional nurseryman; at the same time he also engaged in general farming. He rode on horseback to visit his patients and carried his remedies in his saddle bags as was the custom in those days. What the occupation of Meshack's ancestors was is not recorded, but it is believed that they were nurserymen for several generations. The Lewellings were located in Randolph County, North Carolina, which is in the southwestern part of the State. Many of the finest apples in the world are now being shipped to various markets from this locality, and doubtless the foundation stock of these orchards came from the Lewelling nurseries.
In 1825, Meshack Lewelling and a number of his neighbors, attracted by the glowing reports of the country in Indiana, disposed of their holdings in North Carolina and started on the long and dangerous trail over the mountains and through the Cumberland gap to the promised land of Indiana. Contrary to the general rule among the Quakers, Meshack Lewelling was a holder of slaves. When he sold the rest of his property in North Carolina, instead of selling his human chattels, he took them with him to Indiana and set them free. Another member of the family inherited two slave children in Louisiana. He went to that State, obtained possession of his human property, took them with him to Indiana, and gave them their liberty. These acts were consistent with the traditions and spirit of the Lewellings.
When Meshack Lewelling arrived in Indiana, he purchased land, started in the nursery business, and resumed the practice of medicine, which he followed to the end of his career. Henderson Lewelling was sixteen years of age when he arrived in Indiana with his family. He assisted on his father's farm and in the nursery for several years. On December 30,1830, at the age of 22, he married Miss Elizabeth Presnell, who came from North Carolina and was also a Quaker. He established a home of his own and in 1835 he and his brother John, who owned adjoining land, went into the nursery business together. Shortly after this the brothers heard glowing accounts of the Black Hawk Purchase in Iowa. Ever alert for something better, Henderson Lewelling determined to move to Iowa. This change was made in 1837 and he and his brother John secured land near the new town of Salem and opened up a nursery there. John continued the business in Indiana, while Henderson operated the Salem enterprise. The joint enterprise thus continued until 1841 when John disposed of their interests in Indiana and joined his brother at Salem. Here the business prospered. The country was rapidly being settled by the home building Quakers, and other citizens of like character who planted large orchards of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and fruit shrubs. Almost every homestead in the southern part of Henry County and the northern part of Lee County was bountifully supplied with fruit trees from the Lewelling nurseries.
The Lewellings were conscientious men, who took pride in their business, and during the ten years that Henderson Lewelling operated a nursery in Salem, he made fourteen trips to Indiana and the nurseries of the East to secure the finest fruit trees and plants then-known to the science of horticulture.
As the result of the work of the Lewellings, almost every homestead within a radius of many miles of Salem had in a few years an orchard filled with the choicest varieties of apples and other fruits. So abundant was the apple crop of this section, that the local market could not absorb the yield. Fortunately other markets were not too far away to be reached by ordinary wagon traffic. The hauling of apples became a regular business for teamsters from August to the freezing weather of winter. As soon as the summer apples began to ripen, the roads would be lined with covered wagons hauling the fruit to Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Newton, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, and intermediate points. Thus the fruit grower had a good market for his product, and the teamster an opportunity to engage in a profitable business.
After the coming of Henderson and John Lewelling to Iowa, other members of the family followed. An older brother, William, settled in Salem and engaged in teaching. He was a preacher among the Quakers and a public speaker of great merit. A nephew, Jehu Lewelling, and a niece, Jane Lewelling Votaw, also came to Salem. Jehu was a Baptist minister, and Jane Votaw was a preacher for the Quakers.
The Lewellings became opponents of the institution of slavery, as were many members of the Society of Friends. The controlling body of the church was too indifferent to the demands of the anti-slavery element, and a separation in the church took place, caused by the difference of views on the attitude which the church should adopt on the slavery question. The new branch of the church was called the Anti-slavery Friends. The Lewellings were prominent leaders of this group. A branch of the new church was established in Salem, and Henderson Lewelling sat as head of the meeting.
William Lewelling, the older brother, was also a powerful advocate of the abolition of slavery. While in Indiana, engaged in lecturing on his constant theme, he was taken ill. He arose from a sick bed to fill an engagement. It is alleged that he addressed the audience with great power and energy, after which he immediately took to his bed from which he never arose. William Lewelling left a family of small children who were reared by the widow and relatives. The youngest son, Lorenzo Dow Lewelling, became one of the most illustrious members of the family. After a severe struggle for an education, and a short career in the army, he became a teacher in Whittier College at Salem. He was a reader of great ability. His powers of elocution and impersonation were unusual, and he was in great demand at all literary entertainments. His friends believed that if he had gone upon the stage he would have become a great actor; but having been reared in the Society of Friends, a career upon the stage was unthinkable.
The writer was a friend of Lorenzo Lewelling, and assisted him in many of his endeavors. Like most men of distinction, he met with many amusing incidents in his career. On one occasion we were giving an entertainment at a country church in the vicinity of Salem. The audience was large and appreciative. Lewelling was reciting a pathetic poem entitled "The Wounded Soldier" in which the attitude of the wounded during the battle was vividly portrayed. He was rendering this with wonderful skill and had produced a profound impression on the audience. When he reached the stanza which reads, "Raise me up, comrades, we have conquered I know, up, up, on my feet with my face to the foe", Lewelling unwittingly transposed a sentence, and rendered it thus, "Raise me up, comrades, we have conquered I know, up—up on my face with feet to the foe". No one saw the error quicker than he, but it was too late. The ridiculous attitude of the wounded was too much for the audience, and all the pathetic effect of the speaker was lost in a gale of laughter.
Later he was appointed superintendent of the girls' department of the State reform school. He held this position for several years, and then moved to Wichita, Kansas. During the Populist uprising in 1892, he was elected Governor of the State, and served in this capacity with great distinction. L. D. Lewelling would doubtless have had a brilliant career, but in the height of his triumphs, he died.
During the time that Henderson Lewelling engaged in the nursery business at Salem, he prospered, and acquired an adequate competence. He built the stone dwelling, already mentioned, and was a leading and influential citizen of the community. But this was not enough. He had read with deep interest accounts of the travels of Lewis and Clark in the Oregon country and of the later expeditions of John C. Fremont, and emigrants' reports of the wonders of the Willamette Valley. As early as 1845 he determined to go to Oregon. He began to dispose of his property with the thought of starting the following year, but not being able to close out his business until the season was-too far advanced, the starting was postponed until the following spring.
The writer's father, Joel C. Garretson, was a warm personal friend of Henderson Lewelling. They had worked together in the anti-slavery cause, and both had suffered the abuse heaped upon the abolitionists of that period. When Garretson learned of Lewelling's intention of going on the Oregon trip, he went to him and told him, in the way of mild reproach, that he thought that a man who had prospered as he had, and surrounded himself with so many of the comforts and luxuries of life, should be content to remain in his present situation. Lewelling replied in that plain deliberate fashion, peculiar to the Quaker, "Well, Joel, it makes no difference how much a man has around him if he is not satisfied he will go off and leave it." His face was set toward the West, and no argument or persuasion would avail. The time of starting was delayed by circumstances, but his mind was firmly fixed. It was during this period of delay that Lewelling conceived the idea of carrying living grafted fruit trees to the Willamette Valley, and the Pacific coast. The following account of the preparation for this enterprise has been related by his son, Alfred Lewelling.
"When the next spring came, he (Henderson Lewelling) had secured the cooperation of a neighbor John Fisher for the prosecution of his plans to take the fruit trees. They had procured a stout wagon and made two boxes twelve inches deep and of sufficient length and breadth, that set in the wagon box side by side they filled it full. These boxes were filled with a compost consisting principally of charcoal and earth, into which about 700 trees and shrubs, embracing most, if not all of the best varieties in cultivation in that section of the country were planted. The trees were from twenty inches to four feet high and protected from stock by light stripe of hickory bolted to posts set in staples on the wagon box. Three yoke of good cattle drew that wagon, and all other arrangements being completed we started on the 17th day of April, and traveled about fifteen miles a day through the southwestern part of Iowa and northwestern Missouri, reaching the Missouri river ten miles above St. Joseph on the 17th day of May. Our train thus far consisted of three wagons for our family and goods, one for Mr. Fisher's family, two for the Nathan Hocket family, and the nursery making seven wagons in all." Soon after crossing the Missouri River, the Salem expedition joined a train commanded by a Captain Whitcomb, and traveled with it for several days, but this organization soon dissolved, and the Lewellings joined Captain John Bonser's part of the train, and traveled with it to the Platte River, where Mr. Fisher died. His death was a severe blow to the enterprise as Mr. Fisher had agreed to assist in caring for the nursery. Mr. Lewelling now had charge of the nursery wagon, and decided to carry it through in his own way and time, as he had already been criticized by some of his friends for attempting to haul that heavy load across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains. The trees had to be watered every day if possible, and thus the maximum weight of the load remained the same throughout the entire journey.
To all who sought to persuade him to abandon his "traveling nursery" Lewelling invariably replied that as long as it did not endanger the health and life of his family he would stick to his fruit trees. The following note from Alfred Lewelling will illustrate the firm and determined character of the man who was promoting this enterprise: "The last time I recollect any one trying to discourage him about the nursery wagon was on North Platte. The Rev. Mr. White suggested that it would be better for him to leave it as the cattle were becoming weary and foot sore, and that the continued weight of that load would kill all of his cattle and prevent him from getting through. Father's answer was such an emphatic 'No' that he was allowed to follow his own course after that without much remonstrance".
After this Lewelling decided it was best for the Salem group to travel alone or nearly so rather than in large companies. Subsequent events proved the wisdom of this decision. The story of the trip across the mountains has been related by his son as follows: "Instead of standing guard at night, we put bells on the cattle and watched them evenings until they had fed and would lie down, and father would invariably hear the first tinkle of the bell in the morning. "I have no doubt that father devoted himself to the enterprise with as much watchfulness as any man that crossed the plains that year.
"After losing two oxen on the Sweetwater River, one by poison and the other by inflammation caused by sore feet, we traveled pretty much alone; and our cattle began to improve, as two of the loads, being largely provisions and feed, were becoming perceptibly lighter.
"After passing over the great back bone of the continent at Pacific Springs, we crossed the desert to Green River, thence via Hams Fork to Bear River, passing Soda Springs and crossing the lava beds or volcanic district, we passed Hot Springs and over the Portneuf Mountains to Fort Hall. Then down through the sandy sage brush plains, crossing the Snake River twice, and through the Malheur and Powder River valleys, then through the Grande Ronde valley and over the Blue Mountains to the Umatilla River.
"Here we met Dr. Marcus Whitman who piloted us over by way of Birch and Butter Creeks and Well Springs to Rock Creek.
"There we changed the fruit trees to a lighter and better running wagon, by removing the two small boxes, and left the heavy wagon, doubling the teams in such a way that enabled us to get along quite comfortably, and thus to continue our journey, reaching the Dalles about the first of October. I do not remember the exact date.
"There father joined with others and constructed two boats to bring the wagons and other goods, as well as their several families, down to the Willamette Valley.
"The boats were completed, loaded and started down the Columbia River, about the first of November. They went down as far as Wind River, where they were unloaded and used to ferry our cattle and horses across to the north side of the Columbia River, then reloaded and taken to the Upper Cascades, again the boats were unloaded and the wagons set up and hauled to the Lower Cascades. The boats having been turned adrift at the Upper Cascades went bumping and tossing down the scathing current and were captured below. (As the Salem expedition carried no row boats, it has been suggested by later writers that Indians with their canoes were employed to capture the heavy barges.)
"At the Lower Cascades the boats were reloaded and worked down the Columbia River to a point opposite Fort Vancouver, reaching there the 17th day of November, just seven months from the day of starting. Those of us who drove the cattle down the trail did not get there until the 20th of November.
"The fruit trees were taken out of the boxes when the boats were ready to start from the Dalles, and carefully wrapped in cloth to protect them in the various handlings, and from the frosty nights."
Lewelling had now reached the goal of his expedition. He had arrived in the long cherished Willamette Valley with his cargo of precious trees. The story of his journey shows with what matchless energy he persevered in his enterprise, and what infinite care he bestowed upon his trees.
He next had to find a home for his family and a permanent lodgment for his traveling nursery. He spent several days exploring the country and on the 10th of December moved his family into a cabin opposite Portland, now East Portland. From here he made another survey of the valley, and finally purchased a tract of land where some clearing had been done adjoining the town site at Milwaukee.
On February 5th, he moved his family to this place and began the making of a permanent home. The land was densely covered with heavy fir trees, but by a vigorous application of the ax and torch, a clearing was soon made sufficiently large to plant the orchard and nursery. Lewelling's ambition was now fully realized. He had brought his cargo of living trees across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the Willamette Valley, the first cultivated, or grafted fruit to reach the Pacific Northwest.
About half the trees he loaded at Salem, Iowa, survived the arduous transportation, and were now securely planted in the soil of Oregon. Lewelling's fame and fortune were assured. Emigrants were rapidly pouring into the Willamette Valley and around the Puget Sound, and the demand for fruit trees was unlimited. He was in a position to supply this demand with the choicest fruit trees America could furnish. He had taken the pains to transfer to Oregon the same variety of apples that had proven so popular in Iowa. There can be but little doubt that the superior quality of the apples supplied by his nurseries established the reputation of the Oregon fruits, and helped lay the foundation of the great apple industry of Oregon and Washington. A few years ago, when the writer was touring Oregon, he was shown the locality of the original Lewelling nursery, and he found growing in that vicinity the same varieties of apples he had known when a child in his father's orchard near Salem, Iowa.
Prior to his emigration to Oregon, Henderson Lewelling had watched with great interest the controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the Oregon question. It will be remembered that the boundary line between the British possessions and this country was in dispute for many years. It was greatly feared that the controversy might result in war. The Hudson Bay Company, which was a British organization, had established forts and trapping and trading stations throughout the country, and Britain claimed possession on that ground. The claim of the United States was founded in part upon the discovery of the Columbia River by Robert Gray, an American navigator, who had sailed up the stream for many miles and had taken possession of the country in the name of the United States. A very strong element in the United States claimed that 54 degrees 40 minutes was the rightful northern boundary and raised the uncompromising slogan, "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight".
Lewelling, who like his friend, Dr. Marcus Whitman, the missionary, knew the value of the region, was a strong advocate of securing as much of the Oregon country as was possible to obtain by fair and honorable means. He was not, however, one of those who raised the cry "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight". His Quaker training led him to believe there was a better way. He was greatly pleased when the final settlement secured to our country the Puget Sound, for he believed that these waters would some day be a powerful factor in the commerce of the world. Soon after he established himself in Oregon, Lewelling formed a partnership with William Meek, a man from Bonaparte, Iowa, who had crossed the plains the same year, but not in the same train. This firm not only engaged extensively in the nursery business, but organized the Milwaukee Milling Company, and operated several saw and grist mills. At the same time they carried on several other enterprises.
When Lewelling and Meek were selling trees in all parts of Oregon and Washington, John Lewelling left Salem, Iowa, in 1850, and located in California, buying property at San Lorenzo, Alameda County. Here he started in the nursery business, obtaining his foundation stock from the Henderson Lewelling nursery, at Milwaukee, Oregon. The enterprise was successful. He reared his family here, and his descendants are occupying prominent positions throughout the State to-day.
In 1853, Henderson Lewelling sold all of his interests in Oregon to his partner William Meek, and he and his son Alfred moved to California, purchased land in Alameda County, and engaged in the fruit and nursery business. Alfred named the locality Fruitvale. Soon a large population gathered in that locality, and Fruitvale became a beautiful little city adjoining Oakland.
Henderson and Alfred Lewelling sent out from this place not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands of fruit trees all over California. Again Henderson Lewelling was in no small measure responsible for the beginning of the great fruit industry of another Pacific Coast State—an industry which has brought more wealth to California than all the gold the State has produced. Henderson Lewelling built a fine residence in Fruitvale which in later years was occupied by a Governor of the State.
After these achievements, and having acquired for himself both wealth and an enviable reputation, he seemed to have reached the limitations of his work on the Pacific Coast. But he could not be content to stand still, and look back upon past achievements. He must still press forward, and be a leader among men.
About 1858, he conceived the idea of founding a colony in Central America. He had crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1851 in his travels back and forth to the eastern States. He was much impressed by the mild climate, the cheap land, and the luxuriant growth of vegetation in that semi-tropical climate. He enlisted several others in the project, and in 1859 sold his valuable property in Fruitvale, purchased a ship and all necessary supplies, and he and his two younger sons together with his partners and their families, embarked for Honduras.
Prior to this, Lewelling had been successful in his every undertaking, but in this project he met defeat. The enterprise was a disastrous failure. He was the principal capitalist in the scheme and he lost heavily. Returning to California, he engaged in the fruit business again; but by this time he had lost his former vigor, and he never regained his former financial standing. A part of the Lewelling estate in Fruitvale was sold to a man by the name of Diamond. This tract was later donated to the city, and is now known as Diamond Park.
On February 23, 1924, a memorial meeting, sponsored by the Women's Clubs of California, was held in Diamond Park in commemoration of the great work of Luther Burbank, the plant wizard then living, and Henderson Lewelling, the nurseryman long since passed away. Appropriate speeches were made to the assembled throng, and a Sequoia or Redwood tree was planted for each of the two men and suitable tablets erected to commemorate their tinselfish work.
Prominent among the pictures hanging on the walls of the rooms of the State Historical Society of Oregon will be found the portraits of Henderson, Seth, and Alfred Lewelling, all pioneers of Iowa, who moved on to wider fields of usefulness in the undeveloped West. Other members of the family in later years followed the pioneers to the western coast. Asa Lewelling, a nephew of Henderson and a brother of L. D. Lewelling, the Governor of Kansas, was superintendent for a number of years of the boys' department of the Oregon State Reformatory. Jonathan and Jane Lewelling Votaw moved to Washington. A son, Henry L.Votaw, became postmaster of Tacoma. Another son, Moses, entered the banking business, and became a prominent citizen of the State.
How many of the original trees carried by Henderson Lewelling from Salem over the plains and mountains to Oregon still survive is difficult to ascertain. There is one tree, however, whose history has been accurately recorded and is worthy of mention here. In 1845, Lewelling planted a cherry pit which sprouted and grew. In 1846, he grafted this seedling with a Black Tartarion Scion. In 1847, he carried this tree on his seven months journey to the Willamette Valley. In the spring of 1848 this tree was planted in the soil of Oregon at Milwaukee. In 1849 the tree was sold to David Chamberlain for five dollars. Mr. Chamberlain carried the tree by canoe, down the Willamette River to the Columbia River, then down the Columbia to the mouth of the Cowlitz, thence to Cowlitz landing where Toledo now stands, thence by horseback, seventy miles to Chambers Prairie, four miles from Olympia, Washington. Here the tree was planted and it is still bearing fruit. It is an immense tree now, and three feet from the ground it measures nine feet in circumference. Its limbs have a spread of sixty feet.
George R. Haines, Curator of the Oregon State Historical Society, in speaking of this tree said: "I stood under its branches in 1853. In 1854 I ate cherries from the tree, and for many years thereafter. In 1895 it bore a crop of forty bushels of cherries. In 1920, the crop was 1200 pounds."
Moses Votaw, a great nephew of Henderson Lewelling, visited this tree in July, 1928. It was after the cherry season, but he found many dried cherries still hanging to the branches, and many dried cherries on the ground. One of the lower limbs had been removed by the saw. A measurement across the saw kerf showed that the limb had a diameter of sixteen inches. That this little cherry sprout, originating at Salem, should withstand the risks of transportation across the continent and the hazards of frequent transplanting, and still live, a towering monument to commemorate the energy and enterprise of a Salem pioneer, is to the writer a fact stranger than fiction.

O.A. GARRETSON
SALEM IOWA



------

Lorenzo Dow Lewelling's Daughter, Pauline:

A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931

JAMES ARTHUR DEVITT, a former president of the Iowa State Bar Association,
has been in practice for over thirty years at Oskaloosa, and the success of his
work and his intellectual attainments and public services were all included
in the recognition given him by his fellow members of the state bar when they
made him president of their association.

He was born at DeWitt in Clinton County, Iowa, June 1, 1872. His parents,
John and Mary (Laurent) Devitt, were natives of Ireland and settled in Clinton
County about 1852, being pioneers of this great state, and by their sturdy
character and industry won the respect and esteem of many friends. John Devitt
was a teacher and educator. Both parents did when their son James Arthur
was only two years of age.

The latter in consequence grew up in the house of relatives, spent his
boyhood in rural districts and attended country schools. Before going to the
university he taught school in Hardin County. At the University of Iowa at Iowa
City he attended the literary department and then enrolled in the law school,
from which he was graduated in June, 1897, with the degree LL. B. Mr. Devitt
put himself through college by his own efforts, having the necessary grit
and ability to grasp each opportunity for advancement as it came to him.

After his graduation he and his classmates, Walter C. Burrell, opened a law
office in Oskaloosa. Both were young men of unusual promise, and they made
rapid progress in accumulating a volume of business, becoming known as lawyers able to give their clientage sound advice and the benefit of resourceful legal minds. They became attorneys for many leading corporations, including the Minneapolis & Saint Louis Railroad Company, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company and
also counsel for several Oskaloosa companies, such as the Oskaloosa Traction & Light Company, Light & Fuel Company, People's Water Company. This firms partnership was maintained for over twenty years, finally being dissolved in 1920 when Mr. Walter C. Burrell retired. Mr. Burrell died December 8, 1921.

In addition to his law practice Mr. Devitt from time to time has assumed
public responsibilities and many interesting relationships with social and civic
affairs. He was county attorney from Mahaska County from 1900 to 1904, and
in 1913 was appointed by the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa as a member
of the Iowa State Board of Law Examiners and has served continuously on that
board for over fifteen years. Mr. Devitt is a Republican and represented the
sixth Congressional District as a member of the Republican State Central
Committee for a number of years and on different occasions has represented the
Republican party as a delegate to its national conventions. He is a
thirty-second Scottish Rite Mason, being a member of the Des Moines Consistory and also is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and B. P. O. Elks.

Mr. Devitt is a member of the American Bar Association and for a number of
years has been active in its affairs, serving as the Iowa member of the
General Council of the Association. He has been a member of the Iowa State Bar
Association since his appointment to the bar, and it was in 1923 that he was
given the honor of being elected president of the state association. He has
served that body in many capacities and for a number of years has been chairman of the American Citizenship Committee. Since locating at Oskaloosa he has been a member of the Mahaska County Bar Association and is a past president. Mr. Devitt had to make his own early opportunities, and the creditable position he has attained is a real measure of his abilities and his worthy ambition.

Mr. Devitt married, August 20, 1902, Pauline Lewelling, a daughter of former
Governor Lorenzo D. Lewelling of Kansas. To this marriage three children
have been born. The son James Lewelling Devitt recently graduated from the
University of Iowa and was admitted to the bar in June, 1929, and is now
associated with his father in practice at Oskaloosa. The daughter, Pauline Devitt,
in 1926 graduated from the Finch School for Girls in New York City, and since
leaving school has been engaged in teh theatrical and literary work in New
York City. The younger son, John Branson Devitt, is a senior in the Oskaloosa
High School. Mrs. Pauline Lewelling Devitt has been active in public work
for a number of years, having served as president of the Iowa Suffrage
Association and in 1921 was appointed by Governor N. E. Kendall as a member of the Iowa State Board of Education. Mrs. Devitt and Anne Lawther of Dubuque were the first women who ever served on this board. After a term of six years Mrs. Devitt was reappointed a member of the board in 1927.

http://www.iagenweb.org/history/index.htm
----------------------


Posting on GenForum by Clete Ramsey:

There’s information on Merle T. Lewelling in the Missouri State Archives “Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 - World War I” at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers.

MERLE T. LEWELLING
Army Serial Number: 2,184,469
Race: White
Residence: 1410 East 6th Street, Kansas City, Missouri
Inducted at: Larned, Kansas; 4 September 1917
Age at Induction: 29 years, 1 month
Place of Birth: Salem, Indiana
Service: Company E, 356th Infantry, 4 September 1917 to 11 November 1918
Grades: Cpl 6/19 [19 June1918]
Served Overseas: 4 June 1918-11 November 1918
Remarks: Killed in action 11 November 1918. Father, William Penn Lewelling, Larned, Kansas, notified.

Googling a little, I found this biographic sketch of Merle Thurman Lewelling in “Indiana World War Records -- Gold Star Honor Roll: A Record of Indiana Men and Women who died in the service of the United States and the Allied Nations in the World War (1914-1918),” published by the Indiana Historical Commission, Indianapolis, in 1921. Under Washington County, it reads:

“Lewelling, Merle Thurman - - - Corporal
Son of William P. and Ada D. Lewelling; born August 15, 1888, Salem, Ind. Graduate of Northern Illinois College of Optometry. Optometrist. Entered service September 15, 1917, Kansas City, Mo. Reported as the first man from seven states to report at Camp Funston, Kan., for training. Assigned to Company E, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Overseas June 3, 1918. Killed in action 11 November 1918, Armistice Day, near Beaumont, just before crossing the Meuse River. (Burial place not known.)”

Camp Funston was on Fort Riley, southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. It was one of sixteen Divisional Cantonment Training Camps established at the outbreak of World War I. Major General Leonard Wood, a physician who had served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1910-1914), commanded Camp Funston. The 89th Division, known as the “Middle West Division,” trained at Camp Funston. One estimate was that more men in the 89th were from Missouri than from any other state.

The 1910 census shows Merle T. Lewelling, age 11 (b. August 1888, IN), living with his parents -- farmer Wm. P. Lewelling, 38 (b. March 1862, IN), and Ada Lewelling, 32 (b. January 1865, IN), married 13 years -- and younger brother Wilber A. Lewelling, 9 (b. January 1891, IN) in the north part of Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana. Salem, Merle T. Lewelling’s reported birthplace, is the seat of Washington County.

The LDS FamilySearch Web site has an IGI Individual Record identifying the parents of William P. Lewelling as William Lewelling (1818-1880) and Ruth (Overman) Lewelling (1822-1908).

Another IGI Individual record lists the parents of the 1818-born William Lewelling as Shadrach Lewelling and Sarah (Hobbs) Lewelling.

The LDS FamilySearch Web site has an IGI Individual Record noting William P. Lewelling married Ada D. Peden in Washington County, Indiana, on 31 March 1877, a date consistent with the 1910 census information.

In 1880, William P. Lewelling was living in a Washington County household headed by his widowed mother, Ruth Lewelling:

LEWELLING Ruth Head Widowed Female White 57 IN NC NC Keeping House
LEWELLING Thomas S. Son Single Male White 22 IN IN IN Farmer
LEWELLING William P. Son Single Male White 18 IN IN IN Farm Laborer
BANTA Jane Sister-in-Law Widowed Female White 68 NC NC NC Visiting in Family
RENICK Alice Niece Single Female White 26 IN IN IN Teaching School
HOGDEN Walter Cousin Single Male White 22 MO IN IN Farm Laborer

IGI Individual Records note Jane Lewelling (b. 1812, NC), a daughter of Shadrach Lewelling and Sarah (Hobbs) Lewelling, married Jarvis P. Banta (b. ~1808, NC)

During its November 1877 term, the Supreme Court of Indiana heard a case, “The Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lewelling,” in which Western Union appealed a lower court decision in favor of William Lewelling. In the earlier case, William Lewelling had alleged that a Western Union agent had failed to deliver a proper message, delivered to him during office hours on 22 September 1874 in Salem, Indiana, which had been accompanied by payment or tender of the usual charges. The message was from William Lewelling to his sister Jane Banta, in care of T.A. Banta. It appears Jane Banta was living in Bloomington, India, at the time. In the telegram, William Lewelling advised his sister Jane that their mother had died on the evening of 21 September 1874, and that she would be buried at 11 o’clock on 23 September. Jane Balta apparently never received the telegram. The draft message had been delivered to the Western Union office in Salem by farmer Josiah Diefendorf (58, who lived three miles north of Salem) at the request of William Lewelling.

In 1870, William P. Lewelling was resident in this household in Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana:

Dwelling 384

LEWELLING William 52 Male White IN Farmer
LEWELLING Ruth 48 Female White IN Keeping House
LEWELLING George F. 14 Male White IN At Home
LEWELLING Thomas S. 12 Male White IN At Home
LEWELLING William P. 9 Male White IN At Home
LEWELLING Sarah 87 Female White NC At Home

I assume the 87-year-old Sarah Lewelling was Sarah (Hobbs) Lewelling, the widow of Shadrach Lewelling. According to William Lewelling’s telegram to his sister, she died in September 1874.

In 1880, Ada Peden was living in a Washington County household headed by her father, Charles Peden (47, b. IN). The household included, among others, Ada’s mother Rebecca Peden (42, b. IN) and brother A. Thurman Peden (12, b. IN). Perhaps the middle name Thurman in Merle Thurman Lewelling and A. Thurman Peden repeated in the Peden family?

In 1870, Ada Peden was living with her parents in the household in Dwelling 382, Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana, separated by only a household headed by Josiah Deifendorf (54, b. NY) from the household headed by the 1818-born William Lewelling.

Rooting around for information on Merle Lewelling, I found a bit about his younger brother Wilbur.

There’s a record in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, for the 4 February 1922 marriage of Wilbur A. Lewelling to Coral E. Lozier.

The Social Security Death Index has an entry for a Wilbur Lewelling, born 21 January 1891, who died in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, in July 1977.

The Social Security Death Index has an entry for a Cora Lewelling, born 19 September 1887, who died in Altus, Jackson County, Oklahoma, in February 1974.

------------------
Iowa Journal of History
Volume 27 October, 1929 No. 4




THE LEWELLING FAMILY—PIONEERS

The pioneers of Iowa were possessed of unusual courage and self reliance. There was no place among them for the weak and timid. Among the pioneers who gathered their belongings into covered wagons and traveled for hundreds of miles into an unknown land was Henderson Lewelling and family who came from Indiana to Iowa in 1837, and in the southern part of the town of Salem in Henry County a large substantial two-story stone dwelling still stands as a monument to the energy and enterprise of this man.
Henderson Lewelling, a skilled nurseryman, was soon supplying southeastern Iowa with the choicest of trees and vines. After ten busy years in Iowa, he again assumed the role of an adventurous pioneer and moved to Oregon where in his zeal as a nurseryman he helped lay the foundations for the great fruit industry of the Pacific northwest.
The Lewelling family originated in Wales and early history speaks of the members of this family as noted and powerful lords of the kingdom. They were a sturdy, independent clan who successfully resisted the progress of the Roman legions at the time of the Roman invasion, and in later days fought against the tyranny of the English kings.
At just what date the Lewelling family emigrated to America is not known, but there are traditions of the family in America for several generations prior to any recorded history of their activities. When the record of the Lewellings begins in North Carolina they were not like the chivalrous and warlike clans of Wales. Although they possessed many of the characteristics of noblemen, like William Penn, they had been converted to the peaceful ways of the Society of Friends or Quakers, and were living according to the tenets of that benevolent society. The grandfather of Henderson Lewelling was said to have been a pious, God-fearing man, well versed in Biblical literature. He named his three sons Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. Meshack was the father of Henderson Lewelling, the Salem pioneer.
Meshack Lewelling was a practicing physician and a professional nurseryman; at the same time he also engaged in general farming. He rode on horseback to visit his patients and carried his remedies in his saddle bags as was the custom in those days. What the occupation of Meshack's ancestors was is not recorded, but it is believed that they were nurserymen for several generations. The Lewellings were located in Randolph County, North Carolina, which is in the southwestern part of the State. Many of the finest apples in the world are now being shipped to various markets from this locality, and doubtless the foundation stock of these orchards came from the Lewelling nurseries.
In 1825, Meshack Lewelling and a number of his neighbors, attracted by the glowing reports of the country in Indiana, disposed of their holdings in North Carolina and started on the long and dangerous trail over the mountains and through the Cumberland gap to the promised land of Indiana. Contrary to the general rule among the Quakers, Meshack Lewelling was a holder of slaves. When he sold the rest of his property in North Carolina, instead of selling his human chattels, he took them with him to Indiana and set them free. Another member of the family inherited two slave children in Louisiana. He went to that State, obtained possession of his human property, took them with him to Indiana, and gave them their liberty. These acts were consistent with the traditions and spirit of the Lewellings.
When Meshack Lewelling arrived in Indiana, he purchased land, started in the nursery business, and resumed the practice of medicine, which he followed to the end of his career. Henderson Lewelling was sixteen years of age when he arrived in Indiana with his family. He assisted on his father's farm and in the nursery for several years. On December 30,1830, at the age of 22, he married Miss Elizabeth Presnell, who came from North Carolina and was also a Quaker. He established a home of his own and in 1835 he and his brother John, who owned adjoining land, went into the nursery business together. Shortly after this the brothers heard glowing accounts of the Black Hawk Purchase in Iowa. Ever alert for something better, Henderson Lewelling determined to move to Iowa. This change was made in 1837 and he and his brother John secured land near the new town of Salem and opened up a nursery there. John continued the business in Indiana, while Henderson operated the Salem enterprise. The joint enterprise thus continued until 1841 when John disposed of their interests in Indiana and joined his brother at Salem. Here the business prospered. The country was rapidly being settled by the home building Quakers, and other citizens of like character who planted large orchards of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and fruit shrubs. Almost every homestead in the southern part of Henry County and the northern part of Lee County was bountifully supplied with fruit trees from the Lewelling nurseries.
The Lewellings were conscientious men, who took pride in their business, and during the ten years that Henderson Lewelling operated a nursery in Salem, he made fourteen trips to Indiana and the nurseries of the East to secure the finest fruit trees and plants then-known to the science of horticulture.
As the result of the work of the Lewellings, almost every homestead within a radius of many miles of Salem had in a few years an orchard filled with the choicest varieties of apples and other fruits. So abundant was the apple crop of this section, that the local market could not absorb the yield. Fortunately other markets were not too far away to be reached by ordinary wagon traffic. The hauling of apples became a regular business for teamsters from August to the freezing weather of winter. As soon as the summer apples began to ripen, the roads would be lined with covered wagons hauling the fruit to Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Newton, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, and intermediate points. Thus the fruit grower had a good market for his product, and the teamster an opportunity to engage in a profitable business.
After the coming of Henderson and John Lewelling to Iowa, other members of the family followed. An older brother, William, settled in Salem and engaged in teaching. He was a preacher among the Quakers and a public speaker of great merit. A nephew, Jehu Lewelling, and a niece, Jane Lewelling Votaw, also came to Salem. Jehu was a Baptist minister, and Jane Votaw was a preacher for the Quakers.
The Lewellings became opponents of the institution of slavery, as were many members of the Society of Friends. The controlling body of the church was too indifferent to the demands of the anti-slavery element, and a separation in the church took place, caused by the difference of views on the attitude which the church should adopt on the slavery question. The new branch of the church was called the Anti-slavery Friends. The Lewellings were prominent leaders of this group. A branch of the new church was established in Salem, and Henderson Lewelling sat as head of the meeting.
William Lewelling, the older brother, was also a powerful advocate of the abolition of slavery. While in Indiana, engaged in lecturing on his constant theme, he was taken ill. He arose from a sick bed to fill an engagement. It is alleged that he addressed the audience with great power and energy, after which he immediately took to his bed from which he never arose. William Lewelling left a family of small children who were reared by the widow and relatives. The youngest son, Lorenzo Dow Lewelling, became one of the most illustrious members of the family. After a severe struggle for an education, and a short career in the army, he became a teacher in Whittier College at Salem. He was a reader of great ability. His powers of elocution and impersonation were unusual, and he was in great demand at all literary entertainments. His friends believed that if he had gone upon the stage he would have become a great actor; but having been reared in the Society of Friends, a career upon the stage was unthinkable.
The writer was a friend of Lorenzo Lewelling, and assisted him in many of his endeavors. Like most men of distinction, he met with many amusing incidents in his career. On one occasion we were giving an entertainment at a country church in the vicinity of Salem. The audience was large and appreciative. Lewelling was reciting a pathetic poem entitled "The Wounded Soldier" in which the attitude of the wounded during the battle was vividly portrayed. He was rendering this with wonderful skill and had produced a profound impression on the audience. When he reached the stanza which reads, "Raise me up, comrades, we have conquered I know, up, up, on my feet with my face to the foe", Lewelling unwittingly transposed a sentence, and rendered it thus, "Raise me up, comrades, we have conquered I know, up—up on my face with feet to the foe". No one saw the error quicker than he, but it was too late. The ridiculous attitude of the wounded was too much for the audience, and all the pathetic effect of the speaker was lost in a gale of laughter.
Later he was appointed superintendent of the girls' department of the State reform school. He held this position for several years, and then moved to Wichita, Kansas. During the Populist uprising in 1892, he was elected Governor of the State, and served in this capacity with great distinction. L. D. Lewelling would doubtless have had a brilliant career, but in the height of his triumphs, he died.
During the time that Henderson Lewelling engaged in the nursery business at Salem, he prospered, and acquired an adequate competence. He built the stone dwelling, already mentioned, and was a leading and influential citizen of the community. But this was not enough. He had read with deep interest accounts of the travels of Lewis and Clark in the Oregon country and of the later expeditions of John C. Fremont, and emigrants' reports of the wonders of the Willamette Valley. As early as 1845 he determined to go to Oregon. He began to dispose of his property with the thought of starting the following year, but not being able to close out his business until the season was-too far advanced, the starting was postponed until the following spring.
The writer's father, Joel C. Garretson, was a warm personal friend of Henderson Lewelling. They had worked together in the anti-slavery cause, and both had suffered the abuse heaped upon the abolitionists of that period. When Garretson learned of Lewelling's intention of going on the Oregon trip, he went to him and told him, in the way of mild reproach, that he thought that a man who had prospered as he had, and surrounded himself with so many of the comforts and luxuries of life, should be content to remain in his present situation. Lewelling replied in that plain deliberate fashion, peculiar to the Quaker, "Well, Joel, it makes no difference how much a man has around him if he is not satisfied he will go off and leave it." His face was set toward the West, and no argument or persuasion would avail. The time of starting was delayed by circumstances, but his mind was firmly fixed. It was during this period of delay that Lewelling conceived the idea of carrying living grafted fruit trees to the Willamette Valley, and the Pacific coast. The following account of the preparation for this enterprise has been related by his son, Alfred Lewelling.
"When the next spring came, he (Henderson Lewelling) had secured the cooperation of a neighbor John Fisher for the prosecution of his plans to take the fruit trees. They had procured a stout wagon and made two boxes twelve inches deep and of sufficient length and breadth, that set in the wagon box side by side they filled it full. These boxes were filled with a compost consisting principally of charcoal and earth, into which about 700 trees and shrubs, embracing most, if not all of the best varieties in cultivation in that section of the country were planted. The trees were from twenty inches to four feet high and protected from stock by light stripe of hickory bolted to posts set in staples on the wagon box. Three yoke of good cattle drew that wagon, and all other arrangements being completed we started on the 17th day of April, and traveled about fifteen miles a day through the southwestern part of Iowa and northwestern Missouri, reaching the Missouri river ten miles above St. Joseph on the 17th day of May. Our train thus far consisted of three wagons for our family and goods, one for Mr. Fisher's family, two for the Nathan Hocket family, and the nursery making seven wagons in all." Soon after crossing the Missouri River, the Salem expedition joined a train commanded by a Captain Whitcomb, and traveled with it for several days, but this organization soon dissolved, and the Lewellings joined Captain John Bonser's part of the train, and traveled with it to the Platte River, where Mr. Fisher died. His death was a severe blow to the enterprise as Mr. Fisher had agreed to assist in caring for the nursery. Mr. Lewelling now had charge of the nursery wagon, and decided to carry it through in his own way and time, as he had already been criticized by some of his friends for attempting to haul that heavy load across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains. The trees had to be watered every day if possible, and thus the maximum weight of the load remained the same throughout the entire journey.
To all who sought to persuade him to abandon his "traveling nursery" Lewelling invariably replied that as long as it did not endanger the health and life of his family he would stick to his fruit trees. The following note from Alfred Lewelling will illustrate the firm and determined character of the man who was promoting this enterprise: "The last time I recollect any one trying to discourage him about the nursery wagon was on North Platte. The Rev. Mr. White suggested that it would be better for him to leave it as the cattle were becoming weary and foot sore, and that the continued weight of that load would kill all of his cattle and prevent him from getting through. Father's answer was such an emphatic 'No' that he was allowed to follow his own course after that without much remonstrance".
After this Lewelling decided it was best for the Salem group to travel alone or nearly so rather than in large companies. Subsequent events proved the wisdom of this decision. The story of the trip across the mountains has been related by his son as follows: "Instead of standing guard at night, we put bells on the cattle and watched them evenings until they had fed and would lie down, and father would invariably hear the first tinkle of the bell in the morning. "I have no doubt that father devoted himself to the enterprise with as much watchfulness as any man that crossed the plains that year.
"After losing two oxen on the Sweetwater River, one by poison and the other by inflammation caused by sore feet, we traveled pretty much alone; and our cattle began to improve, as two of the loads, being largely provisions and feed, were becoming perceptibly lighter.
"After passing over the great back bone of the continent at Pacific Springs, we crossed the desert to Green River, thence via Hams Fork to Bear River, passing Soda Springs and crossing the lava beds or volcanic district, we passed Hot Springs and over the Portneuf Mountains to Fort Hall. Then down through the sandy sage brush plains, crossing the Snake River twice, and through the Malheur and Powder River valleys, then through the Grande Ronde valley and over the Blue Mountains to the Umatilla River.
"Here we met Dr. Marcus Whitman who piloted us over by way of Birch and Butter Creeks and Well Springs to Rock Creek.
"There we changed the fruit trees to a lighter and better running wagon, by removing the two small boxes, and left the heavy wagon, doubling the teams in such a way that enabled us to get along quite comfortably, and thus to continue our journey, reaching the Dalles about the first of October. I do not remember the exact date.
"There father joined with others and constructed two boats to bring the wagons and other goods, as well as their several families, down to the Willamette Valley.
"The boats were completed, loaded and started down the Columbia River, about the first of November. They went down as far as Wind River, where they were unloaded and used to ferry our cattle and horses across to the north side of the Columbia River, then reloaded and taken to the Upper Cascades, again the boats were unloaded and the wagons set up and hauled to the Lower Cascades. The boats having been turned adrift at the Upper Cascades went bumping and tossing down the scathing current and were captured below. (As the Salem expedition carried no row boats, it has been suggested by later writers that Indians with their canoes were employed to capture the heavy barges.)
"At the Lower Cascades the boats were reloaded and worked down the Columbia River to a point opposite Fort Vancouver, reaching there the 17th day of November, just seven months from the day of starting. Those of us who drove the cattle down the trail did not get there until the 20th of November.
"The fruit trees were taken out of the boxes when the boats were ready to start from the Dalles, and carefully wrapped in cloth to protect them in the various handlings, and from the frosty nights."
Lewelling had now reached the goal of his expedition. He had arrived in the long cherished Willamette Valley with his cargo of precious trees. The story of his journey shows with what matchless energy he persevered in his enterprise, and what infinite care he bestowed upon his trees.
He next had to find a home for his family and a permanent lodgment for his traveling nursery. He spent several days exploring the country and on the 10th of December moved his family into a cabin opposite Portland, now East Portland. From here he made another survey of the valley, and finally purchased a tract of land where some clearing had been done adjoining the town site at Milwaukee.
On February 5th, he moved his family to this place and began the making of a permanent home. The land was densely covered with heavy fir trees, but by a vigorous application of the ax and torch, a clearing was soon made sufficiently large to plant the orchard and nursery. Lewelling's ambition was now fully realized. He had brought his cargo of living trees across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the Willamette Valley, the first cultivated, or grafted fruit to reach the Pacific Northwest.
About half the trees he loaded at Salem, Iowa, survived the arduous transportation, and were now securely planted in the soil of Oregon. Lewelling's fame and fortune were assured. Emigrants were rapidly pouring into the Willamette Valley and around the Puget Sound, and the demand for fruit trees was unlimited. He was in a position to supply this demand with the choicest fruit trees America could furnish. He had taken the pains to transfer to Oregon the same variety of apples that had proven so popular in Iowa. There can be but little doubt that the superior quality of the apples supplied by his nurseries established the reputation of the Oregon fruits, and helped lay the foundation of the great apple industry of Oregon and Washington. A few years ago, when the writer was touring Oregon, he was shown the locality of the original Lewelling nursery, and he found growing in that vicinity the same varieties of apples he had known when a child in his father's orchard near Salem, Iowa.
Prior to his emigration to Oregon, Henderson Lewelling had watched with great interest the controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the Oregon question. It will be remembered that the boundary line between the British possessions and this country was in dispute for many years. It was greatly feared that the controversy might result in war. The Hudson Bay Company, which was a British organization, had established forts and trapping and trading stations throughout the country, and Britain claimed possession on that ground. The claim of the United States was founded in part upon the discovery of the Columbia River by Robert Gray, an American navigator, who had sailed up the stream for many miles and had taken possession of the country in the name of the United States. A very strong element in the United States claimed that 54 degrees 40 minutes was the rightful northern boundary and raised the uncompromising slogan, "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight".
Lewelling, who like his friend, Dr. Marcus Whitman, the missionary, knew the value of the region, was a strong advocate of securing as much of the Oregon country as was possible to obtain by fair and honorable means. He was not, however, one of those who raised the cry "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight". His Quaker training led him to believe there was a better way. He was greatly pleased when the final settlement secured to our country the Puget Sound, for he believed that these waters would some day be a powerful factor in the commerce of the world. Soon after he established himself in Oregon, Lewelling formed a partnership with William Meek, a man from Bonaparte, Iowa, who had crossed the plains the same year, but not in the same train. This firm not only engaged extensively in the nursery business, but organized the Milwaukee Milling Company, and operated several saw and grist mills. At the same time they carried on several other enterprises.
When Lewelling and Meek were selling trees in all parts of Oregon and Washington, John Lewelling left Salem, Iowa, in 1850, and located in California, buying property at San Lorenzo, Alameda County. Here he started in the nursery business, obtaining his foundation stock from the Henderson Lewelling nursery, at Milwaukee, Oregon. The enterprise was successful. He reared his family here, and his descendants are occupying prominent positions throughout the State to-day.
In 1853, Henderson Lewelling sold all of his interests in Oregon to his partner William Meek, and he and his son Alfred moved to California, purchased land in Alameda County, and engaged in the fruit and nursery business. Alfred named the locality Fruitvale. Soon a large population gathered in that locality, and Fruitvale became a beautiful little city adjoining Oakland.
Henderson and Alfred Lewelling sent out from this place not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands of fruit trees all over California. Again Henderson Lewelling was in no small measure responsible for the beginning of the great fruit industry of another Pacific Coast State—an industry which has brought more wealth to California than all the gold the State has produced. Henderson Lewelling built a fine residence in Fruitvale which in later years was occupied by a Governor of the State.
After these achievements, and having acquired for himself both wealth and an enviable reputation, he seemed to have reached the limitations of his work on the Pacific Coast. But he could not be content to stand still, and look back upon past achievements. He must still press forward, and be a leader among men.
About 1858, he conceived the idea of founding a colony in Central America. He had crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1851 in his travels back and forth to the eastern States. He was much impressed by the mild climate, the cheap land, and the luxuriant growth of vegetation in that semi-tropical climate. He enlisted several others in the project, and in 1859 sold his valuable property in Fruitvale, purchased a ship and all necessary supplies, and he and his two younger sons together with his partners and their families, embarked for Honduras.
Prior to this, Lewelling had been successful in his every undertaking, but in this project he met defeat. The enterprise was a disastrous failure. He was the principal capitalist in the scheme and he lost heavily. Returning to California, he engaged in the fruit business again; but by this time he had lost his former vigor, and he never regained his former financial standing. A part of the Lewelling estate in Fruitvale was sold to a man by the name of Diamond. This tract was later donated to the city, and is now known as Diamond Park.
On February 23, 1924, a memorial meeting, sponsored by the Women's Clubs of California, was held in Diamond Park in commemoration of the great work of Luther Burbank, the plant wizard then living, and Henderson Lewelling, the nurseryman long since passed away. Appropriate speeches were made to the assembled throng, and a Sequoia or Redwood tree was planted for each of the two men and suitable tablets erected to commemorate their tinselfish work.
Prominent among the pictures hanging on the walls of the rooms of the State Historical Society of Oregon will be found the portraits of Henderson, Seth, and Alfred Lewelling, all pioneers of Iowa, who moved on to wider fields of usefulness in the undeveloped West. Other members of the family in later years followed the pioneers to the western coast. Asa Lewelling, a nephew of Henderson and a brother of L. D. Lewelling, the Governor of Kansas, was superintendent for a number of years of the boys' department of the Oregon State Reformatory. Jonathan and Jane Lewelling Votaw moved to Washington. A son, Henry L.Votaw, became postmaster of Tacoma. Another son, Moses, entered the banking business, and became a prominent citizen of the State.
How many of the original trees carried by Henderson Lewelling from Salem over the plains and mountains to Oregon still survive is difficult to ascertain. There is one tree, however, whose history has been accurately recorded and is worthy of mention here. In 1845, Lewelling planted a cherry pit which sprouted and grew. In 1846, he grafted this seedling with a Black Tartarion Scion. In 1847, he carried this tree on his seven months journey to the Willamette Valley. In the spring of 1848 this tree was planted in the soil of Oregon at Milwaukee. In 1849 the tree was sold to David Chamberlain for five dollars. Mr. Chamberlain carried the tree by canoe, down the Willamette River to the Columbia River, then down the Columbia to the mouth of the Cowlitz, thence to Cowlitz landing where Toledo now stands, thence by horseback, seventy miles to Chambers Prairie, four miles from Olympia, Washington. Here the tree was planted and it is still bearing fruit. It is an immense tree now, and three feet from the ground it measures nine feet in circumference. Its limbs have a spread of sixty feet.
George R. Haines, Curator of the Oregon State Historical Society, in speaking of this tree said: "I stood under its branches in 1853. In 1854 I ate cherries from the tree, and for many years thereafter. In 1895 it bore a crop of forty bushels of cherries. In 1920, the crop was 1200 pounds."
Moses Votaw, a great nephew of Henderson Lewelling, visited this tree in July, 1928. It was after the cherry season, but he found many dried cherries still hanging to the branches, and many dried cherries on the ground. One of the lower limbs had been removed by the saw. A measurement across the saw kerf showed that the limb had a diameter of sixteen inches. That this little cherry sprout, originating at Salem, should withstand the risks of transportation across the continent and the hazards of frequent transplanting, and still live, a towering monument to commemorate the energy and enterprise of a Salem pioneer, is to the writer a fact stranger than fiction.

O.A. GARRETSON
SALEM IOWA




ASA LORENZO LEWELLING 1915-2007

Obituary in Oregon Stat Bar article -- death of ASA LORENZO LEWELLING born 1915,

Distinguished Salem lawyer and former Oregon State Bar president Asa L. Lewelling passed away in his sleep on Sept. 7, 2007. He was 92 years old.

Lewelling was born on April 4, 1915, in Albany, Ore., and he grew up attending Albany schools. He then attended and graduated from Albany College, which is now known as Lewis & Clark College, and earned his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in 1939.

From 1942 to 1946, Lewelling served in World War II as a member of the Fifth Air Corps. His efforts in the war earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, America’s oldest military aviation award. After returning from duty, he returned to the practice of law where he worked both as a defense attorney for insurance companies and as a sole general practitioner.

Lewelling practiced law in Salem for 60 years and was admired by his peers and by judges for his knowledge of the law, integrity and commanding presence. His peers respected him so much they elected him president of the Oregon State Bar in 1973.

Lewelling was an outdoorsman at heart. He loved fishing for Chinook, fly fishing, hunting and other opportunities to enjoy nature. He had a reputation among his friends of having a broad knowledge of different species of birds and bugs from his time spent outside. He was also a skilled gardener, earning the nickname "Tomato King" from his vast garden of homegrown tomato plants (and other fruits and vegetables).

Lewelling was also very proud of his family heritage. His father, L. Guy Lewelling, was a respected judge in Linn and Marion counties, and his family came from a long line of pioneers, including his great-great-uncles Seth and Henderson Lewelling, who brought the first fruit trees to the Northwest.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a son and two brothers. Survivors include his wife Shelley, a son, two daughters, a granddaughter and two great-granddaughters.