My Genealogy Hound

Lawrence H. Lewis, blacksmith and wagon-maker, and also proprietor of Lewis Opera House, Cuba, Mo., was born in Oswego County, N. Y., in 1844. In the family of his parents, George W. and Sarah (Bassett) Lewis, were eleven children, of whom he was the tenth. Lawrence H. received a good education, and when a young man aspired to be an attorney-at-law; he attended the Ohio State Law College of Cleveland, Ohio, three years, and received a diploma as Bachelor of Laws from that institution in 1868. He was admitted to the bar and also the United States Courts in the same year, but practiced the legal profession but about two years, when ill health compelled him to seek other employment. He then immigrated to the West, and in 1871 located in Crawford County, Mo., where he has been engaged in various pursuits; he first ran a sawmill, and in 1872 bought a town lot in Cuba, upon which he built and established his present shop in 1876. He keeps competent workmen both in the wagon-making department and the blacksmith shop, employing from eight to ten hands. In 1882 he erected the hall, or opera house, in Cuba, and has now another brick structure in process of erection for the same purpose. In 1874, Mr. Lewis married Elizabeth, daughter of Walter and Frances (Sutherland) Evans. They have had eight children, five of whom are living, viz.: Cora E., Clarence E., Laura P., Lawrence H., Jr., and an infant. Politically, Mr. Lewis is a stanch Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He is a member of the A. O. U. W.