Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: LEWIS, Aaron Dennison (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II

p. 256, 258
photo p. 257


AARON DENNISON LEWIS.

	Aaron Dennison Lewis is the president and manager of The A. T. 
Lewis & Son Dry Goods Company, one of the largest department stores of 
Denver. His life record is indicative of what may be accomplished 
through individual effort prompted by laudable ambition. Progressive, 
self-reliant, and tempering progressiveness with a safe conservatism, 
he has advanced steadily, and the steps of his orderly progression have 
brought him into the most important commercial relations. He has never 
hesitated to venture where favoring opportunity has led the way, and 
today is the head of an establishment which employs nearly a thousand 
men and women.

	Mr. Lewis is a native of Roseville, Warren county, Illinois. He 
was born on November 22, 1865, a son of Aaron Thompson and Amy 
Josephine (Russell) Lewis. The father, a native of New Brunswick, New 
Jersey, was born on March 19, 1831. and devoted his earlier life to 
farming and banking. He ranked for many years with the representative 
business men of Denver, and died at Greenwich, Connecticut, on January 
20. 1907. The mother was born at Clymer, New York. from which place her 
family came overland to Illinois. There she married Mr. Lewis, and they 
made their home on a farm in Warren county near Roseville. Mrs. Lewis 
died in Denver on September 5, 1909. The year 1880 witnessed the 
arrival of the family in Colorado.

	The son, Aaron Dennison Lewis, whose name introduces this review, 
opened a small country store at Breckenridge. Colorado, in 1888, and 
prospered in business there. He was ambitious, however, to secure a 
broader field, and realizing the town in which he was located could not 
support a store of more extensive proportions, he turned his attention 
to Denver, and in 1890 with the money acquired through the sale of his 
Breckenridge store, he embarked in business with his father, who had 
decided to invest an equal amount in the new enterprise, although he 
had had no previous experience in storekeeping. Another partner was 
taken in, and the three organized the firm of Lewis, Son & Barrow, the 
management, development, and conduct of the business falling on the 
youthful shoulders of Aaron Dennison Lewis. The third partner shortly 
after relinquished his interest, and the firm name was changed to A. T. 
Lewis & Son, and in 1902 was incorporated as The A. T. Lewis & Son Dry 
Goods Company. The business has since its inception steadily increased, 
until today it is one of the largest and most important in the west. 
Recent improvements and extensive additions make it one of the most 
beautiful and perfectly equipped stores in the country. The relation of 
Mr. Lewis to his employes and to the public throughout his entire 
career has been based on his high conception of right and fair dealing.

	On the 8th of February, 1898. Mr. Lewis was married to Miss 
Luella Brand, a daughter of George and Caroline Brand. They have two 
children: Flora Luella, the wife of Dudley Mayo, Jr., of Denver; and 
George Dennison, born in Denver, February 13, 1902, a student in Culver 
Military Academy.

	In matters of citizenship Mr. Lewis indicates the ancestry from 
which he sprung. He is the direct descendant of Edward Doty, who came 
to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620 and whose name is inscribed 
on the Plymouth monument. In the paternal line the ancestry is traced 
back to Samuel Lewis, who came from Wales in 1732 and settled in New 
Jersey, and on the ancestral record appear the names of those who 
served in the American Revolution. Mr. Lewis stands for all that is 
progressive and valuable in citizenship, and is particularly active in 
the support of his country in this hour of national crisis. He is a 
member of the Denver Club, the Denver Athletic Club, the Denver Country 
Club, the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and the Retail 
Merchants Association. His religious faith is that of the 
Congregational church. He was active in the organization and served as 
the first president of the Denver Tourist Bureau, which organization 
has been most successful in bringing thousands of people to Colorado.