Brooks-Lowndes-Bulloch County GaArchives Biographies.....Lewis, Wiley M. 1847 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 30, 2004, 9:03 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 1001-1002

   WILEY M. LEWIS. Industriously engaged in the prosecution of one of the most
useful callings to which a man can devote his time and energies, Wiley M. Lewis
holds a noteworthy position among the more active and progressive agriculturists
of Brooks county. He was born June 18, 1847, in that part of Lowndes county now
included within the boundaries of Brooks county, of pioneer ancestry.

   His father, Irvin James Lewis, was born in Bulloch county, Georgia, and, when
a small child, lost both of his parents. He subsequently made his home for many
years with his uncle, Abner Groover, one of the very first settlers of what is
now Brooks county. As a youth he became familiar with the various branches of
agriculture, and on attaining manhood bought a tract of land lying seven miles
northwest of Quitman, and was there engaged in general farming until his death,
which was the result of a snake bite, his death occurring while he was yet in
the prime of a vigorous manhood.

   The maiden name of the wife of Irvin James Lewis was Susan Thigpin. She was
born in Wilkes county, Georgia, where her father, Rev. Meles Thigpin, first
settled on coming from one of the Carolinas to Georgia. He was a preacher in the
primitive Baptist church, and an active worker in the Master's vineyard. From
Wilkes county Rev. Mr. Thigpin removed to what is now Brooks county in pioneer
days, the tedious journey through the woods being made with ox teams. All of
south Georgia was then a howling wilderness, through which bear, deer, panthers,
and wild game of many kinds roamed at will, while the Indians far outnumbered
the whites, who were forced to build log forts in which the women and children
would take refuge whenever the savages started out on the war path. Securing
four hundred and ninety acres of land ten miles northwest of the present site of
Quitman, Mr. Thigpin there spent his remaining years, as did his wife, whose
maiden name was Sarah Whaley. Mrs. Susan (Thigpin) Lewis survived her husband
many years. She was his helpmeet in every sense of the term, performing her full
share of the pioneer labor, carding, spinning and weaving all of the homespun in
which she clothed her family, in the early days of her marriage, doing all of
her cooking by the open fireplace. She was the mother of six children, as
follows: Mary, Sarah Blanche, Caroline, Janie, Valeria and Wiley M.

   But two years old when his father died, Wiley M. Lewis was by his mother
reared to habits of industry, honesty and thrift, and with her remained for
several years after attaining his majority. He was afterwards engaged in tilling
the soil on and near the old homestead until 1898. In that year Mr. Lewis formed
a partnership with his nephew, I. E. Bozeman, and having purchased eleven
hundred acres of timbered land on the Tallokas road, seven miles from Quitman,
he erected a sawmill, and was there extensively engaged in the manufacture of
lumber until the timber supply was exhausted. He and his partner have since put
large tracts of the land which they cleared under cultivation, and he is there
now engaged in general farming, in his operations being exceedingly prosperous.

   Mr. Lewis married, in 1885, Ophelia Folsom, who was born in Jefferson county.
Florida, where her parents, Isaac and Pamelia (Woods) Folsom, were pioneers.
Eleven children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, namely: Wiley,
James, Susie May, Pamelia Gertrude, Blanche S., Irvin Lee, Rosebud Folsom,
Ernest AV., Carlos, Clara Belle, and Wallace. Fraternally Mr. Lewis is a member
of Shalto lodge, No. 237, Free and Accepted Masons, with which he united at the
age of twenty-one years. He is also a member of the Farmer's Alliance, and of
the Farmer's Union, No. 1406.

From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913


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