Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Lewis, Thomas H. 1871 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 31, 2007, 4:32 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

THOMAS H. LEWIS.

    Thomas H. Lewis, a well-known and substantial farmer and stockman of
Franklin township, this county, was born on a pioneer farm in that township and
has lived there all his life. He was born on September 18, 1871, son of William
and Maria Lewis, pioneers of Marshall county, further mention of whom is made
elsewhere in this volume, and grew to manhood on the old homestead farm,
receiving his schooling in the school in the Brooks district. As a lad he used
to herd cattle on the plains and helped to break the sod, retaining distinct
recollections of the old oxen used on the farm. He remained an assistant to his
father in the labors of improving and developing the home place until he was
twenty-one years of age, when he rented a tract of land and began farming on his
own account. In 1907 he bought a quarter of a section of land in section 35,
Franklin township, from his mother-in-law and has since made his home on that
place, bringing the same up to a high state of development. The place was well
improved when he bought it, but he has made numerous valuable improvements to
the same and now has one of the best-kept farms in that part of the county.

    In 1903 Thomas H. Lewis was united in marriage to Lena Tangeman, who was
born on a pioneer farm in Center township, this county, June 5, 1877, daughter
of John and Dora (Duever) Tangeman, natives of Germany, who became pioneers of
Marshall county, where the former spent his last days and where the latter is
still living. John Tangeman was born in the province of Hanover on June 22,
1835, and was trained to the trade of a blacksmith, at which he worked in the
army. In 1866 he married Dora Duever, who Was also born in Hanover, May 31,
1837, and in that same year he and his wife came to the United States, the
vessel on which they came over being fourteen days in making the passage. They
located at Chicago, where Mr. Tangeman worked at his trade until 1871, when he
came to Kansas and homesteaded a tract of forty acres in section 4 of Center
township and there established his home in a dug-out, in which humble abode a
son was presently born. Later, he built a ten-by-twelve house of cottonwood
lumber and in that little house two other children were born. During the
grasshopper visitations his small attempts at farming were thwarted by the
voracious pests, which ate every growing thing on the place. His first crop was
five or six acres of corn, for which he received twelve and a half cents a
bushel; a similar price being also all he could get for a few potatoes he also
was able to raise. At that time Indians still were quite numerous in this part
of the state and the family often was annoyed by the lazy aboriginals coming to
the house and begging for something to eat. Presently, however, better times set
in and Mr. Tangeman's affairs began to prosper, he after awhile becoming the
owner of a quarter of a section,of land, on which he did well and where he spent
his last days, his death occurring on February 2, 1906. His widow is still
living and now makes her home with her children. There were seven of these
children, of whom Mrs. Lewis was the sixth in order of birth, the others being
as follow: William, deceased; Ernest, a merchant at the village of Home; G. J.,
a farmer in the vicinity of Winifred; August, a merchant; Mrs. Amelia Reinhardt,
wife of a hardware merchant at Home, and Henrietta, deceased.

    To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis two children have been born, Ruth, born on November 7,
1906, and Russell C., December 22, 1915. The Lewises have a pleasant home in
Franklin township and take a proper interest in the general social activities of
that neighborhood. Mr. Lewis is a Democrat and takes an earnest interest in
local political affairs, but has never been a seeker after public office.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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