GALLIA COUNTY OHIO - BIO: LEWIS, Charles D. (published 1928)
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WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry
The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 44-45

Charles D. Lewis. Among the men who have found success in the automobile
industry, which, despite its marvelous growth and development, may be said
still to be in its infancy, is Charles D. Lewis, owner of the Ford Auto
Sales Company and proprietor of a modern garage and auto service station at
Milton. While he has been a resident of Milton only for about six years,
there are few men who have a wider acquaintance or a greater number of
sincere friends, this fact naturally adding to the success of his business
enterprise.
Mr. Lewis was born June 9, 1887, at Milton, and is a son of R. W. and Mary
(Moses) Lewis. his father, who was born in Wales, was twelve years of age
when he accompanied his parents to the United States, the family settling
in Gallia County, Ohio, where the youth attended public schools. When he
was twenty years of age R. W. Lewis came to Milton, West Virginia, and
during the following thirty-three years was a teacher in the public schools
of Cabell County, where few educators became better known or were more
greatly beloved. After a time he also took up farming, in which he engaged
during vacation periods, and thus became a substantial citizen. he was very
active in Bedford Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, donating the ground
therefor from his farm, and continued to be active in church and Sunday
School work up to the time of his death, December 30, 1902, interment being
made in Bedford Church Cemetery. Mrs. Lewis was born and reared at Fraziers
Bottom, Mason County, West Virginia, where she was educated, and also was
active in church work all of her life. She died February 10, 1902, and was
buried in Bedford Church Cemetery. She was a daughter of Rev. John Moses, a
pioneer Methodist Episcopal preacher of the West Virginia Conference. There
were the following children in the family: William, who died may 18, 1891,
at the age of thirteen years; Aurilla, who died April 18, 1906, as the wife
of Oliver A. Locke, postmaster of Milton, and left one child, Kermit, who
is attending West Virginia University as a member of the law class of 1928:
J. M., president of the Lewis & Wilson Farm Machinery Company, who married
Gertrude Arthur, of Milton, and has two children, John M. Jr., and Mary;
Thomas O., unmarried, an engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, who
met his death at the post of duty in a railroad accident, December 8, 1909,
aged twenty-six years; Charles D., of this review; Walter V., master
mechanic at the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad company shops at Huntington, who
married Leah Stephenson, of Huntington, and has two children, Vincent and
Geneva; Ethel, who died in infancy, January 29, 1889; and Anna, who married
Joseph W. Little, a draughtsman with the International Nickel Company of
Huntington, and has two children, Mary and Joseph W. Jr.
Charles D. Lewis attended the graded schools of Milton and the high schools
of Milton and Jackson, Ohio, following which he pursued a course at Sykes
Business College, Huntington. With this preparation he secured in July,
1905, a position as clerk with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company at
Huntington, and continued to be employed by that firm for seventeen years,
at the end of which time he resigned to go into business on his own
account. When he left the service of this concern he had worked his way,
through industry and fidelity, to the position of general timekeeper and
paymaster. In July, 1922, Mr. Lewis returned to his birthplace of Milton,
where, with his brother, J. M. Lewis, he purchased the Ford automobile
agency. One year later, in July, 1923, he bought his brother's interest in
the business, which he has built up to one of the leading enterprises of
the city. He is the authorized Ford agent for Milton and contiguous
territory, and also owns a large oil and gas station, a garage, and a
salesroom where he handles tires, tubes and all kinds of automobile
accessories. He owns the building in which this business is carried on, on
Main Street, a beautiful home at Milton, and another handsome home at
Huntington, where he resided before coming to Milton. Mr. Lewis is admired
by those who know him for his kindly spirit toward all worthy causes, and
his genial disposition ahs gained him many friends. He is fraternally
affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World, and was a
charter member of the Milton Civic Club, to which he still belongs. In
politics a Republican, while residing at Huntington he served one term as a
member of the Citizens Board. He is active in the work of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and while residing at Huntington was a member of the
Official Board, as well as superintendent of the Sunday School, and at
Milton is a teacher in the latter.
On September 3, 1908, at Huntington, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with
Miss Vivian H. Hall, of that city, a high school graduate, who has been
active in church and Sunday school work and in the activities of the local
chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. She is a daughter of s. B. and
Eliza (Neff) Hall, of Huntington, retired residents of that city, where Mr.
Hall was a building contractor practically all of his active business life.
Four sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis: Virgil D., a member of the
class of 1929 at Milton High School; Charles, who is attending the Junior
High School at Huntington; and Frederick H. and Raymond R. who are students
at the graded school, Milton.

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