Source:
MEMOIRS
of
NEW ENGLAND FOR THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
with
A HISTORY OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF NEW ENGLAND
By
CONRAD RENO, LL. B.
Published Under the Editorial Supervision of
Leonard A. Jones, A. B., LL. B. and Conrad Reno, LL.
B.
VOLUME II
The Century Memorial Publishing Company
Boston, Massachusetts
1901 BIOGRAPHICAL -
MASSACHUSETTS
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ISAAC
NEWTON LEWIS, A. M.,
Boston, comes from an old and honored
colonial family, which furnished one
signer to the Declaration of
Independence and a number of jurists,
statesman, military officers, etc. He
descends in a direct line from (1)
William and Amy Lewis who came from
England to Roxbury, Mass., in 1635, and
who attended the church presided over by
Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to
the Indians; (2) John and Hannah
Lewis who settled in Lancaster,
Mass., in 1653; (3) Captain Barachiah
and Judith (Whiting) Lewis of
Dedham, Mass., in 1690; (4) Isaac and
Mary (Whiting) Lewis of Dedham,
1734; (5) Isaac and Abigail (Bullard)
Lewis of Walpole, Mass., 1774; (6)
Isaac and Susannah (Ware) Lewis
of Walpole, 1803; and (7) William and
Judith M. Whittemore) Lewis of
Walpole. Captain Barachiah Lewis,
of the third generation, was a
lieutenant and afterward a captain in
the French and Indian wars, while
Isaac Lewis, the great-grandfather
of the subject of this sketch, left a
Revolutionary canteen which is now in
the possession of Isaac Newton Lewis,
and he had a brother, John, who
served in that war. This Isaac Lewis
married a daughter (Abigail)
of Josiah Bullard of Dedham, who
also served in the war for
Independence. Another John Lewis
of Dedham, was a lieutenant in the
Revolution. The Lewis family is
of English and Welsh extraction, from
the south of London, and most of its
members have been manufacturers and
farmers by occupation, and among its
distinguished men is Timothy Dwight,
president of Yale College.
Isaac Newton Lewis, son of
William and Judith M. (Whittemore)
Lewis, and a descendant in the
eighth generation of William and Amy
Lewis of Roxbury was born Dec. 25,
1848, in Walpole, Mass. He received his
preparatory education in the Walpole
public schools and at the Eliot High
School in Boston, teaching a year in the
mean time in a private classical school,
and assisting the head master of the
Eliot High School in preparing young men
for colege. In 1869 he entered
Harvard University, from which he was
graduated with the degree of A. B. in
1873. Among his classmates were
William Thomas, his chum and son of
Judge Benjamin Franklin Thomas;
Tucker Daland and Judge Robert
Grant, of the Boston bar; George
H. Lynan, collector of the Port of
Boston; Horatio Stevens White, of
Cornell University; and James M.
Olmstead of the Suffolk bar. On
leaving college Mr. Lewis went to
Europe with the intention of continuing
his studies at Heidelberg, but traveled
instead in Great Britain, France and
Germany. Returning home in the spring
of 1874 he taught in high school and
academy for a time and then entered the
Boston University Law School, from which
he was graduated in June, 1876. The
next year he received from Boston
University the first degree of A. M.
ever conferred by that institution. He
was admitted to the Suffolk bar Jan. 31,
1876, and after graduating from the law
school made another trip abroad. Upon
his return he began, in 1877, the active
practice of his profession at 82
Devonshire street, Boston, where he has
ever since maintained an office.
In 1887 Mr. Lewis made a
trip around the world, and the next year
published an entertaining little volume,
attractively illustrated, entitled
"Pleasant Hours in Sunny Lands," in
which he recorded a graphic account of
his journey and pen pictures of the many
scenes and countries he visited. This
book gives ample evidence of his marked
literary ability and at the same time
established his reputation as a close
observer, the information which he
gathered being set forth in a pleasing,
instructive narrative. He has also been
a frequent contributor to the newspapers
and magazines and is an author of the
first book of the Records of Deeds of
Suffolk county, and of "In Memoriam," a
family history, published while he was a
student in Harvard in 1872. Several of
his works have attained considerable
popularity. He is also an enthusiastic
artist, and while in England searched
for and found a portrait of Sir
Robert Walpole, a lifesize copy of
which he presented to his native town
upon its first anniversary celebration,
one hundred and sixty-eight years after
it received Walpole's name in
December, 1724. In his presentation
address he not only displayed his own
patriotism, but aroused an active and
healthy public spirit in the entire
community.
Mr. Lewis has built up a
large and successful general law
practice, largely in the line of civil
business. He is an able lawyer, well
grounded in the science of
jurisprudence, and skillful in the
conduct of court and jury trials. His
industry, integrity, and judicious
application have gained for him a
leading place at the Boston bar.
Mr. Lewis occupies numerous
positions of trust, is president of two
corporations, and became a justice with
power to bear cases in 1876. Since then
he has been a justice of the peace,
notary public, etc., to which he was
first appointed by Governor Alexander
H. Rice. He has also served as an
auditor, commissioner, and on the school
committee. Besides these he has been
active as a teacher in high school,
professor in academy, and served in
various other educational capacities.
He was an original member of the Norfolk
County Bar Association; has been
president of the Middlesex Tribune
Publishing Company, of the Maple Grove
Cemetery Association, and of the Lyceum,
Reform, and Metropolitan Artist Clubs;
and a member of the Forest Hills
Cemetery Association and of the New
England Historic-Genealogical Society.
He has been especially interested in
genealogical and historical matters, and
in fact in every movement and enterprise
which has for its object the welfare and
advancement of the community. In
politics he has always been an ardent
Republican, as his father was a Free
Soiler, being inclined to reform and
progress in public affairs. Having
traveled extensively, he is thoroughly
conversant with foreign as well as
domestic affairs, and in the law, in
literature, and in the private capacity
of a citizen has achieved an honorable
reputation.
Mr. Lewis was married Apr.
19, 1899, to his cousin, Etta A.,
daughter of James and Eveline
(Anderson) Lewis of Newark, N. J.,
and in his beautiful and spacious home
at Walpole, designed by himself, has
collected many valuable paintings,
portraits, and other artistic work, much
of which is from his own hands. He has
recently been appointed by the governor
one of the few special justices to
perform the marriage cemetery in the
Commonwealth.
Source: Memoirs of New England for
the Nineteenth Century with A History of
the Judicial System of New England, Vol.
II - Publ. 1901 - Page 353
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