Tombstone Tuesday ~ LEWIS family plot, Manchester, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Piscataquog Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire

1831 HENRY LEWIS 1917

1831 HANNAH E. LEWIS 1923

1865   BABY   1865

1866 WALTER H. LEWIS  1937

1869 S. ABBIE LEWIS  1952

1856 FREDERIC H. LEWIS  1898

1856   ANNIE SOULE LEWIS 1989

1881    WALTER ANTON LEWIS   1888

1879  PERCYVAL LEWIS   1949

Henry Lewis, son of Warren Lewis and Mary Dean Morse, was born 7 October 1831 in East Walpole, Massachusetts, died 5 September 1917 in Manchester, New Hampshire; married Hannah Elizabeth Beach, born 1831 in Salisbury, Vermont, died 1923 in Manchester. In 1848 Henry Lewis removed from Walpole, Massachusetts to Hooksett, New Hampshire.  He began to work with the Amoskeag mills and the Manchester Corporation.  He was a Civil War veteran and a 32d degree Mason, Mystic Shriner, Knight Templar, Odd Fellow and a member of the Unitarian Church.  He was a member of Walter Dignam’s 1^st Regimental Band during the Civil War. [see pages 193 to 194 of Lewisiana: The Lewis Letter, Volume 16, which was an old newsletter for the Lewis Family Association] 

Three children:

a.       Frederick Henry Lewis, born 1856, died 9 September 1898 in Woburn, Massachusetts; married on 29 August 1878 in Taunton, Massachusetts to Annie Maria Soule, daughter of Leander Soule and Caroline Lucinda Graham, a descendant of George Soule the Mayflower passenger. Teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music.  Children:  Frederick Percyval, born 29 June 1879 in Woburn, Walter Anton Henry born February 1881.

b.       Walter Lewis, born 17 Feb 1865, died 9 May 1865

c.       Walter Lewis, born 31 March 1866, died 1937, graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1890; married on 26 June 1895 in York, Maine to Sarah Abbie Bridges. He was an Independence League candidate for Governor of New Hampshire in 1908.  He wrote operas and music.  He also drew cartoon for the newspapers under the name “Penn” and many occult articles under the name “Zariel”.  Died 1937.  No children.

The sphinx is a neo-Egyptian symbol found in the 20^th century.  It was mean to “guard the tomb”, like foo dogs, or lions, which are more common.  It is also a symbol of the Shriners, a subgroup of the Masons.  It represents strength and protection.

 -------------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~  LEWIS family plot, Manchester, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 23, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/tombstone-tuesday-lewis-family-plot.html: accessed [access date]).