The following information is credited to Elmyra Royse (Mrs. Dayton Royse) nee Elmyra McGuire. The papers of Mrs. Royse were donated to the Oklahoma Genealogical Society by her son after her death. We of the Lewis and Hopkins families greatly appreciate all her efforts and many years of research, which included these families.
I would also like to thank Laura Flebbe of Tulsa, OK for many hours spent copying and then forwarding these papers. I have spent many months reading and sorting and have come to realize the amount of work over many years that went into them.
William Lewis (first generation found - wife's name not known)-
1774, had land survey on S. Fork of Holston R., S.W. Virginia;
1775, William & Griffith Lewis - land surveys same area;
1784, William Lewis died in Washington Co., VA; named in his will:
1. Griffith, eldest son, of Washington and Lee County, Virginia; wife in 1806 was Mary (Brown?). 2. Margaret, born about 1743, married Jonathan Bishop; lived in Washington County, Virginia in present Smyth County area. 3. Ann, married by 1784 Abraham Stevens (Stephens); moved to Kentucky 4. William Jr., taxed at least 1782 through 1785 in Washington County, Virginia; no furthur records for William Jr. 5. John, born before 1761, married Hannah Stephens in Kentucky. 6. Thomas, born 5 March 1755, married Hannah Hopkins; moved to Kentucky; died 1849 in Morgan County, Kentucky.
Since many who settled on South Fork of Holston had the same names as earlier residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, I am interested in that area. A William Lewis and a William Lewis, Jr., appeared on the tax lists of Loudoun County in 1766; in that same vicinity were John and William Griffith; William, James, and Joshua Jones; Benjamin and Thomas John; John Thomas; and other "interesting names."
The 1771 will of William Jones of Loudoun County named wife Mary, devised land to sons Joshua and James adjoining the Dehaven's and a negro to daughter Mary Griffith, and mentioned the Baptist Meeting House adjoining his plantation of which Joseph Thomas was minister and William Lewis and Thomas George were elders. The will was witnessed by Josias Clapham, William Lewis, and Sarah Griffith. (This was probably New Valley in Pennsylvania; the members included emigrants from Pennsylvania and converts in Virginia.)
On 9 March 1774 in Southwest Virginia "our" William Lewis and a John Thomas had adjoining tracts surveyed; on May 15, 1775, "our" Griffith Lewis and a Joshua Jones had tracts surveyed - corner to each other. These were part of the Loyal Company Grant and was located on South Fork of Holston. In 1782, John Thomas, Thomas John, and Benjamin John were taxed in same district in Washington County, Virginia as were "our" William Lewis and his sons; in 1784 John Thomas witnessed the will of William Lewis.
On September 21, 1798, Benjamin John and wife Lydia, Washington County, Virginia deeded to Thomas Pierce of Wythe County, Virginia, an iron ore bank on South Fork of Holston; in a law suit of 1807 - Pierce vs. Razor - it was stated that the iron works had been owned by Joshua Jones, Peter Razor, and Benjamin John.
These notes are presented as a possible clue to the earlier residence of William Lewis and his family; they are not to be considered as proof.
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