Lewis, Barbour

Born: 1818-01-09 Vermont

Died: 1893-07-15

Born in Alburg, Vermont, Barbour Lewis was a teacher, lawyer, military officer and judge, and an active member of the Republican Party. He attended public schools as a child, but graduated from Illinois College in 1846. In January 1849, he married Frances Jane Wolcott. He taught school in Mobile, Alabama, for a time, but later took up the study of law. He graduated from the law department at Harvard University, gained admittance to the bar, and commenced practicing law in Jacksonville, Illinois. He served as one of Morgan County's delegates to both the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention and the 1860 Illinois Republican Convention. In 1859, he was also a delegate to the state's Sixth Congressional District Convention. He sometimes delivered public speeches on behalf of the party and strategized with party leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Richard Yates. By 1860, he was still working as a lawyer in Jacksonville and owned $4,400 in real and personal property. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army. Starting in August 1861, he served as captain of Company G of the First Missouri Volunteers. He received appointment as judge of the civil commission court in Memphis, Tennessee in 1863, and was discharged from service November 15, 1864. He died in Colfax, Washington.

Chandler Wolcott, Wolcott Genealogy: The Family of Henry Wolcott, One of the First Settlers of Windsor, Connecticut (Rochester: Genesee Press, 1912), 154; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Mobile, Mobile County, AL, 394; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Jacksonville, Morgan County, IL, 24; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:4, 30 September 1859, 3:1; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 17 April 1860, 1:1, 1 May 1860, 2:2, 10 July 1860, 2:2; Barbour Lewis to Abraham Lincoln; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1389; Gravestone, Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, WA.