52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (#2): Benjamin Hutchison Lewis

This one is a little late, I missed a couple weeks. I'm working on more posts now.

Benjamin Hutchison Lewis was my great-great-great grandfather on my paternal grandmother's side. He was born on the 19th of September in 1827 in Henry County, Alabama. Benjamin was the oldest son of John Lewis and Sarah M Hutchison and he only had one other sibling, a younger brother.

Photo credit to Judie F Lewis

There are discrepancies in his birth year. The Bible record is illegible, while it looks like it could be a seven, comparing it to other seven's, it could also be a one. On the multiple census records that have been gathered his age suggests his birth in 1827, also his civil war documents state that he was born in 1827. The only thing is his tombstone lists his birth year as 1821.

He married Emeline Glawson on March 20th of 1849 and had 9 children; James Lafayette (who was my great-great grandfather), Elouisa Josephine, John Thomas, Benjamin Hutchison, Jr., Jesse Brown, Emeline Georgeann, Sarah C, Arabella C, and Ella Etta.

Benjamin enlisted in the Civil War on July 3rd of 1861 and was the Captain of the Confederate Company F 15th Alabama Regiment, the "Brundidge Guards." In The War Between the Union and the Confederacy which is an actual account of Colonel William C Oates. This book describes Benjamin a few times revealing his personality; "brave a Caesar," "battalion drill completely bewildered him," (Oates 79) and an actual conversation between him and the Colonel which makes you giggle because of his responses, and that this was actually an example of why things went bad for the Confederacy.

He contracted the measles while in Camp Toombs in the fall of 1861 and since they were in the middle of a war it was not caught fast enough and he went crazy. He was cured eventually, but his mind never recovered from the damage of the measles. The sickness and mental health is what led him to resign in January of 1862. While his health was in decline, he also probably got a letter from his family that his daughter, Sarah, barely a year old, died while he was away at war.

Now you think his run of bad luck would have ended there but in September of 1882, just 20 years after his resignation in the war, he was shot to death. He was shot by an 18 year old boy who was never arrested, mostly because once they found him again he was married and with a family, the Lewises did not want to bring it up again, or they just took revenge outside the law.

It is so interesting finding these stories, filling them into to someone's life and seeing how it could have affected them and their family.

Sources:

• Lewis, Judie Fogleman. John Lewis: A History and Genealogy. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1985.
• Oates, William C. 1905. The war between the Union and the Confederacy, and its lost opportunities, with a history of the 15th Alabama regiment and the forty-eight battles in which it was engaged ... the war between the United States and Spain. New York and Washington: The Neale Pub. Co.
• 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Pike County, Alabama, population schedule, Henderson, Sheet 387B, page 322 (stamped), Dwelling 84, Family 84; Benj. H. Lewis; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2015), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, Roll 37.
• 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Pike County, Alabama, population schedule, Sheet 144A, page 289 (stamped), Dwelling 114, Family 114; B. H. Lewis; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 January 2015), citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, Roll 13.