Background
He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1767 to Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington.
He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1767 to Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington.
On August 4, 1797, he wrote to Lewis inviting him to serve as his personal secretary. While at Mount Vernon, Lewis came to know Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis, the granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and Daniel Parke Custis. At Mount Vernon she acted as the social director, entertaining the many visitors to the former president
Their first child, Frances Parke Lewis, was born there on November 27, 1799.
After George Washington"s death on December 14, 1799, Lewis served as the primary executor of his will. As a wedding gift from the Washingtons, the couple had received 2,000 acres (81 km2) of the Mount Vernon plantation.
From 1800 to 1805, Lewis oversaw the construction of the Plantation, designed by the physician-architect William Thornton. Lewis had purchased the tract of 571 acres (231 km2) from George Washington"s extensive real estate holdings.
He died in 1839 in Arlington, Virginia and was buried in the vault at Mount Vernon, close to the sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington.
The Lewises had eight children, four of whom lived past infancy:
Frances Parke Lewis (1799-1875) -- married Edward George Washington Butler, nephew of General Richard Butler. Martha Betty Lewis (1801-1802)
Lawrence Fielding Lewis (1802-1802)
Lorenzo Lewis (1803-1847) -- father of Edward Parke Custis Lewis, grandfather of Esther Maria Lewis Chapin. Eleanor Agnes Freire Lewis (1805-1820)
Fielding Augustine Lewis (1807-1809)
George Washington Custis Lewis (1810-1811)
Martha Eleanor Angela Lewis Conrad (1813-1839).