William David Lewis

Background

William David Lewis was born on September 22, 1792 at Christiana, Delaware, United States, the son of Joel Lewis, who married a Miss Hughes. Both parents were Welsh Quakers.

Education

He attended Clermont Seminary and Lower Dublin Academy.

Career

Att the age of seventeen Lewis was apprenticed to the house of Samuel Archer & Company, Philadelphia merchants in the East India and China trade. Four years later he was invited by his brother, John D. Lewis, who was a commission merchant in Russia, to join him at St. Petersburg. Unable to obtain passage because of the war between the United States and Great Britain, he called upon Henry Clay in Washington, procured an appointment as one of the private secretaries to the peace commission, and sailed from New York on the John Adams under a flag of truce (February 27, 1814). At Gothenburg he left the commissioners and, continuing his journey, arrived at the Russian capital in the midst of the excitement aroused by the Allied triumphs over the Emperor Napoleon.

He spent some months learning the Russian language, then entered his brother's employ, and lived in Russia until August 1824, during this period making two voyages to the United States for the house and a tour of western Europe. In Russia his genial personality and constant good humor won him many friends, including Count Nesselrode, the Tsar's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Platov, hetman of the Cossacks, the Nikolai Ivanovich Grech, editor of the Syn Otechestva (a weekly magazine), who introduced him into the literary group that met at the home of the poet Derzhavin. Much later, his metrical translation of Russian poems (The Bokchesarian Fountain, by Alexander Pooshkeen, and other Poems by Various Authors, privately printed, Philadelphia, 1849) was enthusiastically greeted by his friend Grech in the Sievernaia Pchela (St. Petersburg, July 18, 1851).

In July 1817 Lewis was thrown into prison at the instance of John Leavitt Harris, United States consul at St. Petersburg, with whom he had a personal quarrel. He was soon released, and, returning to the United States in November 1819, was immediately challenged by Harris. Lewis promptly accepted and shot his opponent in the thigh when they met at Red Bank, on the Delaware. Shortly thereafter, Leavitt Harris, uncle of the duellist, who had also been consul at St. Petersburg, sued Lewis for slander, the latter having accused the elder Harris of corruption so gross that John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, characterized it as "unprincipled rapacity". In St. Petersburg both parties sought documentary aid from the government of the Tsar, and after seven years of litigation, which involved Secretary Adams, President Monroe, and eminent legal counsel, a Philadelphia jury awarded Harris $100 (February 15, 1827).

Later Lewis established himself as an importer and commission merchant in Philadelphia. He was for ten years cashier of the Girard Bank (1832 - 1842). Later Lewis was a director of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. He then became president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, president of the Catawissa Railroad Company, and collector of customs for the Port of Philadelphia (1849 - 1853). He was a life-long friend of Henry Clay, who procured confirmation by the Senate of his nomination to the collectorship in September 1850 after it had been blocked for months by Senator James Cooper of Pennsylvania. After he retired from business (about 1855) he lived on his estate near Florence, New Jersey, where he died in April 1881.

Achievements

• Lewis was remembered for his publications of a translation of Russian poems. He was also noted for his help in financing a number of the early Pennsylvania railroads, including the New Castle & Frenchtown Railroad (1831 - 1832), the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad, and the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Catawissa, Williamsport And Erie Rail-road

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

On June 28, 1825, Lewis married Sarah Claypoole of Philadelphia.

Father:

Joel Lewis

Spouse:

Sarah Claypoole

Brother:

John D. Lewis

merchant

Friend:

Henry Clay