Mary S. ALLUM

  General Notes:

Census: This extract from the 1870 census documents Mary S. (Allum) Lewis as having been born in MARYLAND. Likewise, she is shown as having been born in Maryland in census years 1850 and 1860 and within her death record at the Belmont County Courthouse, Saint Clairsville, Ohio. That important information verifies our Allum connection to the State of Maryland prior to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thank you, Mary!
(1870 Census, Smith Township, Belmont County, Ohio)

In 1870, Mary is 88 and "infirm." She has resided with her son, Charles W. Lewis, since at least 1850.

Might Mary's middle initial "S" represent her mother's maiden name?

(Also see "Gregg, Lydia Ann")

The burial location in Ohio of Mary S. (Allum) Lewis--and contact with one of more of her descendants--are among the Allum genealogy's "most wanted" ...

Is there a gravestone to be photographed?



Comments:

Already from research in the late 1950s, it had been known from William Allum's will that Mary Allum was his daughter. While her name appears simply as "Mary" in her father's will, not until February 8, 2001 did it become known that her married name was Lewis. I discovered Mary Allum Lewis on Family Tree Maker World Family Tree CD No. 56, Tree No. 1457, submitted by Betty A. Cotton. Correspondence with Betty in 2001 revealed the origin of her data to be a 1951 book with limited distribution (reprinted in 1970) wherein the Lewis ancestral line is traced to Evan Lewis, born 1610 in Narperth, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. The book is GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF HENRY LEWIS (Son of Evan Lewis) WHO EMIGRATED FROM WALES IN 1682 compiled by Walter W. Lewis.

In 2006, the book is online via Heritage Quest and can be searched and/or downloaded. Information about Mary, her husband Isaac and their son Charles and his children is brief and, among other names, appears on pages 23, 44, 79 and 80.

Mary Allum married Isaac Lewis, a member of the Society of Friends. My subsequent research documents Mary in census records with her husband Isaac in Washington County, Pennsylvania then--after Isaac's death--with her son Charles W. Lewis and his family in Belmont County, Ohio.

Isaac Lewis had been one of two executors of the Will of Mary's father, William Allum. Thus, it made "perfect sense" when it was learned that Isaac had also been a member of the family, in this case, Mary's husband.

I have documented most of Mary's descendants through the 1930 census.

(See "Isaac Lewis" for terminology that can be helpful when researching among Quaker records.)

Might one of Mary's living descendants know more about her - our Allum ancestry than we do at this time?

--DeeAnna Allum Granston



1781 BIRTH of Mary S. Allum (in Maryland)

(In 1781, British troops under General George Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. In California, a tiny village near San Gabriel was named Los Angeles. Remember, the Presidency had not yet been created; not until 1789 would George Washington become the first President of the United States.)

1790 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Washington County, West Bethlehem Township (with parents)

1800 CENSUS. A female in Mary's age range is not designated in the household of her father, William Allum, in West Bethlehem Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. There are, however, a total of five females on William's property in 1800, one of which was William's wife (Mary's mother), the other four presumably William's daughters that included Sarah, Rebecca and Ann. Was Mary simply put into the wrong category of age "10-15"? Born in December, 1781, she would actually have been 18 when a census was taken in 1800. (She would not have become 19 until December, 1800). Of course, she could have been in another's household in 1800, perhaps even as a domestic.

1808 NAMED IN THE WILL of Dr. Charles Wheeler (will proved 1813), although not to benefit until after the death of Wheeler's wife Elisabeth (25 years later!) (In the Index of Names in this online file, click on "Wheeler, Charles")

1810 CENSUS, the family of Mary's father, William Allum, is not found in a census record. Was Mary still residing with her parents in 1810? There is an Isaac Lewis household in 1810 in Pike Run Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, with 2 males 26-45; 1 female 16-26; 1 male under 10; and 1 female under 10. Mary, however, appears not to have married Isaac Lewis until 1816.

1816 MARRIAGE of Mary S. Allum and Isaac Lewis (according to the following source)

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY, Volume IV, Ohio, by William Wade Hinshaw:

WESTLAND Monthly Meeting, Washington County, Pennsylvania:

Page 45: "1816, October 24, Isaac Lewis con mcd." "Con" means "condemned" and "mcd," "married contrary to discipline."
Page 45: "1816, November 21, Lewis, Mary recrq." "Recrq" means "received by request"

1820 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Washington County, West Bethlehem Township
In 1820, an Isaac Lewis household is documented with 1 male 26-45 (perhaps Isaac); 1 female 26-45 (perhaps Mary); 1 male 16-18; 1 male 10-16; and 2 males under 10 (perhaps one male under 10 was Charles W. Lewis, born in 1818)
There is also an Isaac Lewis in Pike Run Township but with just two people in the household

1820-1830 DEATH of Mary's mother, first wife of William Allum

1830 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Washington County, Pike Run Township
The year 1830 finds 1 male 50-60 (Isaac); 1 female 40-50 (Mary); 1 male 20-30 (unknown); 1 male 10-15 (Charles W.); 1 female 5-10 (unknown).

1840 DEATH of father, William Allum; Mary's husband Isaac was one of two executors of William's will

1840 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Washington County, East Bethlehem Township
In the household in 1840 were 1 male 60-70 (Isaac); 1 female 40-50 (Mary); 1 male 10-15 (unknown); and 1 female 15-20 (unknown). Charles W. Lewis was 22 years old in 1840; he was married in February and was head of his own household. It would seem Charles had siblings but only he is named in the 1843 will of his father Isaac. Males and females born, and maturing, before 1850 are easily "lost" if not documented separately from the vague pre-1850 census records.

1843 WILL of husband Isaac Lewis prepared and signed on January 29

1844 DEATH of husband, Isaac Lewis, at approximately 70 years

The publication KEYHOLE for October 1985, pages 155 and 156, documents Isaac Lewis (?-1844) and his parents Samuel and Catherine Lewis in the Quaker Section of Westland Cemetery. The cemetery is located on Ridge Road, South of Route 40 at Centerville in Washington Co., PA between Beallsville and the Monongahela River. It is described as a well kept cemetery on the site of the Westland Quaker Meetinghouse, still used for burials. A marker at the entrance says: "Westland Friends Meeting Built 1785, laid down 1864 and dedicated in 1938." Quaker burials are believed to be in the grassy area surrounded by trees in the middle of the cemetery. No tombstones were permitted in the earlier Quaker burial grounds. The burial location for Isaac is also provided in the publication KEYHOLE for July, 2000, on page 119. (See additional information below.)

1850 REPRIMAND for "our" Mary?

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY, Volume IV, Ohio, by William Wade Hinshaw:
Page 319 under the heading "Allen": "1850, April 18, Mary Lewis (form Allen), con mcd"
["con mcd" means "condemned, married contrary to discipline"]
I do not find reference to a second marriage for Mary Allum Lewis so am puzzled by the foregoing. --DeeAnna

Page 340 under the heading "Lewis": Same reference as above

1850 CENSUS, Ohio, Belmont County, Richland Township
Mary, age 68, is documented in the household of her son Charles W. Lewis, his wife Lydia and their children. Her state of birth is documented as Maryland.

1851 CERTIFICATE for Mary to Plainfield MM, Belmont County, Ohio from Westland MM, Washington County, Pennsylvania:

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY, Volume IV, Ohio, by William Wade Hinshaw:
Page 45: "1851, September 25, Lewis, Mary S., gct Plainfield MM, O."
["gct" means "granted certificate to"]
["MM" means "Monthly Meeting"]

1852 CERTIFICATE for Mary at Plainfield MM in Belmont County, Ohio

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY, Volume IV, Ohio, by William Wade Hinshaw:
Page 340: "1852, May 13, Mary rocf Westland MM, dtd 1851, September 25"
["rocf" means "received on certificate from"]
["MM" means "Monthly Meeting"]

1860 CENSUS, Ohio, Belmont County, Smith Township
Mary, age 78, is in the household of her son Charles W. Lewis, shown again as having been born in Maryland.

1870 CENSUS, Ohio, Belmont County, Smith Township (census taken in June)
Mary, age 88, designated "infirm," remains in the household of her son Charles W. Lewis. Consistent with 1850 and 1860 census records, she is documented as having been born in Maryland. This is the last census in which Mary appears.

1870 DEATH, Mary S. (Allum) Lewis at 88 years 10 months 9 days (died in October)

(Population of the United States officially became 39.8 million, according to the 1870 census; more than 2.3 million immigrants had arrived in the 1860s. New York was the most populated state with 4.4 million residents whereas the western state of Arizona had just 9,000 people; Utah, 86,000; and Montana, 18,306. In Missouri, the Robert E. Lee won "the great riverboat race" with the Natchez on the Mississippi, seen by hundreds of thousands along the riverbanks from New Orleans to St. Louis. In Ohio, John D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company at Cleveland. Also in Ohio, B. F. Goodrich manufactured fire hose at Akron. In Wyoming, the first legal vote by a female was cast at Laramie, followed by more than 1,000 additional females in the Wyoming Territory, who voted under equal suffrage laws passed in 1869. In Connecticut, Yale and Harvard organized the first comprehensive programs of graduate study at New Haven. In New York, construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge. Also in New York, the first train arrived from San Francisco completing a transcontinental route across the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines to New York City. The Democratic donkey was portrayed for the first time by Thomas Nast. Mary (Allum) Lewis died on October 20. Eight days earlier, on October 12, General Robert E. Lee died at Lexington, Virginia.)



Belmont County Courthouse, Volume 1, page 36, provides Mary's date of death as October 20, 1870, at the age of "88 years, 10 months, 9 days." Cause of death: "Old age." Mary's middle initial was "S." She was born in Maryland.

Using Mary's date of death, and her age at death, her date of birth is calculated to have been December 11, 1781.

Without success, both the Saint Clairsville Gazette and the Belmont Chronicle have been searched for her obituary or death announcement.



Frank Hodorowski, January 28, 2006 e-mail to DeeAnna:


"Unfortunately I don't have your people in my database yet. This database contains nearly 20,000 individuals and is growing daily. But these winter months have slowed our transcriptions and field trips to a snail's pace.

"I have three people plus myself working on this project. We are trying to systematically cover one township at a time so as to not miss any. Since there are 200+ cemeteries in Belmont County, it's slow going. Some stones are badly weathered and we spend a lot of time and money on rubbings and material. We just finished one cemetery before the weather closed in, and it took up to 4 months to do it as it had about 300 tombstones dating to the very early 1800s that are in very bad shape. I also access every known source to verify and gather additional data. No one, not even at the county level, ever recorded all the persons who died and are buried in Belmont County. The only listings we have are on tombstones and death certificates. The tombstones are slowly eroding or were not placed there at all (plus vandalism). Certified data wasn't required until about 1910 when the state mandated it. Even then, records were not kept in a central location.

"Usually the funeral homes had records, but then they consolidated and some were lost or destroyed by neglect. Caretakers of some, not all, cemeteries recorded burials but, when they died, in some cases records passed to uncaring or disgruntled individuals, again providing a dead end (no pun intended).

"As you can see we have a monumental job ahead with, I'm estimating, 200,000 + buried here. We have been trying to concentrate on the old, inactive cemeteries as these are the least likely to have any records.

"There are several books that have attempted to do what we are doing, but they are usually limited to one or two cemeteries. The best general book was published by Esther Powell 50 years ago (still available from the Belmont County Genealogical Society in Barnesville, OH as a reprint for $28.50), but Powell limited her info to a certain time group, and we have found many errors in her data. Still it is a good starting place.

"I will archive your e-mail for the time being. If I come up with your data, I will send it to you, as I periodically revue and send out anything that I have found to those who have requested it.

"Sorry I couldn't help at this time.

Frank"


Comments:

Frank Hodorowski plans to eventually put his database on a CD and donate a copy to the Research Room at the Saint Clairsville Public Library.

Personnel at the Library graciously assisted to find burial locations for Mary S. (Allum) Lewis and Charles W. Lewis, but to no avail.

The well-known reference to which Frank Hodorowski refers above is Esther Weygandt Powell's TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS & FAMILY RECORDS OF BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO, copyright 1969, reprinted in April, 2000. While it has been helpful in other situations, it does not contain burial data for Mary S. (Allum) Lewis, her son Charles W. Lewis, or Charles' wife, Lydia Ann (Gregg) Lewis. Another informative book is BURIAL RECORDS FOR GREENWOOD CEMETERY, BELLAIRE, OHIO, prepared by Brenda Rushman, published by Cumberland Trail Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 576, St. Clairsville, Ohio 43950. It does contain information pertinent to Allum and Fry, including names of funeral homes. In addition, a good reference is YOUR GUIDE TO THE CEMETERIES OF BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO, also published by Cumberland Trail Genealogical Society.

A "Mary Lewis" is buried in a grave described as "sunken" in Friends Hicksite Cemetery in Emmerson, Jefferson County, Ohio; Jefferson County is adjacent to Belmont County at Belmont's northern border. However, she is not verified as "our" Mary Lewis.

--DeeAnna




Kathy Rothert, Correspondence Secretary, Cumberland Trail Genealogical Society, February 21, 2006 e-mail to DeeAnna:

We put a query in our newsletter for info on Mary & Charles Lewis. If any info comes in, I'll let you know.


******************************


The LEWIS family from which Isaac is descended was founded in America by Henry Lewis (son of Evan Lewis mentioned above), who had been born in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, South Wales and is buried in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It is estimated Henry was born 1628-1654; he died on June 17, 1688. A carpenter, Henry came to America in 1682 with his aged father. Henry Lewis was received into Philadelphia Friends Meeting on certificate from Redstone General Meeting, Pembroke County, South Wales, dated August 6, 1682. Thus, it is documented that the Lewis family's association with the Society of Friends is traced to at least the late 1600s.



DOCUMENT:

Will Book 6, page 242, Washington County, Pennsylvania:

The last Will and Testament of Isaac Lewis of West Pikerun (sic) Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. I, Isaac Lewis, being weak of body but of sound and disposing mind and considering the uncertainty of life do order and constitute this my last will and testament (that is to say) 1st I direct my Extors (sic) to pay all my just debts, 2nd I will and bequeath to my beoved (sic) wife Mary Lewis all or any part of my household and kitchen furniture that she may think proper to keep for her own use and allso (sic) one horse and one cow, the tow (sic) rooms in the south end of my dwelling that I now occupy so long as she may chose (sic) to occupy the same and further I direct my exctors (sic) to sell my house and lot in the town of Centreville (sic) in Washington County, the procede (sic) to be aplied (sic) to the payment of my debts and the remainder of my debts to be paid my son Charles W. Lewis. I allso (sic) will to my son Charles W. Lewis my farm with all other personal property whatever not befor (sic) enumerated except the keeping one horse and one cow which he is to keep for my widdow (sic) and also to to (repeat) furnish her with twelve bushels of wheat each year during her natural life together with twenty bushels of corn, two hundred pounds of pork and a suficient (sic) quanty (sic) of coal for her own use all of which he is to deliver to her each year as above mentioned. I allso (sic) hereby appoint my beloved wife Mary Lewis and my son Charles W. Lewis my executrix and executor of this my last Will and Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 29 day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty three.


Isaac Lewis


Signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named Isaac Lewis to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence have subscribed and names as witnesses


Samuel Taylor


Mordecai Morris
Washington County SS.

Be it remembered that on the 29th day of February A. D. 1844 Before me, James Spriggs, Register for the probate of Wills and granting letters of Administration in and for said County, came Samuel Taylor and Mordecai Morris, the Subscribing Witnesses to the aforegoing last Will and Testament
of Isaac Lewis, Deceased, who being duly affirmed according to law do say that they were personally present and did see the Testator therein named sign this Will and did at the request of the Testator sign their names as witnesses to the aforegoing last Will and Testament that at the time of his so doing he was of sound and disposing mind, memory, and understanding to the best of their knowledge, observation and belief and that the interlineation that is now in the aforeoing Will was made previous to the signing ----------------------------- Samuel Taylor
and affirmed to and subscribed Mordecai Morris

February 29th, 1844. Letters Testamentary with copy of Will and probate annexed Issued to Charles W. Lewis, an Executor within named who, on the same day was duly affirmed, Mary Lewis the Executrix in said Will named having renounced.



James Spriggs, Regr
Registered and compared with original February 29th, 1844


James Spriggs, Regr


PUBLICATION: KEYHOLE, January, 2000, Winter Issue, page 38, regarding WESTLAND CEMETERY:

Westland Cemetery is located on Ridge Road between Centerville and Denbo in the center of Centerville Borough in southeastern Washington County, PA. This area was first in Bethlehem township, then East Bethlehem township and then in 1895 it became Centerville Borough.

The cemetery came into existence in 1780/82 when the first meeting house of the Society of Friends (Quakers) was built west of the Allegheny mountains. This meeting house was first of log construction until it burned in 1785. Immediately a stone meeting house was erected. It's cornerstones can be found today in the base of the monument marking the location of the building site in the cemetery.

In 1785 the Westland Monthly meeting was established with the meetings for prayer and worship under its jurisdiction at various times. The meeting was divided by the Hicksite movement in 1828 and again by the Wilburite movement in 1854. The Orthodox and Hicksite branches were laid down (discontinued) in 1864. Members of the Orthodox branch were transferred to Redstone Monthly Meeting; members of the Hicksite branch to Salem Monthly meeting. The Wilburite (Conservative) branch was laid down in 1865.

In the 1880's, after the building had fallen into disrepair, the stones in the building were obtained by Robert Theakston who used them in the foundation of his home being built a half-mile away. This house burned in the late 1980's and was torn down in 1999.

The minute books and marriage records of the Westland Meeting are now housed in Swartmore University Library near Philadelphia, Pa. The books on births and deaths disappeared over 100 years ago.

The cemetery was located to the rear of the Westland Meeting House where the burials were in rows. Many graves were marked with small sandstones, some bearing initials or perhaps a death date since the Society of Friends did not permit monuments to be erected on the graves. In 1870 William Hancock, the sexton, counted approximately 700 interments in the cemetery. Around 1900 the old sandstone markers were removed and the cemetery was plowed and sown with grass seed. Approximately one-third of these burials are known today.

In 1902 the Westland Cemetery Association was established and operates the cemetery as a non-profit organization today.


Shirley Allum Hudlicky, February 15, 2001 e-mail to DeeAnna:

ISAAC LEWIS died 1844, buried in the Quaker Section of Westland cemetery. No birth date, no grave number, no day or month of death.
--Keyhole July 2000 p. 119, Summer issue


Magaret Smith Brennan, February 16, 2001 e-mail to DeeAnna:

"I have in front of me the Keyhole for October 1985 and find John Lewis (?-1832) on page 155 and Isaac Lewis (?-1844), Samuel Lewis (17?? -?) and Catherine Lewis (17??-?) on page 156 --all of them in the Quaker Section of Westland Cemetery located on Ridge Rd., South of Route 40 at Centerville, Washington County, PA between Beallsville and the Monongahela River. 'It is a well kept cemetery, still being used for burials and is on the site of the Westland Quaker Meetinghouse. A marker at the entrance says: Westland Friends Meeting Built 1785, laid down 1864 and dedicated in 1938. It is believed that the Quaker burials are in the grassy area surrounded by trees in the middle of the cemetery. No tombstones were permitted in the earlier Quaker burial grounds.' "


BOOK: HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA From Its First Settlement to the Present Time, by Alfred Creigh, LL.D., 1870, page 95:

"April 12, 1792, Joseph Townsend and wife conveyed to James Crawford, Nathaniel Heald, Abraham Smith, John Townsend, John Heald, and Isaac Jenkinson, as trustees of the Quaker Westland meeting-house, a certain lot of ground, containing twenty acres, for a meeting-house, burying-ground, and other necessary purposes, in consideration of twenty pounds, Pennsylvania currency. This land is on the draws of the Monongahela River and Twomile Run."


BOOK: HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men by Boyd Crumrine, L. H. Everts & Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1882, page 772:

"The Westland meeting-house, the place of worship of the Society of Friends, was built seven-eighths of a century ago. On April 12, 1792, James Townsend and his wife sold ten acres of the 'Fecund Valley' tract to the trustees of this society upon which to buil a meeting-house. This land is situated at the head-waters of Two-Mile Run, in East Bethlehem township, and was purchased for twenty pounds by Nathan Heald, James Crawford, Abraham Smith, John Townsend, John Heald, and Isaac Jenkinson.

"...Upon this land the Quakers built a stone church forty-eight by fifty-two feet in size and eleven feet high. It had twelve windows and four doors, with chimneys at the corners, which were evidently built with the church. The house is still standing, and appears to have been remodeled and enlarged at some time but is now in a very dilapidated condition."

In 1864 members of the church transferred to Salem Monthly Meeting, Ohio, and the Westland building was sold on April 16, 1866 to William Fisher, Amos G. Cleaver and Joseph Farquhar for three hundred dollars.



CONTRIBUTOR to this page:

Betty Baker Cotton:
Pertinent data from the book, GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF HENRY LEWIS (Son of Evan Lewis) WHO EMIGRATED FROM WALES IN 1682 compiled by Walter W. Lewis

Betty Baker Cotton, February 21, 2001 letter to DeeAnna (excerpt):

"You can imagine my surprise when I received your letter. I had no idea that submitting my family tree [to World Family Tree at Family Tree Maker] would uncover some more living relatives.

"I hope you enjoy [the loan of] the book. Mary Allum is on page 23, married to Isaac Lewis."




Page created 2006 ~ Updated 2009


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Mary married Isaac LEWIS, son of Samuel LEWIS and Catherine RICHARDS, in 1816 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. (Isaac LEWIS was born in 1774 in Fairfax County, Virginia, died in 1844 in Washington County, Pennsylvania and was buried in Quaker Section, Westland Cemetery, East Bethlehem Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.)