James Stapleton LEWIS

                   Biography available to read in "Notes"



The following is a short history found on Ancestry Tree:

James attended school in Bellbrook, he became very proficient in reading and writing.James set out on his own when his family was living in the Randolph Co, IN area near Deerfield. He studied his Bible, and treasured it. He left home in 1829. In 1831 he heard two Mormonite missionaries would be preaching in Mock's barn. That Sunday he traveled to Mock's barn to hear Thomas B. Marsh and Salah I. Griffin. He heard about the book of Mormon. His father-in-law was there also. James was baptized by Levi Hancock and confirmed by by Zebidee Coltrin in July 1831, Randolph Co, IN.James and Anna were called to live at Mount Pisgah, Iowa for 5 years to help the saintsmove through there. They were released from there calling there, left for the valley in 1852.James was influential in Coalville, he was called to be the bishop and a justice of the peace. He married his sons Isac and John.When Annah was in her 50's she was weak, unable to keep house. They took in a young Swedish girl, spoke no English, joined the church and came to America. Her name was Anna Marie Svensson, called Mary . Annah knew she was dying soon, Mary had been with them for three years. Annah asked James to take Mary as a plural wife if it was okay with the brethren. James was sealed to both wives 15 Aug. 1865.A daughter was born to Mary and James 23 Jun 1866, Rachel Stapleton Lewis.James said he was related to George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jefferson's wife and to Daniel Boone through his granfather Daniel Lewis .These were all through his father Joel Lewis line.


The following is a longer history found on the internet, compiled by a descendant, Janis Clark Durfee

                                                                                JAMES STAPLETON LEWIS
                                                                                            ANNA JONES
                                                                                  ANNA MARIA SVENSSON
                                                                                        (MARY SWENSON)
Introduction
From about 1829 until his death in 1901, James Stapleton Lewis recorded his experiences, thoughts and feelings on scraps of paper and later in ledger books that were apparently divided among his children after his death. In September 1964, a group of James' grandchildren gathered at the home of Wayne Lewis at Declo, Idaho, to decide how to preserve the only three remaining ledger books. These books had been in the possession of Hyrum Smith Lewis, Wayne's father and James and Mary's first son. The cousins decided to "have the narrative of the Journal copied and mimeographed and made available to the descendants of James S., Anna Jones and Mary Swenson, and call it 'The Remnant of the Journal of James Stapleton Lewis'"(Journal, Preface, p. 4). Those nine cousins are all gone now, but copies of Grandfather James' journal are treasured by hundreds of his descendants. 
Now, nearly forty years later, a group of cousins met again, this time over the Internet. The intent is still the same--to gather and preserve bits of information, history, and memories about James, Anna, Mary, their descendants and ancestors--and to share that information with other family members. 
Since most of the entries in James' remaining ledgers were written near the end of his life, there is little detail about Anna and her life. Through the sharing of family histories, we have discovered much more about her than we originally knew. Mary lived until 1918, so her children and grandchildren had many memories of her, and the Harper Family Organization has shared all of their genealogical research on her line. A wonderful amount of information about Grandfather James has been preserved. Family members, both past and present, with a love for family history and research have discovered a wealth of information about our Lewis ancestry. Most of it is quite accurate and well documented. Many lines still need to be researched, and at least one line continues to be very controversial. It is amazing, however, the amount of information that is available about people who lived two, three, and even four hundred years ago 
Many family members have spent hours collecting and writing histories about their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, to share at this reunion. Many photo albums and scrapbooks have been poured over, and treasured pictures and documents copied and shared. Just as importantly, family ties have been reestablished, and friendships have been kindled among cousins that have never even seen each other, but have shared in this undertaking. And we hope that as we meet at the reunion, many more lasting relationships will be established. 
It is not intended that this history focus on the religious aspects of James' life, or attempt to promote his religious beliefs. However, his religion was an inseparable part of who he was, and to write a history of the man is to write a history of his religion. Hyrum Lewis noted, "The life of James Stapleton Lewis cannot be adequately evaluated apart from the great role the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played in his affairs" (Hyrum,). James, Anna, and Mary sacrificed everything they had for the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
James Stapleton Lewis 
James' granddaughter, Clara Lewis Hall, was largely responsible for collecting and preserving many of the stories and information about the Lewis family. She described James in great detail, noting among other things that James had "coal black hair and bright piercing dark eyes" (Althea). 
He was an aristocrat in the truest sense of the word. He was tall, about six feet in height, but he seemed much taller because he held his head so high and walked with such pride and dignity. He left these words to his children: "Always appear at your very best. Nothing less than your best is ever good enough." He was a good conversationalist, and always used the best English he kneweven if he was conversing with young children; and we never knew of him using a word that could not have been used in the most polite society or in church. James S. was a poet(He wrote at least two poems, one of which is included at the end of the history--JCD). He loved the scriptures and arose at 4:00 A.M. in the summer and winter to read the Standard Works of the Church and Church History for two hours before the family awoke. He loved good singing and sang well himself. His best loved hymn was "Sweet is the Work, My God, My King" by Isaac WattsIn all the mobbing and driving and beatings by his enemies, the head of James S. may have been bloody but it remained unbowed. He has said in his writings: "I could be led by a cobweb but you couldn't drive me with a sledge hammer (Journal Preface, p. 2-3).
James' Early Life
James was born 22 February 1814 in Bellbrook, Greene, Ohio. He was the youngest of eight children born to Joel and Rachel Stapleton Lewis. He added the Stapleton name many years later in Utah at the advice of Brigham Young in order to distinguish himself from another James Lewis in the area 
(Letter to Joel, Lyn Misner History). 
Joel had been a soldier with General Anthony Wayne during the Indian Wars, traveling through much of Ohio and Indiana, helping to build several forts in the area. He later served as a mail carrier through much of that unsettled land. After his return home to North Carolina, he married Rachel, the orphan daughter of Joseph Stapleton, and they set up housekeeping on Dutchman Creek in Rowan County. It was here that their first four children, Sarah, Joseph, Richard, and Rachel were born. Joseph and Richard both died when they were about two years old. 
By 1806, Joel and Rachel had started west in company with Daniel Lewis Jr. and his wife, Hannah. Daniel was Joel's uncle and Hannah was Rachel's sister. They traveled through the Cumberland Gap, also known as Boone's Trace and later as the Wilderness Trail, stopping for some time in Crab Orchard, Lincoln, Kentucky, where their fifth child, Joel Lewis Jr., was born on 8 September 1806. They continued on to Bellbrook, Ohio, where Rachel's sisters, Nancy Sackett and Avis Von Eaton, and their families had moved some time before.
Three more sons were born to Rachel and Joel in Bellbrook: Richmond (1808), Green (1812), and James (1814). A year after James was born, his sister Sarah married John Hale, and three years later, Rachel married William Fallis. Joel Jr. rebelled against having to help with household chores after his sisters left home, and he ran away, joining a small band of Miami Indians. Richmond died in May of 1819 at the age of eleven, and eight year old Green died the following year, leaving James home alone (Love, p. 4). 
James attended school in Bellbrook, receiving an excellent education for the times. James wrote, "My first tuition at school was under Master Pelham then George Claney then Philip Criffield then Arthur Criffield then Thomas Polock then William Dobbins then John Mills then Edmund Hawes then David W. Brown then Edmun Cromley this brought me to the age of 16." (Journal, Book 2, p. 17). He became very proficient in reading and writing.
When James was eleven, Joel returned home from his stay with the Miami Indians. James was impressed with his older brother's adventures; in later years he would often tell stories about Joel. Joel had been impressed with the fertile country in Randolph County, Indiana, Within a few months of his return home, he married Mercy Fallis, sister of Rachel's husband, William, and they moved to Randolph County, settling on the banks of the Mississinewa River. Some of Joel's descendants are still living in the area. Rachel and William soon followed Joel and Mercy west. By the time James was sixteen, his father and mother had also moved to Indiana. A study of a map of Indiana suggests that they probably moved first to Randolph County, not too far distant from Bellbrook. Joel and Rachel apparently moved on fairly soon, finally settling in "the rich country where the Wabash and Eel rivers united," near Logansport, Cass County (death records, Love). James' journal is confusing in this matter; once he mentions moving with his family to Randolph County in 1829 and later he mentions leaving his parent's home in Logansport that same year. Rachel and William Fallis also moved on to Logansport. James' sister, Sarah and her husband, John Hale, moved to Whitely County, Indiana, about fifty miles northeast of Logansport. "None of the family of Joel Sr. were left in Greene County, Ohio--none save those who slept" (Love, p. 4). 
Conversion
Shortly after reaching Indiana, James set out on his own, living in Randolph County, near Deerfield. His mother, a devout woman, gave him a Bible, telling him that it would "lead him in the right path." James treasured that Bible, studying from it and recording family information within its pages. (His granddaughter, Clara Hall, came into possession of it in 1958, and in 2000, her husband, Vaughn Hall still has the Bible. The pages listing the family history are missing, however).
In the summer of 1829 I left my fathers home in Logansport and struck out for myself. I had a good wagon and good span of mules, a gun and plenty of ammunition, a good ax and a Bible. What more could a young man want to start out to seek his fortune (Journal). 
The next year, 1831, an event occurred which would dramatically change the course of James' life. He recorded the happening in his journal:
I, James Stapleton Lewis, will say of my father, Joel Lewis Sen. that he was a great reader of the Bible, but was not a professor of the religion of his time. My mother was baptized into the Church of England when quite young. She taught me to revere the Bible above all other books. When I was a boy at school, a Book providentially fell into my hands called the "American Antiquarian," which had an influence with me in determining my course in life. By it I learned that America had surely been peopled by a race of inhabitants far more civilized than the present race of Indians.
All civilized nations keep records. The question with me was, were they Christian and of what kind. As to the religious matters, my mind was curiously worked upon. I believed the Bible, but as far as the sects were known to me, I was infidel. At my age, I was disgusted with much that was called religion, and promised myself never to engage in any religion that I did not know to be true. And if I obtained that fact, I never would depart from it as I had seen many do -- join the church in an excited time and soon after become dissatisfied and more wicked and corrupt than ever before. 
A secret something seemed to whisper that I was young and in the course of my days would see something of as good authority as in the days of the apostles of old. When about seventeen years of age, a man, an ex-preacher, came near where I was staying, late in the evening, did not dismount but said he had rode forty miles that day to overtake two Mormonite preachers that have a golden Bible taken out of the earth, that they were preaching the ancient apostolic doctrine and that next Sunday they would preach in Mock's barn. All of this was said almost without taking a breath. My own thoughts I cannot explain, but my first thought was that this is the very thing I have thought would come in the course of my days. 
The words I had heard went through me in every part of my system. I remembered the Bible, also what I had learned of the ancient peoples of America, and above all the secret whispering now settled more strongly than ever before. Sunday I went and heard Thomas B. Marsh preach on the prophecies, and Selah I. Griffin told how the Book of Mormon was translated and bore his testimony. I was greatly surprised to see the multitude of people. 
Squire Jones, an ex-preacher, was put forward to talk with them. False reports had not yet reached there. Squire Jones could ask questions they could not answer, but they answered many questions he had never heard answered before. And my father-in-law, Squire John Jones, went home a wiser and better man than he came, for he never raised his voice against their doctrine. 
Soon after, two other Elders came, Levi W. Hancock and Zebedee Coltrin, and began baptizing my associates and many others, sometimes a dozen at a time. I was sorry to see them so forward, for they went out of the church very much as they came into the church. Of myself, I think I was better prepared to endure than many of my own age. The Elders quoted liberally from the scriptures. I was careful to see every one of them with my own eyes and knew they were in my mother's Bible.
Taking in all of my evidences of scripture and my antiquarian evidence of older nations of our own American country, and above all those secret whisperings that no human could give, the last of the baptisms in our place was Sister Jackson, her sister, Anna Jones, and myself. I was baptized by Levi W. Hancock in water and the Holy Ghost before I set my feet on dry land, where I was confirmed by Zebidee Coltrin July 1831, Randolph County, State of Indiana.
The last three that were baptized were all of that branch of the church that gathered with the saints and died in the faith. Sister Elizabeth Jones Jackson died in Clay County, Missouri, 1835. Her sister, Anna Jones Lewis, died in Box Elder County, Utah, 1875, and I alone am left to bear testimony to their integrity, and their memory has a warm place in my heart in the year of our Lord 1900, Cassia Stake of Zion, Idaho. J. S. Lewis (Journal, p 36).
. (Note: In other journal entries, James explained that Mock was a "wealthy Dutch farmer at whose house (he) was intimately acquainted." Joel and his family lived on Dutchman's Creek near Mocksville, North Carolina. There is some speculation that Mr. Mock might have been their neighbor there, also moving to Indiana. James also named the rider as Jackson. James would later serve a mission with a "Brother Jackson", and his future sister-in-law, Elizabeth Jones, married Henry Jackson. It's possible that he is referring to the same person.