Francis Lewis

Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of New York in the Continental Congress.

Early life Lewis was born in Llandaff, Wales, on March 21, 1713. He was the son of Morgan Lewis and Anne Lewis of Newport. Lewis was educated at Westminster School in London.

Personal life

In 1745, Lewis married to Elizabeth Annesley (died 1779), a sister of his business partner, Thomas Annesley. Together, they were the parents of seven children, three of whom survived to adulthood:

Ann Lewis (1748–1802), who married Captain George Robertson (1742–1791) of the Royal Navy. Francis Lewis Jr. (1749–1814), who served as churchwarden of St George's Parish in Flushing, New York, from 1791 to 1794. He married Elizabeth Ludlow (d. 1831), daughter of Gabriel Ludlow, Esq. Morgan Lewis (1754–1844), who married Gertrude Livingston, the daughter of Judge Robert Livingston of Clermont. He was a governor and attorney general of New York.

In 1775, Lewis acquired and relocated his family to an estate located in Whitestone, in present-day Queens. The home was later destroyed after the Battle of Long Island by British forces, who also arrested his wife Elizabeth. She was eventually released in a prisoner exchange for the wives of two wealthy Loyalists from Philadelphia, though the hardships Elizabeth endured in captivity ruined her health and led to her death in 1779.

Through his eldest surviving daughter Ann, he was a grandfather to Marianne Robertson (1779–1829), who married John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury and brother of Charles Richard Sumner, bishop of Winchester. Through his son Morgan, he was a grandfather of Margret Lewis (1780–1860), who married New York lawyer and politician Maturin Livingston and became parents to twelve children.

Death and legacy Memorial to Francis Lewis at Trinity Church Cemetery, New York City. Lewis died on December 31, 1802, although his memorial in Trinity Church Cemetery gives his year of death as 1803.

In Queens, New York, Francis Lewis High School and P.S. 79 "The Francis Lewis School" are named after Lewis. Francis Lewis Boulevard, which locals sometimes refer to as "Franny Lew" or "Franny Lewie," stretches almost the entire north–south length of the borough. Francis Lewis Park is located under the Queens approach of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. A society of the Children of the American Revolution located in Queens, NY, is named for him. A masonic lodge, Francis Lewis #273, is located in Whitestone.