MR. JAMES P. BREE,
New Haven, Conn.
MR. THOMAS J. LYNCH
Augusta, Me.
FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.
SOME IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA.
BY HON. JOSEPH T. LAWLESS,[[14]] RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
Perhaps the most distinguished man of Irish birth who identified himself completely with Virginia, was Gen. Andrew Lewis, who was born in Ireland about 1720, and came to Virginia with his parents in 1732. John Lewis, the father, was the first white man who fixed his home in the mountains of West Augusta.
Andrew Lewis served as a major in the regiment commanded by Washington in the Ohio campaign of 1754 and 1755. He served with valor in the French and Indian wars, and was highly regarded by Washington, at whose suggestion he was appointed a brigadier-general in the Continental army. Four of his brothers served in the Revolutionary War, one of them, Col. Charles Lewis, being killed at Point Pleasant. No better evidence of the value which Virginia placed on the services of this Irishman could be wished than the fact that she has deemed his effigy worthy to stand for all time beside the immortal group of Henry, Mason, Marshall, Nelson and Jefferson, which surrounds the heroic equestrian statue of Washington in the Capitol Square at Richmond. This celebrated work of Crawford’s is pronounced by the critics to be one of the finest in the world.
Descendants of John Lewis, the father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, are numerous in the state at this day. Some of them have been very distinguished men: John F. Lewis, who died recently, was lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and a senator of the United States. Lunsford L. Lewis, his half-brother, was president of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia for twelve years, retiring from that office a few years ago. Dr. Lewis Wheat is a well-known practising physician of Richmond. Judge John Lewis Cochran, whose mother was a great-granddaughter of John Lewis, father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, and whose great-grandfather, with his wife, née Susanna Donnelly, came to America about 1742, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and a distinguished lawyer and judge. James C. Cochran, brother to the foregoing, was a colonel of Confederate militia in the late war. Henry King Cochran served as a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war. William Lynn Cochran was a major in the Confederate service, and a lawyer by profession. Howard Peyton Cochran was a captain in the same service. It is claimed that there were one hundred and five of the Lewis family in the service of the Confederate states.