Elijah Lewis was born on a farm near Creal Springs February 27, 1878, the son of John P. Lewis and Adeline Kennedy. His father John was a teacher in the Crab Orchard precinct.
Leaving the farm upon attaining his sixteenth year, he prepared himself for a school teacher by attending Crab Orchard Academy and later Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale.
After leaving college, he taught school for three years and gave up the profession to take work more profitable, connected with the construction of the electric line then building from Marion to Herrin and Carterville, known as the Coal Belt Electric Railroad. His faithful services with this road led to his promotion and in 1904, he became assistant superintendent.
On September 15, 1906, he was married to Miss Lucy Allen, daughter of E. L. Allen of Marion. The couple had their first child, a daughter named Evelyn on July 18, 1907.
When the 1910 census was taken, Elijah 32, Lucy 25 and their daughter Evelyn 2 were renting at 404 W. Main Street and Elijah listed his occupation as Superintendent with a railroad, presumably still the Coal Belt Electric Line.
In 1914, the couple had their second and last child, a son named Theron Lewis.
He severed his connections with Coal Belt Electric around 1915 and entered the coal business, developing a mine which was operated under the name of the Herrin & Big Muddy Coal Co.
By 1918 when Elijah registered for the WWI draft the couple had purchased a home at 504 Thorne Place and he listed his occupation as a self-employed coal operator. He was physically described as 5’ 8” in height, with a stout build, brown eyes, dark hair and no impairments.
In 1919, he became interested in the Diamond Motor Sales Company, holding the position of manager.
Mr. Lewis first entered politics in the spring of 1919, when he was nominated as the Republican candidate for mayor of Marion, and was elected by a safe majority in a heated contest. He was re-elected after that term and served as Mayor of Marion till 1923.
By the 1920 census, Elijah had opened up an automobile sales business of his own called Lewis Motor Sales at 204-206 E. Main Street across the street from the U.S. Post Office building which was only two years old then. Elijah was then 42 years old, Lucy was 35, Evelyn 12 and Theron 5.
Elijah’s wife Lucy died in 1925, leaving him a widower with two children to raise. Lucy was buried in Maplewood Cemetery.
With the death of his wife and the stock market crash of 1929 signaling the start of the depression, the sales of cars crashed with the economy and Elijah left Marion seeking work.
The widowed, 51 year old Lewis was found in the 1930 census living in Racine, Wisconsin with his two children and renting a home at a cost of $70 a month, a very high rent for the times. He was working as a branch manager of the Harvester Manufacturing Company. His daughter Evelyn, who was then 21, was working as a saleslady at a dry goods department store helping ends meet. Theron was 15 and still attending school.
The depression hit the industrious Lewis hard, by the 1940 census, his children had moved on with their lives and he was found to be a salesman at age 62 living alone in a hotel in Rockford, Illinois. He had only worked 20 weeks in the previous year of 1939 making $300 for the year.
When Lewis filled out his WWII draft registration in April of 1942 at age 64, he was living in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with his son Theron at 513 S. 13th Street and was unemployed. His physical description was 5’ 8 ½” tall, 200 lbs., hazel eyes, grey hair and balding.
Elijah Lewis continued to live with his son Theron who later moved to Springfield, Illinois. He died on December 17, 1963 in Springfield, Illinois and was interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
The following is a quote from the book Williamson County in the World War, written in 1919, “Farm boy in his youth, country school teacher during his early manhood to a position of assistant superintendent of a railroad and now prominent business man of Marion of which city he has only recently been honored by being chosen as its mayor, is the steps by which Mayor Elijah Lewis has scaled the ladder of success.”
Sam’s Notes:
Evelyn Lewis, born July 18, 1907, doesn’t appear to have ever married. Died on October 16, 1995 in Waterloo, Iowa.
Theron Lewis, born in 1914-died in Winslow, Illinois on March 20, 2002
(Data extracted from Williamson County in the World War; Federal Census Records; Marion City Directories; Marion City Cemetery Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca on July 18, 2013)