William Harrison Lewis was a half brother to Birda.
He came through Siney Lewis Sr. and his second wife, Elizabeth Blair.
Unfortunately, no known photo of William exists.
:(
According to this document the following dates apply:
BIRTH: 9 Dec 1879- Holladay, Salt Lake, Utah*
DEATH: 3/4 May 1896- Vernal, Uintah, Utah*
He was 16 years old when he died.
Newspaper notice:
 |
| SOURCE: Vernal Express 1896, May 7, p.4 |
Newspaper notice transcribed:
"... A young man in Fourth Ward by the name of Lewis 16 years old, died Sunday of typhoid pneumonia..."
The reason I can tie this notice to "Willie" Lewis is due to the following written history that indicates his existence, as well of that of his sister, Lottie:
From the written document, "Memories of my Father, Siney Lewis Sr." written by his daughter, Mary Hatch on 18 Jun 1958, and found in the personal documents of Glen Hatch, there is this indication:
"(p.1)... Shortly after we moved to Midway, Betty died and left two children. Four other children had died before and Lottie and William were the children she left. Father brought little Willie to Mother where he lived until his death at 16 years old...
(p.2)... During our first year in Vernal, we lost our dear brother, Willie, at 16 years old. (He was Betty's son.) He was never well and strong. He had what they called inflammatory rheumatism- a very painful thing, and he suffered constantly. It was then that Father, in his sorrow, wondered if we had done the right thing in moving to Vernal..."
Another document written by Mary Hatch, "My Life" (written 25 Dec 1956) found in the personal albums of Glen Hatch, recalled this detail as well (p.12):
"...The next fall, after we moved to
Vernal, we lost Willie at the age of 16.
He never was a healthy child.
I can still see his round, pale face. I wasn’t old enough to think much about his sickness, but I
remember a strange incident at the time of his death. It was thought that he had passed away. Father and several others were by his
bed when, all of a sudden, he raised up.
He said, “He had been on the other side, that he had seen his mother and
Jesus and that he was going to them, that he wasn’t permitted to stay here any
longer.” He said many strange
things, then passed away. As he
lay there so still and white, I’d slip around to the back of the sofa that he
was on and peek over and watch and think- why did they put money on his eyes,
why couldn’t he breathe, etc. A
new experience had come into my life.
I wasn’t too sad. It isn’t
meant that children grieve too much..."
Headstone:
Death certificates are not available in Utah until 1904, so unfortunately there is no further paper trail I can find on Willie to this point. Dang.
*These dates are derived not only from indications in the newspaper, but from the information provided through billiongraves.com (see link in the source info below the headstone image) and family group records. The only discrepancy is that the newspaper would date his death as May 3, while the billiongraves records and family records state it was May 4. Birth location was derived from information provided on a family group record, though I haven't been able to find evidence of this elsewhere. A possible source would be through: LDS Midway Ward #6408, p.62, line 1546. I will have to confirm this at a later date...
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