Sonoma County Biography
Charles Wadsworth Lewis
The only child of the late John Bacon Lewis, one of the hardy ‘49ers and subsequently a prosperous rancher of Lakeville, Charles Wadsworth Lewis has made the best of his inheritance and advantages. He was born on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, November 29, 1853, and spent his boyhood days on the old Lewis farm near Lakeville, Sonoma county, receiving his early education in the public schools of that district. In 1868 he went to Connecticut, where he spent two years at the Stamford Military Academy and afterwards completed his education at Farmington, Conn. He was impelled by ambition and a determination to make the most of his advantages, as well as to satisfy his father’s desire, who having been deprived of higher education in his youth and early manhood, was anxious that his son should at least have all that the local schools could afford. He then learned the machinist’s trade in Unionville, Conn., which he followed for a period of five years. Having spent his early life on the farm his tastes naturally reverted to agriculture and in 1875 he returned to California and embarked in the dairy business on the old home place at Lakeville, which occupation he followed for fifteen years. In 1890 he moved to Petaluma and engaged in the bicycle and repair business, having the agency of the Rambler, Racycle and Tribune bicycles, together with a splendid equipment for repair work. He erected a two-story building on his own property on Washington street, between the business portion of the city and the railway depots.
As one of the heirs to the old Lewis ranch of five hundred acres near Lakeville, which he manages and has fitted up as a dairy, with a good herd of cows as well as horses and machinery for operating the same, Mr. Lewis is meeting with the deserved success that has followed him in all his undertakings. At No. 5 English street he erected a modern residence and in the rear he built a shop which is equipped with modern wood working machinery.
In September, 1874, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with Miss Julia A. Davis, at Unionville, Conn., and of this union four children, three daughters and one son, were born, viz.: John D., whose death occurred when he was ten years of age; Mabel, Mrs. Osmon, of Cloverdale; Elizabeth, Mrs. Leon Wallace, of Petaluma; and Julia B., Mrs. Charles Cox, of Fruitvale. His second marriage took place in Petaluma March 24, 1904, when Miss Mary Elizabeth Goodwin became his wife. She was the adopted daughter of William Mock, who was a graduate of West Point and whose sketch appears in another part of this work. Mrs. Lewis is a lady of much culture and refinement and her love of the beautiful is shown in a marked degree in her home and its surroundings. Mr. Lewis is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood and in politics is a Republican. It may well be said of him that he is one of Petaluma’s first citizens, liberal minded and progressive, a champion of every worth cause, his charities being numerous, his kindheartedness and generosity being his leading characteristics.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
March 2010 Pages 515-516
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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