David Chambers Lewis Obituary, 1913

LEWIS, DAVID CHAMBERS
from the Trenton Evening Times, 5 Jun 1913
LEWIS, PROMINENT IN MANY WAYS, IS DEAD
Cranbury Man Was "Forty-Niner" and Long Active in Masonic, Religious and Other Circles.
Special to the Times.

CRANBURY, June 5. - David Chambers Lewis, Cranbury's oldest resident, passed away at his home here
last night, aged 88 years.

Always active and energetic Mr. Lewis was noted for his systematic regularity of life, and was
seldom ill even for a day until he was stricken on Monday, May 26.
In matters of religious, social, political and civic, Mr. Lewis took an active part. He was
an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church and was always present at the Sunday and mid-week
services. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, being a past master and a charter member of Apollo
Lodge, No. 156, (may be 136) F. & A. M., of Cranbury, instituted in 1885. At a special meeting of
the lodge in April 1905, a handsome crayon portrait of Mr. Lewis was unveiled, which has been
procured without his knowledge. He was the grand representative of the M.W. Grand Lodge of Western
Australia to the M.W. Grand Lodge of the Jurisdictiours of New Jersey. He was for sixty years a
member of the I.O.O.F. and represented the Grand Lodge at the institution of the first I.O.O.F. lodge
in San Francisco.

In politics, Mr. Lewis was a Republican of the most ardent type and had filled a number of
local offices. He was a director of the First National Bank of Cranbury and a member of the Village
Improvement Society. Mr. Lewis was well-informed and progressive in every way and his opinions
were always worthy of consideration.

Mr. Lewis had lived in various parts of the United States, including California, Chicago and a
number of Jersey towns. His middle life was spent on a farm near town. Some years ago he retired
from active business and lived along Brainerd Lake, on the place where he was born, but a new
house has replaced the structure where his father carried on a shoe business.

In August, 1853, Mr. Lewis married Miss Rose Stonaker, who survives him. She is in her
eighty-sixty year. December 22, 1904, the couple were given a surprise by a party of relatives and
friends, in honor of their two birthdays. One son, Cloero (name not clear, may be Cicero or something
else) survives. There are five grandchildren: Mrs. F.S. Davis, Jr., of East Orange, Mrs. Fred
Maple and Miss. Clementine Lewis of Trenton, Miss Hattie Lewis and David C. Lewis, Jr., of this
place. He is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Reuben Tooker of East Orange.

WAS A FORTY-NINER

One of the most exciting experiences in the life of Mr. Lewis was when, as a "Forty-Niner" he
joined the army of gold-seekers in California, and following are extracts from his diary kept at
that time: "In 1848 the firm of Chambers & Heiser, dry goods house of Liberty Street, New York,
learned authoritatively of the wonderful discovery of gold in California, and fitted out a vessel
with a cargo of goods for a store to be opened by two young men in San Francisco, Cal. These goods
were shipped by the brig Belfast. At that time I was working in the railroad shops at Bordentown.
The New York firm sent my brother, C.H. Lewis, to Bordentown to see if I would go to California.
I sailed from New York, February 5, 1849, by the steamer Cresent City for the Isthmus of Panama.
We reached Chagres after a pleasant voyage and were landed by small boats at Gorgona, where we
waited for several days before we could be transported to Panama by pack animals. While in Panama,
the brig!

Belfast came into port and I secured passage on that, arriving at San Francisco April 1, 1849.
Mr. Lewis remained only a few years in California. His brother, C.H. Lewis, made his home in
Portland, Oregon, and became one of the very wealthy residents of that state.
The funeral will be held Saturday afternoon from his late home at 2 o'clock. The services
will be conducted by the Rev. Adolos S. Allen, of the Second Presbyterian Church; the Rev. J.E.
Curry, of the First Presbyterian Church, Cranbury, and the Rev. Joseph S. VanDyke, of Hightstown.
Interment will be in Second Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Cranbury.