Siney & Elizabeth Lewis

Excerpt from Jennie Lewis Hullinger "Personal Record"

Elizabeth Coleman and Siney Lewis Sr. on their Wedding Day.

"My father Siney Lewis Sr. and Elizabeth Coleman, both pioneers of Utah, moved to Ashley Valley in the year 1896 from Midway, Wasatch Co. Utah. They were eight days on the road. My half brother William age sixteen drove the cattle. And with their household goods and a family of nine children they came here while the Valley was still in its early stages of settlement."

"Father had previously made a trip here and had liked the looks of the country. They came in June when crops looked at their very best and they felt it an ideal place to settle."

"They bought a 60 acre farm in Glines Ward near the Measer Ward line, from a man named Alf Anderson."

"Glines Mtg House. First Chapel Mother (Jennie) Attended."

"It was four years later on Dec. 6, 1900 on my mother's 44th birthday that I made my appearance into this world. The twelfth child, with four older living brothers and six older sisters. Their names in their order were: David, Lenora, Annie, Minnie, Siney, Franklin, Mary, Georgiana, Chas (Charles), Aaron, and Birdie. And contrary to most cases I wasn't very much wanted especially by my older brothers and sisters. My mother's health was very poor and they had previously had a baby just eighteen months before, which satisfied all desires for a baby in the home, and one more was just another one for my sisters to care for."

Siney & Elizabeth Lewis Family. Jennie is the Dark Haired baby in front, on her Mother's Lap.

Elizabeth Coleman Lewis

Elizabeth Coleman Lewis:

from Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude 1779

BIRTHDATE: 6 Dec 1856, Hemel-Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
DEATH: 18 Dec 1932, Vernal, Utah
PARENTS: George Coleman, Elizabeth Bailey Coleman
PIONEER: 26 Oct 1864, William Hyde Wagon Company
SPOUSE: Siney Lewis Sr.
MARRIED: 5 Jan1874, Salt Lake City, Utah
DEATH SPOUSE: 28 Nov 1929, Vernal, Utah
CHILDREN: David 23 Nov 1874, Leonora 16 Aug 1876, Annie Elizabeth 8 May 1878, Minnie "C" 21 Sep 1880, Siney Jr. 6 June 1883, Franklin "C" 22 Jul 1885, Mary 25 Nov 1887, Georgianna 12 Jul 1890, Charles Preston 3 Mar 1892, Aaron 17 Jan 1894, Birda 9 Jun 1899, Jennie 6 Dec 1900

"Elizabeth Coleman Lewis was born in England, the tenth child of a family of eleven children. Her parents kept a little shop and sold grocery items and fuel. They were thrifty middle-class people. Elizabeth had some schooling. She learned to make lace with bobbins and to prepare the straw to make straw hats. Mormon missionaries converted the family in 1844. Elizabeth was seven years of age when she came to Utah with her parents, a brother and two sisters. The family sailed from London on the ship "Hudson" on 3 Jun 1864 and landed in New York. Elizabeth was very ill with Mountain Fever for many weeks after they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 26 Oct 1864. she had walked most of the way across the Plains. They made their home in the Holladay area of the Salt Lake Valley."

"They suffered extensively from poverty and hard work. Elizabeth showed a great aptness in using her hands, harmonizing colors into beautiful articles such as hair nets, hair wreaths, fancy work, wool flowers and straw flowers. She became very skilled in braiding straw for hats. On 5 Jan 1874, at age seventeen, Elizabeth married Siney Lewis, Sr. in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was eight years her senior. In order to help out financially, Elizabeth knit stockings and gloves. She also took in washings for a family of twelve. with the money she bought a sewing machine to sew overalls for Z.C.M.I. department store. She often had to sit up sewing by candle light until one or two in the morning in order to reach the quota assigned to her. She shared the machine with her husband's plural wife."

"Elizabeth was never satisfied without accomplishing something each day. Even when old she never lost her pride even though much of what she did was drudgery. her poetical nature craved pretty things: a pretty handkerchief, a piece of good jewelry, a bit of lace, some mild perfume. She was of a religious nature and had great faith in prayer. She taught her children to rely on the Lord. She was loving and loyal to her family. She and her husband were married for 55 years. She gave birth to twelve children; five sons and seven daughters. Two died in childhood and three were born prematurely. When her daughter, Minnie, died at the age of forty-five Elizabeth went to her home and cared for her husband and eight children. She became more and more grief-stricken and soon became desperately ill. She lived three years after that, but was never entirely well again. Elizabeth died 18 Dec 1932 in Vernal, Utah just for years after her husband. Her daughter, Mary, wrote this tribute about her mother. 'My mother was not a public worker. A woman rearing twelve children of her own and two of another woman's had very little time. To me, her life was a beautiful tapestry - the tones subdued and blended with only a bright spot here and there for variety.' Elizabeth is loved and revered by her posterity."

Elizabeth Coleman and Siney Lewis Sr. January 5, 1874, Salt Lake City, Utah Caption reads: "My father and mother on their Wedding Day."

Duritha Trail Lewis

Duritha Trail Lewis

BIRTHDATE: 5 Jan 1813 Franklin, Simpson Co., Kentucky
DEATH: 1 April 1878 Holladay, Salt Lake Co., Utah
PARENTS: Solomon Trail, Nancy Durant Trail
PIONEER: 10 Oct 1850 Joseph Young Wagon Company
SPOUSE: David Lewis
MARRIED: 23 Nov 1834 Franklin, Kentucky
DEATH SPOUSE: 2 Sept 1855 Parowan, Iron Co., Utah
CHILDREN: Mahala Arminta 20 Oct 1835, Preston King 15 Nov 1839, David 1 March 1843, Sidney/Siney (twin) 1 Aug 1848, Olive (Brenton) 1 Aug 1848, William Trail 14 June 1852.

"Duritha was born in Kentucky, 1813. She was the daughter of a wealthy land owner. She lived on a beautiful plantation ans was waited on by slaves. At age 21, she married David Lewis. They became members of the L.D.S. Church 21 Mar 1835, and in 1837 they took their daughter Arminta and went 60 miles to join the Mormons in Missouri. they build a home about 18 miles from Far West by Haun's Mill. In 1838 the massacre took the life of David's brother Benjamin and wounded his brother Tarlton. David had five holes in his clothing, but no wounds. They hid in a thicket with their two year old. David was held prisoner three weeks and finally released."

"Duritha was in Kentucky while David served a mission. A son was born. Her father died leaving her three slaves, two women and a man, clothes, money and food supplies. They joined the saints in Nauvoo. it was from here that daughter Arminta eloped. they never saw her again. Although they heard rumors she was married and had children. Twins were born in Mosquito Creek, Iowa in 1848. The Lewises crossed the plains in the Joseph Wagon Train, arriving in Salt Lake City 10 Oct 1850. Duritha's trials increased as the winter was long, hard and they suffered with lack of food. her last child was born when she was thirty-eight years old, making six in all. She used her inheritance to buy a small house and ten acres of land where the City and County building now stands. Later she moved to Holladay."

"David married two other women and went south to help colonize the territory serving in the Presidency of the Indian Mission, leaving Duritha with five children and the slave Jerry. her son Preston and Jerry hauled wood and other work to support the family. Duritha was left a widow at age 42, when David died Sep 1855 of a stroke in Parowan and was buried there. Her second son David Jr. went to California to find work, became ill and died there at the age of twenty-five. William, her youngest boy, died at fifteen and Olive died at age thirty-two. Duritha died in Holladay at age sixty-five and was probably buried there, although her gravesite has not been located. She had been a widow for over twenty-two years."