I detail below my direct Lewis ancestors. Further information about others in the family and related surnames are provided in links.

John Lewis (c. 1802 - 1866) and Esther Cowlard (c. 1803 - 1872)

John Lewis was born c. 1802 in Stone, Kent. He worked as a carpenter and spent much of his adult life living in nearby Downe, a villiage in the London Borough of Bromley. John married Esther (Hester) Cowlard born c. 1803 in Chipstead, Kent. They had at least 5 children, all born and raised in Downe: George (born c. 1828), William (c. 1830), John (c. 1834), Edward (c. 1837) and Eliza (c. 1846). John and Esther lived in Downe at the same time as it's rather famous resident Charles Darwin, who moved to Down House in 1842 where he worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection. John died in 1866 (cause of death - diseased prostate) and Esther died in 1872.

George, William, John and Edward all followed their father's trade and worked as carpenters, although William later changed profession and became innkeeper at 'The George' in Addlestone, Surrey. With the exception of William, they continued to live in and around Downe. I have been unable to trace the whereabouts of Eliza after 1861.

George Lewis (c. 1828 - 1905) and Mary Roffe (c. 1832 - ?)

John and Esther's eldest son was George, my 3 times great grandfather, born c. 1828 in Downe. George lived with John and Esther until his marriage in February 1852 to Mary Roffe at Cudham Parish Church. Mary was born c. 1832 in nearby Orpington and was the daughter of William Roffe, a fruiterer, also from Kent. George and Mary had 8 children born over a twenty year span from approx. 1853 to 1873: George William, Mary Ann, Hettie, Priscilla, John, Naomi, Frederick and Issac. George and Mary had several addresses in Orpington, Cudham and Otford but, after Mary's death c. 1887, George settled in Dunton Green, Otford where he lodged with the 'Inkpen' family at 'Brickfields'. His son Frederick remained nearby and worked as a brickyard labourer. Like his father before him, George was a carpenter. He died in 1905 from a cerebral haemorragh, having lived to the respectable age of 77 years, and his death certificate shows his occupation as 'carpenter and wheelwright (journeyman)'.

George William Lewis (1853 - ?) and Malina Sarah Aiston (1849 - ?)

George William Lewis was born in Downe, Kent, on the 19th June 1853. He was a carpenter like his father and grandfather before him. He moved from Kent to Wycombe in Buckinghamshire some time between 1871 and 1881 and was married in 1876 to Malina Sarah Aiston at the Baptist Union Chapel in Wycombe. Malina was born in 1849, also in Kent. The papermaking trade may have brought Malina and her family from Kent to Wycombe since her father Samuel was manager of the Beech paper mill in Wycombe and carpentry may well have been the reason why George also moved since Wycombe was famed for it's furniture trade which began in the 19th century with chairmaking. Whether George and Malina met in Kent or in Wycombe is not known. George and Malina had 8 children: William George (born c. 1877), Daisy Abigail Mary (c. 1879), Arthur Percy Aiston (1881), Ernest (1884), Bertie Harry (1886), Bernard (1889), Frederick (1892) and Harold (1896). It seems likely that the Lewis' were connected to the local furniture making trade, Ernest being recorded as an upholsterer and Bertie a french polisher on the 1901 census.

Arthur Percy Aiston Lewis (1881 - 1956) and Alice Howard (1879 - 1943)

George and Malina's son Arthur was my great grandfather. He was born on the 7th May 1881 in Wycombe and carries Malina's maiden name, Aiston, as a second name. In the 1901 census, when Arthur was 18 years old, he and his elder brother William are living in Colnbrook and are shown as servants to a Congregational Minister - Arthur in the role of gardener. It was (presumably) in Colnbrook that Arthur met my great grandmother, Alice Howard, and possibly due to his connection with the Congregational Minister since the Howard family appear to have been non-conformists. Arthur and Alice were married in October 1904 at Tyler's Green, Buckinghamshire. They spent the first part of their married life living in West Wycombe in a small house known as 'The Round House' on the edge of the Dashwood Estate where Arthur worked as a gardener. They had three children: Percy (1905 - 1976), Irene (1907 - ) and Phyllis (1909 - 1998), my grandmother. Arthur later moved the family to Laleham in Middlesex and it is here that he and Alice died and are buried.

Phyllis Violet Lewis (1909 - 1998)