Mary Ann Dickinson was the sister of my great-great-grandfather, Harry Dickinson. She had a strong bond with Harry and his children and some of their children were close friends too. Harry's daughter, Emma, mentions several of them in her 1919 diary, which you can read here.
Mary Ann Dickinson married first to Joseph Proctor, just before leaving England, in 1880. Together they had seven known children in America, three of whom died in infancy. They had three young children and one on the way when Joseph died on April 2, 1891. He was only 35 years old and the cause of death was Apoplexy. See my previous post for details on the Proctors.
Three years after Mr. Proctor's death, Mary Ann married Samuel Lewis, a 33-year old immigrant from South Wales, a son of John and Margaret (Phillips) Lewis. Samuel was born March 15, 1861, in South Wales, and was counted on the 1861 census of Wales a month later, age "1 month". His family lived on Swansea Road in Llanguick, Glamorgan, in southern Wales. This aligns with the age given on his marriage license, shown below. Later, though, on the 1900 census, his birth year is given as 1859, and the error is repeated on his death certificate, which confirms both of his parents' names, but reports his birth date as March 15, 1859. This year is clearly incorrect. I haven't found a birth or baptismal record to prove it, but the age given by his parents on the 1861 census, when he was just one month old, is far more reliable than the year calculated by his wife 41 years later when the 1900 census was taken.
Samuel Lewis's marriage to Mary Ann was his first marriage and it took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 22, 1894. They were married by Rev. William Rodenbaugh, perhaps at the United Methodist Church.
Mary Ann and Samuel Lewis were found living together on the census in 1900. They lived near Harry Dickinson. A 1902 directory of Pittsburgh lists Samuel Lewis, stonemason, living at 4911 Cypress Street, so they moved to Cypress Street around 1901 and remained there until 1938. It was a five minute walk from her brother, Harry's home on Gross Street. You can see the home and neighborhood where Mary Ann lived with Samuel and their children for nearly four decades in this interactive Google map:
Samuel Lewis died at Pittsburgh, on February 13, 1919, from Exhaustion. He was 57 years old. The news was received by Harry Dickinson and the family in Newark the following day. See Emma Dickinson's diary entry for Feb. 14 here.
Samuel's naturalization certificate, dated June 11, 1889, and his death certificate are shown here:
Mary Ann lived until Jan. 6, 1938. The cause of her death was Cerebral Hemorrhage, with Generalized Arteriosclerosis and Senile Dementia contributing. She was 80 years old. Leave her a flower on Findagrave!
Mary Ann and here family on the census:
Known descendants of Mary Ann (Dickinson) and Samuel Lewis are shown here: (I've highlighted the ones that may have living descendants today, to the best of my knowledge. Please correct me on any errors or omissions in the comments below).
1) Lillian M. (Lewis) King
Lillian M. Lewis, was born in July of 1895, probably at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She married in January or February of 1919, to John W. King, called "Jack King" in her cousin, Emma Dickinson's diary entry for Feb. 18, 1919. John King was born December 24, 1890, a son of George W. King and Mary E. Cranston, according to his death certificate. John and Lillian were living on Cypress Street in Pittsburgh with Lillian's recently widowed mother, Mary Ann Lewis, in 1920. John King was an insurance broker. They had a daughter, Ruth Lillian King, on Sept. 19, 1919. The news of Lillian's first born child reached the Dickinsons in Newark ten days later. See Emma Dickinson's diary entry here.
In 1930, they were still living on Cypress Street and, still, Ruth was the only child in the home. I have yet to locate the family on the 1940 census, but in 1950, John (age 59) and Lillian (age 54) were living on Reifert Street in Pittsburgh. He was still working as an insurance broker. John King died of cancer at Pittsburgh on January 8, 1966. The official cause of death was Metastatic Carcinoma Bones and Bladder with Carcinoma of Prostate contributing. The informant was his wife, Lillian D. King, 204 Reifert Street, perhaps the building shown below. Lillian (Lewis) King lived another 19 years and died in 1985. Both she and John King are buried in Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh. (Findagrave). Did their daughter, Ruth, marry or have children?
2) Samuel H. Lewis
Samuel H. Lewis was born July 3, 1898, at Pittsburgh. He married Elizabeth Williams, with whom he had two known children. He died at the age of 28, on December 16, 1926. The cause of death was Empyema (Left Chest) Probably from a Lobar Pneumonia. In 1930, his widow and two children were living in the home of Elizabeth's parents on Milgate Street in Pittsburgh:
known children of Samuel & Elizabeth Lewis were:
Ethel Elizabeth Lewis, born August 16, 1934, at Pittsburgh. She married James G. Barnett after 1954, and they had at least two children: Judy and Joyce. James died on July 26, 1993, in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had six grandchildren at the time of his death. Ethel died Nov. 10, 2005, and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. (Findagrave)
Samuel Hobson Lewis, born Aug. 8, 1926, at Pittsburgh. He was just four months old when his father died. He married Lillian L. Bauer. He was single when he enlisted in the Army (836th Eng. Aviation Bt. Hq. Ser. Co.) on Dec. 6, 1944, and served until Nov. 12, 1946. He married Lillian L. Bauer, daughter of Lawrence M. Bauer, Sr., and Margaret E. (Schindler) Bauer. Lillian was born Sept. 9, 1923, in Pittsburgh, and died there at the age of 43, on Dec. 22, 1966. The cause of death was Acute Coronary Occlusion due to Coronary Sclerosis and Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease. Samuel died Oct. 22, 1979, and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. (Findagrave)
3) Frank Lewis
Frank Lewis was born July 19, 1901, in Pittsburgh. He lived at 4917 Cypress Street with his parents in 1910, and his father died in 1919. Frank still lived with his mother when the 1920 and 1930 census were taken. He was a laborer working in a Tin Mill in 1920 and a "Tinner" at a roofing company in 1930. His mother died in 1938, at the age of 80, and when the 1940 census was taken, he was living at 7340 Fleury Way, in Pittsburgh. On that census, he reported that the highest level of education he completed was 6th grade, which shatters any hopes of finding a yearbook photo of him. He was still working for a roofing company, but he wasn't living alone. Sometime between 1934 and 1940, Frank married Anna "Florence" (Van Wormer) Brucker, daughter of Joseph Van Wormer. Her first husband, Sylvester Brucker (1899-1973), worked on the railroad and was a World War II veteran. She and Lewis were living together in 1940, as husband and wife. and she had a 6-year old son, Joseph Brucker, and her 74-year old father, Joseph Vanwormer, living in the home with them. Frank Lewis registered for the draft in 1942, and was described as follows: 5' 8" in height, 150 lbs., blue eyes, brown hair, and ruddy complexion. He also had a tattoo on his shoulder. He worked at 2 Logan Street (Corner of Logan and Bedford).
On the 1950 census, a son named Joseph B. Lewis is listed in Frank & Florence's home. He was reportedly 15 years old, but there was no Joseph Lewis in the home in 1940, so I'm assuming this was actually Florence's son, Joseph V. Brucker, who was in the home in 1940. Joseph later worked in law enforcement, rising to "Chief of Police in Manor and former Constable", according to his 1999 obituary. He married Sybil Oswald and had three sons who survived him. They are buried in Delmont, Pennsylvania. (Findagrave). He named one of his sons "Frank", perhaps after his stepfather. I can't seem to find any information Joseph B. Lewis beyond the 1950 census, so I don't believe this Joseph B. Lewis was his son. Or maybe he was? If anyone knows, please comment to let us know, but please don't share personal information about living people.
Stay tuned for more, as I share more great finds on the Dickinson family in Pittsburgh.
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