The Lewis family
William Lewis was born in Wales in 1845. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had two children in Wales before immigrating to the United States in the 1870s, where they added six more to the family. The family moved frequently in the next 15 years-Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, British Columbia, and finally Newcastle, Washington-as William searched for steady employment in steel mills and coal mines.
In Newcastle, the Lewis family lived in a company house, but William fell in love with the area on the southwest side of Lake Sammamish. In 1884, he filed a homestead claim on 154 acres and built a small log cabin, the first home he could call his own.
In the summer of 1885 William heard of a job in San Francisco, but arrived there only to find the mill shutdown by a strike. Penniless, he walked most of the way back to Newcastle. He arrived home on December 3, 1885, and vowed never to leave again. Tragically, he was killed in a mine accident two days later.
Elizabeth kept the family and the homestead going. The five children who survived to adulthood-William, Margaret, Elizabeth, Joseph John (J.J.) and David-married into some of the oldest Issaquah families, and so did their children and grandchildren. The current generation of Lewis descendents are often also connected to such families as the Hailstones, Olsons, Bergsmas, Castagnos, Knoernschilds, Garners, Schombers, McQuades, Pickerings, Finneys and many, many others.
