April 27, 1718

Thomas Lewis, a pioneer of the state of Virginia, was born on this day in 1718, in Co. Donegal to John and Margaret Lynn Lewis. John emigrated from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1728 and sent for his family to come over in 1730. In 1732 the Irish family made the bold move to Spotsylvania County, an area near the Shenandoah River, along what was then the western frontier of the colonies. Lewis married a woman named Jane Strother in 1749, and the two settled on a plantation called Lynwood. Lewis went on to become one of the first judges in Augusta County, represented his county in The House of Burgesses and, post-independence, in the House of Delegates. He died in 1790, one of the largest owners of property in the county.