Edward Parke Custis Lewis

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Edward Parke Custis Lewis
United States Minister to Portugal
In office
April 2, 1885 – June 14, 1889
PresidentGrover Cleveland
Preceded byLewis Richmond
Succeeded byGeorge B. Loring
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from Hudson Co.
In office
1878–1878
Personal details
BornFebruary 7, 1837
Audley, Clarke County, Virginia, US
DiedSeptember 3, 1892(1892-09-03) (aged 55)
Hoboken, New Jersey, US
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Lucy Balmain Ware
​
​
(m. 1858; died 1866)​
Mary Picton Stevens Garnett
​
​
(m. 1869)​
RelationsLawrence Lewis (grandfather)
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (grandmother)
Children9, including Esther
Parent(s)Lorenzo Lewis
Esther Maria Cox
Alma materUniversity of Virginia
Signature

Edward Parke Custis Lewis (February 7, 1837 – September 3, 1892) was a Confederate Army colonel, lawyer, legislator, and diplomat who served as

United States Minister to Portugal
from 1885 to 1889.

Early life

Lewis was born at Audley, his family's plantation in

née Cox) Lewis (1804–1885). His siblings included George Washington Lewis (1829–1885), Lawrence Fielding Lewis (1834–1857), John Redman Coxe Lewis (1834–1898), and Henry Llewellyn Dangerfield Lewis (1841–1893).[1]

Lewis's paternal grandparents were Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of George Washington, and Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington.[2] His maternal grandparents were Dr. John Redman Coxe, a Philadelphia physician who was a pioneer in vaccination, and Sarah Cox, whose sister Rachel Cox married the inventor John Stevens.[1]

Lewis was educated at the University of Virginia and studied law, but pursued life as a planter at his Virginia estate.

Career

During the

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (his second cousin, since Lee's maternal grandfather, George Washington Parke Custis, was his great-uncle). He was captured and made prisoner of war twice, confined for a total of fifteen months at Fort Delaware and Camp Chase. After the war, he returned to his Virginia plantation.[3][4]

After the death of his first wife in 1866, he moved to Hoboken, New Jersey and opened a law office, which he maintained until his death.[2]

Lewis was elected as a

Minister Resident/Consul General to Portugal on April 2, 1885. He served until June 14, 1889, when he returned to Hoboken to resume his legal practice.[2][3]

Personal life

Lewis was first married on March 23, 1858 to Lucy Balmain Ware (1839–1866) of Berryville, Virginia, and they had five children, though only one survived past infancy.[1]

  • Lucy Ware Lewis (1866–1944), who married Charles Treadwell McCormick (1861–1932)

On June 1, 1869 in

Edwin Augustus Stevens, Jr. later married Lewis's niece, Emily Contee Lewis, in 1879. Together, Edward and Mary had four children, including:[1]

In 1892, Lewis died of heart disease at his Hoboken residence at the age of 55.[5] He was buried at Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cox, Henry Miller (1912). The Cox Family in America. pp. 216ff.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780806308319
    .
  3. ^ a b Lewisiana, Or, The Lewis Letter. Vol. 16–17. 1905.
  4. ^ Wilson, James Grant (1894). The Presidents of the United States 1789-1894. D. Appleton. p. 35.
  5. ^ "Obituary". The New York Times. 1892-09-04. p. 5. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
  6. ^ Staff Officers in Gray

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Portugal

1885-1889 		Succeeded by
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