Lawrence Lewis (1767–1839)

Lawrence Lewis (April 4, 1767 – November 20, 1839) was a nephew of George Washington who married Nelly Custis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington.

Life

He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1767 to Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. He volunteered for service in 1794 to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion and served as aide-de-camp to General Daniel Morgan, achieving the rank of major.

Washington, after finishing his tenure as president, called on several of his nephews to assist him at his Mount Vernon plantation. On August 4, 1797, he wrote to Lewis inviting him to serve as his personal secretary.

While at Mount Vernon, Lewis came to know Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis, the granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and Daniel Parke Custis. She and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, had been informally adopted by George and Martha Washington after the 1781 death of their father, John Parke Custis. At Mount Vernon she acted as the social director, entertaining the many visitors to the former president.

Lawrence Lewis

Lawrence Lewis may refer to:

Lewis (lifting appliance)

A lewis (sometimes called a lewisson) is one of a category of lifting devices used by stonemasons to lift large stones into place with a crane, chain block, or winch. It is inserted into a specially prepared hole, or seating, in the top of a stone, directly above its centre of mass. It works by applying principles of the lever and utilises the weight of the stone to act on the long lever-arms which in turn results in a very high reaction force and friction where the short lever-arms make contact with the stone inside the hole and thereby prevents slipping.

Etymology

The name lewis may come from the Latin levo -avi, -atum meaning to levitate or lift, but the Oxford English Dictionary Online states, "the formation and the phonology are not easily explained on this hypothesis", preferring "origin obscure", and speculating that the term may derive from a personal name. The Romans used the lewis. The specially shaped hole that is shaped to fit the device is known as a lewis hole. Lewis holes in the uppermost masonry coursings are neatly repaired with matching indented plugs after the stone has been set in place.

Lewis (robot)

Lewis (named after Meriwether Lewis) is an autonomous robot that performs the job of a wedding photographer: it attends social events, moves around, and takes digital photographs of people. It is a research project of the Media and Machines Laboratory at Washington University.

Lewis has been featured on slashdot, on CNN's website, and in various North American newspapers.

In 2002, Lewis received -- and declined -- an invitation to Nelly's 24th birthday party.

External links

Lewis (Middlesex cricketer)

Lewis (first name and dates unknown) was an English cricketer who was associated with Middlesex and made his first-class debut in 1830.

References

Bibliography