Dea. Joseph Lewis
Joseph Lewis was a son of Joseph Lewis of Windsor and Simsbury in Connecticut and his wife Elizabeth Case, who married at Windsor on 30 April 1674. His father died by September 1680, when Joseph was about four. His mother administered the estate, later with her second husband, John Tuller, and in 1706 the land was divided among Joseph, his brother John and his sister Elizabeth Smith. Another account gives his birth as 15 March 1676, without a source.
Waterbury had been planted in the 1670s by thirty men who signed articles to settle it, and for a generation the town belonged to them and their sons. Henry Bronson, the town's historian, calls Joseph Lewis "the first man, an outsider and not an original proprietor," to join it. His name first appears on the town book on 23 December 1700, when he was chosen fence viewer, the officer who checked that fences were sound and settled disputes over them. He was a cloth weaver, and he settled at Judd's Meadow.
On 7 April 1703 he married Sarah Andruss, daughter of Abraham Andruss, one of the first two townsmen. They had eight children. A daughter born in August 1704 died the next month. Then came Joseph in 1705, Sarah in 1708, John in 1711, Mary in 1714, Thomas in 1716, Samuel in 1718 and Abraham in 1721, who died young.
The town used him for most of his life. He sat on the committee for the bounds with Woodbury in 1706, 1719 and 1730. He was town treasurer in 1711 and a selectman for many years. Between 1713 and 1741 he was Waterbury's deputy to the General Court, the colony's legislature, for fifteen sessions. He was a sergeant in 1724. In 1738 he became the fourth deacon of the Waterbury church.
His sons did well. Thomas graduated from Yale College in 1741 with Samuel Hopkins, Jonathan Judd and Daniel Southmayd, "all from Waterbury, the four making a fifth part of the graduating class," and became a Congregational minister. Samuel became a deacon of the Waterbury church and then the first deacon of the church at Salem, now Naugatuck.
The autumn of 1749 went badly for the family. His son John's wife Mary died on 30 September, and his son Joseph on 22 October. Deacon Joseph Lewis died on 29 November 1749, a few weeks after them. In his will he left the church "twenty six pounds money due to me by Mr. Mark Leavenworth by note of hand." His estate was valued at 5,628 pounds 12 shillings and sixpence, the largest yet inventoried in Waterbury. His widow Sarah lived until March 1773.
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Cite: Heirology, "Dea. Joseph Lewis (1676-1749)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/dea-joseph-lewis-1676-1749-eb37ec.