Lewis, Henry W. (Henry Wilkins), 1916-2004

Henry Wilkins Lewis, faculty member and director of the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; active layman of the Episcopal Church; and authority on North Carolina family genealogy and the history of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina.

Henry Wilkins Lewis was a Lawyer, educator and historian; native of Northampton County, N.C.; resident of Pittsboro, N.C.

Born 7 November 1916 in Jackson, Northampton County, N.C., to Edmund Wilkins Lewis and Jane Crichton Williams Lewis, Henry Wilkins Lewis attended Jackson High School, 1928-1932, and the Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Va., 1932-1933, before attending the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill from 1933 to 1937, from which he graduated with an A.B. degree in American history. He attended law school at Harvard University from 1937 to 1940.

Lewis entered the private practice of law with Eric Norfleet of Jackson for one year after graduating from Harvard (LL.B., 1940; converted to J.D. in 1969), then enlisted in the army in 1941, where he served with the 99th Infantry Division, Headquarters Third Army, and Army Ground Forces Headquarters. Leaving the service as a captain in 1946, Lewis joined the faculty of the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he worked until his retirement. In addition to his administrative, consultative, and teaching responsibilities at the Institute, he also served on many University and Institute committees, including the Advisory Board and Visitor Committee of the Ackland Art Museum; the Chancellor's Selection Committee, 1970-71; the North Carolina Public Television Foundation and University of North Carolina Center for Public Television; and the Advisory Committee of the Southern Historical Collection and Manuscripts Department of the University Library.

At the Institute of Government, Lewis's principal fields of research, writing, and consultation were property taxation, the organization of state agencies, legislative organization and procedure, and election law and procedure. During his tenure, Lewis was assistant director, 1946-1973; research professor of public law and government, 1951-1957; professor of public law and government, 1957-1975; Kenan professor of public law and government, 1975-1978; and Kenan professor of public law and government emeritus. From November 1973 until his retirement in 1978, Lewis served as director of the Institute of Government. His only leave from the Institute occurred during 1968-1969, when he served as acting vice-president for university relations.

Throughout his career, Lewis was an active layman of the Episcopal Church, serving numerous times at the Diocesan level on the Executive Council, the Historical Commission, the Committee on Constitution and Canons, the Committee on Racial Subjects, and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of North Carolina, and as deputy from the Diocese of North Carolina to the General Convention. Locally, Lewis served as vestryman and senior warden of the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill and on the Committee on Restoration of St. John's Church, Williamsboro, N.C.

Lewis was active as well in other organizations and institutions, including the North Carolina Bar Association; the Bank of Northampton, Jackson, N.C. (later the Peoples Bank); the board of trustees of the Virginia Episcopal School; the Roanoke-Chowan Group; the Southampton Historical Society; the Northampton Historical Society; Alpha Tau Omega and the Order of Gimghouls at the University of North Carolina; and the Lincoln's Inn Society at Harvard Law School. Lewis also served as vice president and director of the Wilkins Texas Corporation, a family corporation.

As a writer and researcher on historical themes, Lewis's interests focused chiefly on the history and genealogy of North Carolina families, his own and related families preeminently, and the history of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina.

(For additional biographical information, including bibliographic and academic data, see materials in Series 3.1, folder 257.)