Henry Lewis was born in Newport, England, on January 12, 1819, the son of Thomas Lewis (1777-1840) and Elizabeth Garmson. The Lewis family immigrated to the United States in September 1838 and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where Henry was a carpenter and artist. In 1849, he produced a large panorama of the Mississippi River, which he displayed throughout the United States and Canada until 1851. After 1856, he resided in Düsseldorf, Germany, having returned to Europe in 1853. Lewis published Das Illustrirte Mississippithal in the mid-1850s and worked for the United States consulate from 1867-1884. He and his wife, Maria Jones, had no children. Henry Lewis died on September 16, 1904.
George Frederick Lewis, Henry's brother, was born on February 7, 1813, and worked as an upholsterer in St. Louis throughout much of the 19th century. He and his first wife, Carolina Henrietta Hardt, had 3 children. After his wife's death, he married Kate McMullan, with whom he had five children. George Lewis died in Victor, Iowa, on November 16, 1898.
From the guide to the Henry Lewis papers, Lewis, Henry papers, 1849-1876, 1849-1865, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
