Margaret Lewis

Margaret Lynn; born 3 Jul 1693 in Ulster, daughter of William Lynn and Ann; died 1779 in Augusta County, Virginia; married John Lewis; born 1678 in County Donegal; died 1 Feb 1762 in Augusta County, Virginia.

Son: General Andrew Lewis

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lewis-440

In 1715 in County Donegal, Ireland, John Lewis married Margaret Lynn, daughter of William Lynn and Margaret Patton, who was born on 3 July 1693 in County Donegal and died in 1773 in Bellefonte, Augusta County, Virginia.

The children of John and Margaret (Lynn) Lewis have been reported as:

• 1. Samuel Lewis, born 1716 in County Donegal, Ireland (see Lore and Legends... section below).
• 2. Thomas Lewis, born 27 April 1718 in County Donegal, Ireland; died 31 January 1790 in Rockingham County, Virginia.
• 3. Gen. Andrew Lewis, born 24 April 1720 in County Donegal, Ireland; died 26 September 1781 in Botetourt County, Virginia.
• 4. Alice Lewis, born 1722 County Donegal (see Lore and Legends... section below).
• 5. Maj. William Lynn Lewis, born 17 November 1724 in County Donegal, Ireland; died 1812 in Virginia.
• 6. Margaret Lynn Lewis born 1726 in County Donegal, Ireland ; died 1797 in Kenturky.
• 7. Anne Lewis born 1728 in County Donegal, Ireland; died in York County, Pennsylvania.
• 8. Col. Charles Lewis born 11 March 1735/36, probably in Orange (now Augusta) County, Virginia; died on 10 October 1774, killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant (now West Virginia).

Fictional diary

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lynn-86

Margaret (Lynn) Lewis was the wife of Staunton founder Colonel John Lewis, the mother of notable Virginia pioneers, and the grandmother of American patriots. Otherwise, Margaret’s greatest prominence – unfortunately – is that of being the subject of a literary and historical/genealogical hoax which has led many a Lynn and Lewis genealogist up a non-existent family tree.

In January 1869, the North Carolina historical magazine Land We Love published “The Valley Manuscript”. The manuscript claimed to be part of "The Common-Place Book of me Margaret Lewis, nee Lynn, of Loch Lynn, Scotland". One might ask, first, why such an historical document would be submitted to a North Carolina magazine and not to one in the very State where the family had its prominence. But the article entices the reader with a "farewell to the bonny loch and knowes of Lynn" and to "Loch Lynn and its rock-crowned summit, and purple heather". ["Knowe" is the Scots word for hill.] What genealogist of Scottish descent would not be drawn in by such romantic language?

“The Valley Manuscript” also mentions certain historical events in the lives of the Lewis family. Included are the victory of Margaret’s son Andrew and the death of her son Charles in the 1774 battle with Chief Cornstalk of Point Pleasant, as well as the participation of three Lewis grandsons, near the end of the Revolutionary War, in the successful defense of Staunton. If the article’s place of publication is not enough to cast doubt on its authenticity, the fact that the real Margaret (Lynn) Lewis died before these events even occurred proves that she was not its true author.

However, the third nail in the coffin of “The Valley Manuscript” is a 1948 Richmond Times-Dispatch news article. That article discusses the points mentioned above and includes part of an interview with Judge Lunsford L. Lewis, 3rd-great-grandson of John and Margaret (Lynn) Lewis. Judge Lewis decried “The Manuscript”, saying “[It] is pure fiction; its spuriousness is apparent on its face, yet very many persons have been deceived by it.”

Who then is the true author of this fictional diary? The manuscript was submitted to the North Carolina magazine Land We Love by Fanny Fielding, who cleverly introduced it as being "from a collection of archives known in our household", attempting to create the impression that it had been handed down in her family. Fanny Fielding, it turns out, is nothing more nor less than a pseudonym for Mary Jane Stith Upshur, a known 19th-century author of poetry and prose, who submitted manuscripts to a number of southern literary magazines and whose principal work, in fact, is "an historical novel" entitled "Confederate Notes".

She had intended “The Valley Manuscript” to be the first of three installments of the fictional diary, but it was the only one ever published. Either she thought better of attempting to pass off a second installment, or the hoax had been discovered and additional installments rejected. Oh ... Ms. Upshur was herself a Virginian. Perhaps she submitted the manuscript to a North Carolina magazine precisely because she knew it would be easily recognized by a Virginia historical society as a hoax.

Unfortunately, the fictional diary has deceived many, and it was reprinted, with embellishments, in 1892 by West Virginia’s Southern Historical Magazine: Devoted to History, Genealogy. It was there that the mythical Laird of Loch Lynn appeared and was described as “a descendant of the chieftain of a once powerful clan in the Highlands”. The disappointing truth is that there never was a Clan Lynn nor even a Lynn sept in any of the Scottish clans, the name being entirely absent from every credible history of Scottish clans.

The real Margaret (Lynn) Lewis no doubt would be chagrined at being so misused.

Sources

• “John Lewis, Founder and Patriarch”. Irvin Frazier (30 May 1962). (document attached)
• Find A Grave Memorial# 8881775 Spouse & Children: John Gilbert Lewis (1678–1762). Samuel Lewis b.1716, Thomas Lewis (1718–1790), Andrew H. Lewis (1720–1781), Margaret (Peggy) Lewis (1726–1809), William Lynn Lewis (1729–1811) and Charles Lewis (1736–1774).
• Loretta Lynn Layman, Doctor William Lynn of Ulster, Ireland and Fredericksburg, Virginia
• http://history.loftinnc.com/Lewis.htm
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LR34-WF8
• Genealogy of the Lewis Family in America: From the Middle of the Seventeenth Century Down to the Present Time, Volume 1 William Terrell Lewis Courier-journal job printing Company, 1893 - Doyle Collection - 454 pages. google books Chiefly a record of some of the descendants of John Lewis. He was born in Donegal County, Ireland 1678 to Andrew Lewis and Mary Calhoun. He married Margaret Lynn. He died in Virginia 1 Feb 1762. They were the parents of seven children.
  • Reference: GenealogieOnline Family Tree Index - SmartCopy: May 17 2020, 10:32:11 UTC
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lynn-86 cites

1. "Land We Love", Vol. VI, No. III, Charlotte, NC (Jan. 1869): The Valley Manuscript, pp. 215-29.
2. “Richmond Times-Dispatch”, Richmond, VA, Feb. 15, 1948, Bogus Portrait Supplements Old 'Valley Manuscript' Hoax; copy available at [1].
3. Brant & Fuller, “Eminent and Representative Men of Virginia and the District of Columbia of the Nineteenth Century”, Madison, WI (1893), p. 500, describing Judge Lunsford's descent from Margaret (Lynn) Lewis; available at [2].
4. Ida Raymond, Edit., “Living Female Writers of the South”, Philadelphia, PA (1872), pp. 416-19; available at [3].
5. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, "Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography", New York, NY (1889), vol. 6, p. 214; available at [4].
6. "Southern Historical Magazine: Devoted to History, Genealogy", Vol. 1, No. 4, Charleston, WV (Apr. 1892): The Valley Manuscript, pp. 227-40 Notes
7. A loch is a body of water; specifically, a bay or arm of the sea that is nearly landlocked. (Loch Lomond is the only loch in Scotland that has become entirely landlocked.) To say one is born in a loch is to say they were born in a body of water. The entire "Loch Lynn" designation for Lynns is an error that grew out of the fictitious diary falsely attributed to Margaret (Lynn) Lewis.
8. The Lewis family Bible is on LDS microfilm #1486619 along with other family records and genealogical data. There is no data on the microfilm, in the Bible or otherwise, about the Lynn family in Ireland.