Notes for: Lewis Heath
LEWIS HEATH
By Betty Gillespie Pollack
Copyright August 2005
Permission to reproduce with credit granted
LEWIS HEATH was the son of Benjamin and Dolly Willey Heath. Very little is known about Lewis other than that he died young.
He was born either in Rumford, Oxford, ME or Conway, Carroll, NH. One researcher places his birth in 1802 though this has not been proven. Using the 1810 census for Conway NH as a guide, my suspicion is that Lewis may have been born prior to 1794. The 1810 census records only three of Benjamin’s six sons, one born between 1800-1810 who would have been his brother Oliver who we know was in the household up to age 22; one born between 1794 and 1800 who would have been either Benjamin Jr. or George (Chandler was out of the household by 1810) and one son born between 1784 and 1794 who would have been John Willis, who was not yet married in 1810. This suggests that Lewis may have died before 1810.
Mildred Heath of Center Conway NH told me in 2001 that Lewis died young. Also in a carbon copy of Heath family history prepared in the1930s and given to my father, May Martin Gray notes that Lewis was single and was shot while hunting. No date is cited. However, it is less likely that Lewis would have been hunting before age 8 (if he was born in 1802). If he was born during or before 1794, he would have been age 16 or older when he was shot while hunting-which seems more plausible.
Another indication that Lewis may have died before 1819 is that his sister Susan named one of her sons born on Jan. 17, 1819 Lewis Heath Haley.