James Bryant Lewis was but three years old when his parents moved from North Carolina to Wayne Co., Georgia. He was a 1st Lieutenant in the 335th District Wayne County militia from 1831 to 1836 and a Captain in the same district from 1836 to 1839. He served as a private in Captain James Jones militia company in the 1840 Indian War. He was Sheriff of Wayne County from 1836 to 1838, Justice of Wayne Inferior Court from 1839 to 1841 and again in 1849 until his death. He also held the office of Tax Collector from 1840 to 1841. He was the guardian of his four sisters who were yet minors at the time of his father's death. He was listed on a court proceeding selecting children to receive a share of the "poor school fund" indicating six children. The 1860 Census of Wayne Co, GA shows him as a farmer with land valued at $2500 and personal property valued at $1300, and that his mother-in-law, Lucretia McCool, was living with the family at that time.

Sources:

Pioneers of Wiregrass GA, Huxford, Vol.IV, p.182; Vol.VII, p.519.
Ancestors and Descendants of M.A.B. Howard, Woodward (1979).
Cemetery markers in Lewis Cemetery - Raybon, GA
1850 Census Wayne Co., GA
1960 Census Brantley Co., GA
Interview with Mrs. Sally Strickland - Mershon, GA (June, 1980)
Wayne Co. court record published by Hux.Gen.Soc. Vol.XVIII, p.295.
Memories of Buffalo Creek by Mary Lee Godwin Faranha