23 & 24 Lewis Lyman James (1805-1880) and Cerintha Wells (1807-1865)

 Lewis Lyman James was born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts on May 8, 1805. I can't say much yet about his family as he was growing up--I'll edit this post when I do--because US census records before 1850 contain just the name of the head of household and how many people of what sex and age lived in the house.

But we do know that by 1840, when he was 35, he was living in Brooklyn, New York in a neighborhood called Williamsburg, like the town he came from. At that time, he was married with 4 children (3 boys, one girl). 

By 1850, we can see he's doing well. His occupation is listed as merchant, and his household contains his wife, Cerintha (finally the census records the female's names), five children, and two servants recently immigrated from Germany. The value of his house wasn't recorded for some reason, but his next door neighbor's house was worth $25,000 (that's $1 million in 2024 dollars.)This photo isn't his house, but it is a New York City merchant's house from that time period. 

As far as the records show, he continued to do well his entire life. By the 1870 census, the older children have moved out, but son Lewis (occupation: "Merchant-indigo") and his wife and 4 children are living in the house, along with your 2G grandfather William, and two servants recently immigrated from Ireland. The value of the home as listed on this census: $950,000 in 2024 dollars. 

Lewis's occupation has changed to "speculator." I know nothing about that specifically, but I do know that inflation around the time of the Civil War, even in the North, made a lot of people rich if they were willing to trade aggressively.

We don't have a photo of Lyman, but I did find a photo of Thomas Cornell, another merchant in New York City around the same time, to show how Lyman might have looked.  The woman in the other photo is Cerintha. I got this photo from Ancestry.com, uploaded by one of your distant cousins who is also probably descended from her.

 

 

 

Both Lewis and Cerintha are buried in Village Hill Cemetery in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, where their families had lived for several generations.

Son William Henry Harrison

Lewis's Parents Malachi James & Elizabeth Lyman 

Cerintha's parents John Wells and Sarah Warner (It's Sarah who links us to Jonathan Warner, the Revolutionary War Minuteman who served with the Lexington Alarm.)