Manuel Jackson Lewis

        Manuel Jackson Lewis was born September 28, 1839, in Sequatchie
Valley, old James County, Tennessee, and died September 6, 1919, at the
age of 80.  James County was the first county in the United States to
be absorbed by another county, making it unique in local government. 
James County residents literally voted their county out of existence in
a referendum held December 11, 1919, by an overwhelming vote of 941 to
79 for annexation back to Hamilton County and Bradley County.  In 1871,
during the beginnings of James County, Ooltewah, a railroad town, was
narrowly chosen over Harrison as the county seat.  The old James County
courthouse erected in 1913 - the first two were burned over
governmental disputes-has been placed on the National Register of
Historic Places by the U. S. Department of the Interior.  Ooltewah is
near Birchwood and Georgetown and the Tennessee River.  This area was
considered to be “the land of opportunity” by its inhabitants.  The
soil here is very fertile, and the rolling hills are good for cattle
grazing.  Manuel Lewis spent his early boyhood years on a farm in this
sometimes peaceful agrarian setting.

    Manuel was the son of Reason and Patience McNulty Lewis.  His father
was a man of strong character and body who lived to the age of 91,
never becoming an invalid.  Manuel was also the grandson of Henry and
Elan Howard Lewis.  The Henry Lewis’ were among the first white
settlers to this area of Tennessee.  They came to America from Wales. 
The ancestors of Manuel Lewis were proud to be American; they served
their country in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.  Manuel always
said one wasn’t a Lewis unless he was proud, sensitive, ambitious,
honest and hard-working.  The Lewis tradition of strong family ties and
values was transmitted to later generations through Manuel Jackson.

    Manuel was a very disciplined man who had a strong set of values, was
very personable, and had a deep feeling for helping others.  As an
adult he commanded respect, for he was a very dignified man who was
very easy going and who seldom lost his temper.  He believed
cleanliness was next to godliness and was always immaculately groomed,
wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie most of the time.  He
enjoyed escorting his wife and daughters to all the social events of
the day, especially square dances.  The writer’s grandmother, Cenyth
Lewis Jones, enjoyed recalling these happy memories for her
grandchildren.

    Manuel’s father, Reason, believed in developing strong bodies in his
four sons and four daughters.  Manuel and his brothers had to get up
before daylight, dress, and go to the spring to wash for breakfast. 
Reason also believed in hard work; all of his sons and daughters joined
in to get all the necessary farm chores done each day.

    Manuel Jackson received his education in the early rural schools of
James County, at Rutherford Academy at Birchwood, and at Oak Grove
Academy at Cleveland, Tennessee.  The Rutherford Academy has also been
accepted as a historical landmark by the Tennessee Historical
Commission.  The school was one of the finest institutions of learning
at that time, and a higher percentage of its students went on to
college and continued their education to receive master’s and doctor’s
degrees than from any other school in the state.  The Rutherford
Academy is a two-story frame building built by Josh Starnes and his
son, Henry, around 1884; it is still used today as a Masonic Lodge.

    Manuel Jackson had a strong desire to be a physician.  When his daily
chores on the farm were completed, he would read and study every
medical book he could find.  He studied at night by an oil lamp and
open fireplace.  Later, after completing his basic education in
Tennessee, he went to a medical college in Illinois;  unfortunately,
family records or recollections do not record the name of the college.

    However, before completion of medical school, he fell in love with
Harriet Jane Matthews.  The Matthews were also early settlers in his
native area of Tennessee.  Postponement of marriage until completion of
medical school was considered but rejected; Manuel and Harriet were
united in marriage at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Matthews, on May 15, 1866, by the Reverend S. J. Blair, a Baptist
minister.  Manuel Jackson’s father gave him a fine gray horse when he
married; family tradition has it that he sold the horse to help pay his
medical school tuition.  Two girls were born while he was at medical
school;  “Molly” (Mary McNulty) was born in 1868 and Cenyth in 1871. 
Cenyth was the author’s beloved grandmother.

    After obtaining his M. D. degree, he first practiced medicine in the
Birchwood and Georgetown area for several years.  Then in 1874, he
opened an office in Ooltewah, Tennessee, but remained there for only a
year.  In 1875, his practice was begun in Hixson, Tennessee, where he
stayed until 1882.  Finally he set up a practice in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, which he maintained until his death in 1919, at age 80.

    Dr. Lewis’ honor and integrity combined with this dedication and
devotion to the Hippocratic Oath and medicine made him a fine and
beloved physician.  He was also committed to maintaining high standards
of medical technique; he kept up with current trends in medicine,
striving at all times to give the best care possible to his patients. 
He never refused anyone medical attention if they were unable to pay
him.  He was paid often for his medical services with vegetables,
poultry, etc.  Many family stories have been related about the long
hours he worked daily.  He would travel by horse and buggy to care for
the sick, often staying with them many hours through a crisis.  Dr.
Lewis was a wealthy man, but he accumulated most of his wealth from
dealing in real estate.  He was noted for his “trading” ability; he
would buy a piece of property and then resell it at a profit.

    Dr. Lewis owned his own pharmacy, filling his own prescriptions, which
was common practice among many doctors during this period.  He was also
a surgeon and several times was forced to perform emergency surgery on
a kitchen table.  He and Dr. Haultzclaw performed the first cesarean
section ever undertaken in Chattanooga.  This was a shattering
emotional experience for Dr. Lewis because it was emergency surgery
performed on a kitchen table on his very own daughter, “Molly” (Mary
McNulty).  Both doctors had read extensively on the subject, but their
inexperience combined with the complication of hemorrhage resulted in
the loss of both mother and baby.  In less than two weeks, they were
faced with a similar situation.  They performed a cesarean section on a
black woman; both she and the baby lived.

    Dr. Lewis was at the only grandparent known by the writers mother,
Jaynalee Jones Lay.  Jaynalee adored him and has the happiest memories
of his visits to their home in Cleveland, Tennessee, when she was a
very young girl.  When the Jones family needed medical attention that
their family doctor in Cleveland could not provide, a call always went
out for Grandpa Lewis in Chattanooga.  He would come and stay until his
patients were on the road to recovery; when all of the Jones family had
scarlet fever, he came and remained until the quarantine was lifted.

    Jaynalee has fond memories of her efforts to model after Grandpa
Lewis.  The table was elegantly set in the dining room with its white
linen tablecloth and napkins when Dr. Lewis came to visit.  Since he
believed in practicing moderation in all areas of life, especially 
eating, he made it a practice to eat very little sugar.  Therefore, he
never put sugar in his oatmeal at breakfast.  Jaynalee would slip into
the dining room, add sugar to her oatmeal, stir it up, and then claim
to eat unsweetened oatmeal as her beloved Grandfather did.  No one was
the wiser until a visiting  cousin caught her practicing her deception.
  Her reply was simply “Well, sometimes I  do, and sometimes I don’t.” 
Of course, the cousin never let her forget this episode.  It is quite
likely that if Grandpa Lewis ever found out about this episode,
Jaynalee got a good lecture on the merits of total honesty from her
idol.

    Manuel Jackson was a deeply religious man of the Baptist faith.  He
was one of the charter members of the First Baptist Church of East
Chattanooga.  He was also a deacon and a 32nd degree Mason.  He loved
his church and his family.

    Manuel Jackson died at the age of 80.  Shortly before his death, he
discovered a malignant growth on his tongue which he felt was a result
of heat generated by smoking a pipe only after meals.  Cenyth Lewis
Jones, the writer’s grandmother, went with him to Nashville, Tennessee,
where he consulted the best doctors available.  The doctors were said
to have marveled at his basic constitution; his physique was said to
have been that of a 60-year-old-man.  The doctors gave him two options:
  removal by surgery of part of his tongue or starvation.  Manuel
Jackson said he could not face starvation, so he chose the surgery.  He
came through the surgery well but died several days later after a bout
with pneumonia.  *(note:  his death certificate states he died at
Vanderbilt Hospital, Nashville, TN) During the brief period after his
surgery, Manuel was unable to talk.  Cenyth kept for years a tablet in
her Bible on which was recorded their conversations during those final
days.  Manuel Jackson Lewis died as he had lived-brave, gallant, never
complaining.  It appeared that he took his illness matter-of-factly. 
He said just before his death that he dreamed and hoped for the day
when medical science would find cures for cancer, tuberculosis, heart
disease, and all the other diseases that plagued his day.

    Just before his death, Manuel Jackson’s mind was as alert as his body
was physically preserved, and he practiced medicine until he went to
Nashville for surgery.  Perhaps if a terminal disease had not struck,
he would have lived to a much greater age, as had his father Reason,
who lived to age 91.  His medical career was always of great importance
to him and he was truly one of Chattanooga’s great pioneer doctors,
loved and respected by his family, patients and contemporaries.  Thus
ended Manuel Jackson Lewis’ long and useful service to the people of
Chattanooga and old James County area.

WRITTEN BY: JANICE L. COONE

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER
OCTOBER 23, 1978

Daughter of JAYNALEE JONES LAY

AUTHENTICALLY TRANSCRIBED BY:
CENYTH (CENA) MARTIN

JULY 21, 2003
GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER

Granddaughter of MOLLY WISE JONES
NAMED FOR DR. LEWIS’ DAUGHTER

CENYTH (CENA) LEWIS JONES

Submitted by Cena Martin
cenamartin@earthlink.net