Some Irish Settlers to Virginia
The following information was discovered in The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society (Vol. II) By Thomas Hamilton Murray Lewis Genealogy.
General Andrew Lewis
Perhaps the most distinguished man of Irish birth who identified himself entirely with Virginia was Gen. Andrew Lewis, born in Ireland about 1720 and came to Virginia with his parents in 1732. John Lewis, the father, was the first white man to fix his home in the mountains of West Augusta. Andrew Lewis served as a major in the regiment commanded by Washington in the Ohio campaign of 1754 and 1755. He served with courage in the French and Indian wars and was highly regarded by Washington, who suggested that he be appointed a brigadier-general in the Continental Army. Four of his brothers served in the Revolutionary War, one of them, Col. Charles Lewis, being killed at Point Pleasant. No better evidence of the value which Virginia placed on the services of this Irishman could be wished than the fact that she has deemed his effigy worthy to stand for all time besides the immortal group of Henry, Mason, Marshall, Nelson, and Jefferson, which surrounds the heroic equestrian statue of Washington in the Capitol Square at Richmond. Critics pronounce this celebrated work of Crawford as one of the world's finest. Descendants of John Lewis, the father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, are numerous in the state to this day. Some of them have been very distinguished men: John F. Lewis, who died recently, was lieutenant governor of Virginia and a senator of the United States. Lunsford L. Lewis, his half-brother, was president of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia for twelve years, retiring from that office a few years ago. Dr. Lewis Wheat is a well-known practicing physician of Richmond. Judge John Lewis Cochran, whose 162mother was a great-granddaughter of John Lewis, father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, and whose great-grandfather, with his wife, née Susanna Donnelly, came to America about 1742, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and a distinguished lawyer and judge. James C. Cochran, brother to the preceding, was a colonel of the Confederate militia in the late war. Henry King Cochran served as a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war. William Lynn Cochran was a major in the Confederate service and a professional lawyer. Howard Peyton Cochran was a captain in the same service. It is claimed that one hundred and five of the Lewis family were in the service of the Confederate States.