Foster Parents of Fourteen Children

Beason Lewis and Elizabeth Ryons Lewis were known and beloved as benefactors to at least fourteen children who were orphaned or in need of parental direction. Not having any children of their own, they gave to their foster children every care that they could have showered upon their very own.

Born in South Carolina in 1809, Beason Lewis was raised on great plantations which were more often than not, Federal Land Grants, because of service by his forefathers, to the country in the French and Indian War, as well as the war with England. He was the fourth of seven sons and he had three sisters. He and his brother Benjamin, married sisters who lived on an adjoining plantation. They were daughters of Leonard Ryons.

Benjamin was killed at Hawns Mill Massacre, in Caldwell County Missouri, on October 30, 1838 and his family was left without a father's protection, so Beason and Elizabeth took the mother and six children back to Nauvoo to their home, friends and family. The Benjamin Lewis family had joined the Church and were on their way with the Saints at the time of this tragedy. The mother passed away at Nauvoo and the Mormon children were taken by Beason and Elizabeth.

They were among the Saints driven from Nauvoo, although Beason and Elizabeth did not belong to the Church at this time. They came with the second Company of Pioneers to Utah, in September 1847.

Beason and Elizabeth went back to Winter Quarters in a very short time and took with them William C. Lewis, their nephew, then seventeen years old. The men returned to Utah in the fall of 1848, but Elizabeth remained in the East to close out their estate. She came back to Utah in 1853

Beason joined the Church in January 1851, and Elizabeth was baptized shortly after her return to Utah.

Beason married a widow, Elizabeth Pond Whitney, who had a daughter Almira. They had also taken into their home Martha and Maria Kingsbury, whose mother had passed away seven years before.

William H. Skidmore, father of Charles Skidmore, superintendent of the public schools of Utah, was taken into the home at nine years of age and lived with them as their own son. Because of the grasshopper scourge, Mrs. Skidmore was unable to feed her children.

About this same time, B. F. Grant was also living in their home and was expected to be a foster son. His father had died and his mother had remarried and left him with his grandparents, who asked Brother Beason Lewis to raise him. They provided an excellent home; Beason Lewis was a good provider, and Elizabeth was known as a marvelous cook. All the cooking was done over an open fire. It was because of the excellent cooperation and good will of Elizabeth that these children were accepted into the home.

They were systematic and kept everything in perfect order. Beason Lewis was a cooper by trade, as were his brothers and father. For wedding presents he promised each of his foster daughters a set of tubs and buckets and a churn and other necessary articles of that type. To the boys who remained with him, he gave a team of mules and ten acres of land, when they married, which was valued at at least $800.00.

W. L. Skidmore wrote this tribute: "When I was nine years old, mother gave me to Uncle Beason Lewis. For some time I had not tasted bread. I was hungry. Cooked wild roots and weeds were my bill of fare. When Uncle Beason took me to his house, Aunt Betsy cut off a big slice of bread, spread it thickly with butter and gave it to me. That was the sweetest, best food I ever ate in my life."

Beason Lewis was a great lover of horses. He owned the most beautiful span of perfectly matched dapple greys in Richmond, Utah. He had a two seated, pea green colored sleigh and sleigh bells, the only bells in town. On cold winter mornings he would drive out with his fine outfit. He would stop at every intersection and children ran from every direction to climb into the sleigh. He would take them to school and come back for more as the need might be. No Pied Piper ever out classed Uncle Beason. Marinda Monson Skidmore was one of those children. She says: "He will live in the hearts of those who knew him until the last of these has passed away."

B F Grant said: ''No boy or girl that lived with them could have a more royal father and mother than they were to all of us that lived with them during my stay in this home. I believe God will bless their memory for what they did for us. And I am sure that there is a place in the Kingdom of God where they can continue in the wonderful work of caring for boys and girls.'' - Vilate Lewis Elggren.

Heart Throbs Of The West

Kate B. Carter

Volume 5, Pages 214 - 215