This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jmyoung365 Surnames: LEWIS, KIGER Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.lewis/11412.1.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: To the best of my knowledge the LEWISes in Salem County, NJ do not show up in any Quaker records. By the time we get to my 2nd great-grandmother, Mary Ann LEWIS, marrying in 1832, the family was definitely not Quaker. Mary Ann and her presumed brother Isaac (he'd be Isaac III in Salem County) married KIGERs who were from a family that was originally Catholic when they arrived in Salem County in 1738 but who had long since all become Protestants--mostly Methodists. It would not surprise me if the LEWISes were originally Welsh Quakers who later joined other Protestant religions or no religion at all--they don't appear in ANY religious records in Salem County which makes it all the more fun researching them. There marriage records are all in the county clerk's records--not church records. LEWIS was not a common surname in early Salem County and the few LEWISes I've found there other than the three generations of Isaacs were listed on census and other records as being Black and being freed slaves from Maryland. This makes me all the more certain that my LEWISes (always listed as being White) migrated to Salem from somewhere else--possibly shortly after the Revolution. They were there by 1793 at least. Chester County was just across the river from Salem County so the migration would have been a simple one. Hard to tell about the religion of the earliest generations other than I don't find them in either Pilesgrove or Salem Quaker records and I do find the earliest Isaac I've located in Salem County on the 1793 militia list (although many Quakers are included on that list as well). I've not found any wills or deeds where the wording might suggest they "affirmed" rather than swore or anything like that. Howver, they are almost entirely surrounded by Quaker families in that area. I think the major clue I have is that the given name Isaac appears generation after generation in my family and this is probably the closest location I've found other Isaac LEWISes. I have been to Swarthmore College Library and have pretty much exhausted all existing Quaker records in NJ and Swarthmore. My grandfather and everyone before him were Quakers so I have many Quaker lines and have done lots of Quaker research. The LEWISes enter the picture, though on my grandMOTHER's side and, as noted above, they were not Quaker. I will keep my eyes open for information on the Chester County LEWISes--I had been aware of the Quaker LEWISes in Chester County before but hadn't known of an Isaac in that family until now. Joan Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.