A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, Volume II.Ostrander, Stephen M.
History
A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, Volume II.
Ostrander, Stephen M.
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) -- History; Kings County (N.Y.) -- History
His children followed in his footsteps. One of them, Francis Lewis,
Jr., represented Queens County in the Assembly of 1788. The other son,
Morgan, was born October 16, 1754, graduated at Princeton College in
1773, studied law with John Jay, and joined the army under Washington
in 1775. At first he was captain of a rifle company, but rose rapidly,
becoming, in 1776, colonel and chief-of-staff under General Gates. He
was at the battle of Saratoga, and distinguished himself under General
Clinton in the Mohawk Valley. After the war, he continued his legal
studies, and was admitted to the bar. Soon after he was appointed judge
of the court of common pleas. In 1791 he was elected attorney-general,
as the successor of Aaron Burr, holding the position until December 24,
1792, when he became a justice of the Supreme Court. On the 28th of
October, 1801, he took his seat as chief justice of the Supreme Court
of the State of New York. Other honors awaited him. He was Governor
of the State from 1804 to 1807, succeeding Governor Clinton as the
third Governor of the Commonwealth. At the election, party spirit and
feeling were manifested to a great degree. Aaron Burr was his opponent,
and displayed great anxiety to secure the election. Although Lewis was
a Jeffersonian, he received the warm support of Alexander Hamilton.
It was mainly through the efforts of Hamilton that his success in the
contest was secured. Hamilton's labors in behalf of Lewis embittered
Burr, and formed one of the main causes which a few months later led to
his untimely end at the hands of the miscreant intriguer Burr. Burr was
a student with Lewis at Princeton, and graduated in 1772, one year in
advance of the Governor.
On several subsequent occasions, Morgan Lewis was elected state
senator, and also chancellor of the University. In 1812 he was
appointed quartermaster, and became a major-general in 1813. During
that year he was engaged in operations on the Niagara River, and
commanded the defenses in New York city in 1814. In 1828, when
seventy-four years of age, he was elected a presidential elector for
the fifth district of New York.
Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, was named in his honor.
Morgan Lewis was a man of great scholastic attainments. The New York
Historical Society elected him their president in 1835. In 1839 he
was chosen president of the Society of the Cincinnati, holding the
office until his death, April 7, 1844. He was the last but one of the
Revolutionary soldiers who filled that position. He was grand master of
the Free Masons at the time of his death, and was buried by the craft
with their impressive ceremonies. He was married at Clermont on the
Hudson in May, 1779, to Gertrude, the sister of Chancellor Livingston.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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