Local resident is reforging familial bonds

May 20—HENDERSON — As a kid, Angela Lewis recalls standing at the door of her grandfather's barn, awash in the heat of Bunson burners and the smell of drying tobacco.

Nowadays, the property looks a little different. A brand-new, stark white and black, two-story house stands in the middle of a cleared lot, around 43 acres in total. Inside, in the dining room Lewis sat at the table with a library's worth of old family photos.

Most of them depicted her grandfather, William Henry Lewis, though Angela calls him W.H. She and other family members know him as "Dean" or "Deano."

There's a whole story there.

William was born in Liberia and would later attend the Scheafer A.M.E. Mission Elementary School in Arthington. A missionary at the school apparently took an interest in William's academic prowess, and so moved to take him to attend school in the United States, according to a Liberian newspaper.

This all happened in 1915. William was 20 at the time — maybe. Angela pointed out a certificate from Ellis Island that lists William as aged 17 in 1916.

She thought William might have been told to lie about his age — though that's just a theory. Either way, she plans on getting that error rectified.

When they arrived in New York City, William and the missionary parted ways — the latter had to attend a convention. He put William into the home of a colleague, a pastor, and gave him some advice — no smoking, no drinking and save money.

The missionary never returned, and William was left adrift. Undeterred, he cleaned the pastor's home for four dollars a week and paid him $1.50 for rent, saving as much as he could and enrolling in the eighth grade.

He passed and, a year later, went off to college in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he studied teaching — eventually becoming the dean of the now-defunct Kittrell College, earning his nickname.

His story is one of rags to riches — all in a foreign land, far away from family. It's the American Dream.

"He's the definition of a self-made man," said his granddaughter. Indeed, he started a family with a fellow educator, Sarah Lewis, and bought 100-some acres from the Coghills in Henderson.

William wouldn't return to his homeland until 1983 — Wedde escorted him to the country where they met his last surviving sister, Parthena. He kissed the ground upon his arrival, Angela recalled.

He came home with a handwoven straw hat and was rarely seen without it.

Tragedy would strike. In 1989, Liberia fell into a civil war. Over the next eight years, 200,000 people died, including William's youngest sister Parthena Moore and his niece Edna Brownell in 1990.

In their escape from the conflict, members of the Lewis family left precious family photos — though Angela has plenty of her own.

An upcoming family reunion in Henderson will reunite members of that family, scattered by the war. That leaves her speechless.

Behind her house on Old Country Home Road, there's a sizable pond. William had it dug and filled with water for the benefit of his daughter-in-law, a prolific fisherwoman. On occasion, gaggles of geese fly down and swim together.

Angela tries not to miss seeing it.