website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
John "The Commodore" Lewis
The
Smallest Man on Record
1856 – 1881
“27
in. Heigh” [as spelled on tombstone]
Watertown Remembered, Elmer
C. Kiessling, 1975, p 63.
In its
early days Watertown had a vest pocket enclave of Welsh people, who resided
mainly near their church on North Washington Street and on farms on the Welsh
Road, which lies some miles west of and parallel to Highway 26. A colony of Welshmen also settled west and
north of Ixonia [about 7 miles east of
Watertown]. One of the sons of the
Richard and Tryphena Lewis family in this colony was
the famous midget, John, "The Commodore." Only 27 inches high, he is the smallest man
on record. He died at 24 and is buried
in a cemetery west of Ixonia. [note: Kiessling has
Richard as father. As noted in Lewis
family tree and also on the tombstone, the father is Lewis Lewis. Yes, Lewis Lewis
and nearby farm was that of Humphrey Humphrey.]
1881 News Story
On the
day his body was buried March 25, 1881, the following dispatch from Watertown
appeared in a Milwaukee newspaper. The
article follows:
24 Years Old
Watertown—Today, in the little cemetery at Ixonia, Jefferson county, there was laid away, to its final
rest, the body of John Lewis, the smallest man in America, and with scarcely a
rival in the world for diminutiveness. As previously announced in these dispatches. Lewis died on
Monday, March 21, at the home of his parents in the town of Ixonia,
six miles east of this city of congestion of the stomach, after a brief
illness.
John
Lewis was born in the town where he died in the year 1857, and was therefore 24
years of age at the time of his decease.
His parents, Lewis and Catherine Lewis, are natives of Wales. Their union has been blessed with seven
children, three sons and four daughters, the dwarf son being the oldest. With the exception of John all their
offspring are of full average size, well formed and of good intellect. As a baby John was of fair average size, but
appears not to have grown much after his second year. This wonderful little man was only 27 inches
high, and his average weight of late years only 19 pounds. Tom Thumb,
considered at one time so much of a prodigy, for smallness of stature, is about
40 inches high and twice the weight of Lewis.
Even Commodore Nutt seemed tall by the side of the Ixonia
dwarf.
Had No Thumbs
Lewis
had a round face with an intelligent look, blue eyes, black bushy hair and fair
complexion. He was perfect and symmetrical
in form except that his hands were without thumbs and one foot was club and
slightly turned in at the ankle. He was
fond of dress. His favorite coat was the
conventional blue frock with brass buttons.
It was invariably found impossible to find a hat small enough to fit
him, which made it necessary to make one for him expressly. When dressed in his best he looked like a
miniature Broadway swell. He received a
common school education such as his neighborhood afforded, and was generally
taken to the school house, one and a half miles distant, in a little wagon
drawn by his brothers and sisters.
He was
a bright scholar, both in the English and Welsh languages, especially noted for
his retentive memory, and could repeat most the New Testament by heart. He was possessed of considerable religious
zeal, attending church services as regularly as possible, and was invariably
able to repeat the text and tell the part of the bible it could be found in
when he returned home. In the Ixonia Welsh Methodist church, of which he was a member,
the privilege was generally accorded him of giving out and reading the hymns,
which he did standing on the pulpit, a small, to be sure, but no less earnest
specimen of the church militant.
Had Bad Temper
But
notwithstanding his fervor as a religionist, the ungovernableness of his temper
often got the mastery of him. When angry
he was quite desperate and used to make it very unpleasant for the members of
the household, many a time chasing his brothers and sisters out of the house,
on such occasions using his club foot as a weapon to the best possible
advantage. He even maintained by his
conduct that though he had been out-stripped in size, he was complete master of
the hearthstone.
He
made a study of agricultural topics, and was greatly interested in all matters
pertaining to the work of the farm, remembering clearly the different kinds of
grain the fields in previous years had been sown with.
A
strange peculiarity he possessed of pulling off his coat at meals and keeping
on his hat. He was a hearty eater and a
great tea drinker. The disease of which
he died was no doubt the result of his ravenous appetite.
Shrewd in Business
Our
diminutive friend had a great aptitude for making money. When a pig was given him by his father the
circumstance did not by any manner of means furnish an illustration of the
adage, "boy's pig and daddy's bacon," for the progress in the growth
of the animal was closely watched, and when killed the money obtained from the
pork was in the little man's pocket. So in the case of a hen.
Her laying and incubations were properly noted and the profits accruing
placed where they would do the most good.
In this way Lewis had accumulated some $400 at the time of his
death. The farthest he ever was away
from home was when he attended a Welsh church synodical
convention at Oshkosh a few years since.
Never on Exhibition
He
never exhibited himself, although numerous offers had been made him to do
so. Barnum had obtained his photograph
and wrote him on the subject of making an engagement with him for
exhibiting. Other parties corresponded
with him, having the same object in view, but to all such he turned a deaf
ear. Rev. T. R. Jones, of Randolph,
Wis., tried to persuade the little fellow to take a trip with him to Wales, and
from there they would go to Australia, where a large number of Welsh people are
settled, but without avail. Mrs. Lewis
was very emphatic in her determination that her dwarf son should never leave
his home, especially for the purpose of showing himself to the public. She always took great care of him, and, of
course, on account of his misfortune, her feelings, perhaps, were more tender
for him than for any of her other children.
When
Tom Thumb and Commodore Nutt exhibited here some eight years ago, John Lewis
came to see them. All three of these men
midgets were greatly interested in one another.
Nutt admitted he was beat, but pointed to Lewis' hands and foot as an
offset for over-height. Thumb had
nothing to say, being almost a giant compared with the Ixonia
diminutive specimen of humanity. An
additional peculiarity of his memory might be mentioned here, was that he never
forgot a name, something that few of more robust body and greater intellect
than he can boast of.
Votes for Garfield
John
Lewis exercised the right of suffrage for the first time last fall, Garfield
receiving his vote for president, and Humphrey E. Humphrey [E. E. Humphrey noted on plat map],
Democrat, who was his neighbor and friend, for assemblyman.
From
this it will be seen that General Garfield had not only the largest support but
the smallest supporter in the country.
Taken,
all in all, John Lewis was one of the most remarkable personages this country has
produced, and the entire world's history may be challenged to show many greater
curiosities of humanity than the Ixonia dwarf.
Cross References: Same text as above article also appeared in Omaha
Daily Bee., April 01, 1881.
1899 Plat book of Jefferson County, Wisconsin
Ken Riedl photo
Bethel
Welsh Presbyterian / Co Rd
"P" / Ixonia,
WI /
Jefferson County
John
C. Lewis, b. 10 10 1856, d. 03 21 1881
Cross
References:
Chapter
on Commodore Lewis in Badger Boneyards:
The Eternal Rest of the
Story, by Dennis McCann, 2000.
10 14
2010 Nepalese teen named world's shortest man—Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN)—A
Nepalese teen who is the size of a toddler turned 18 and entered the record
books as the world's shortest man.
Khagendra Thapa Magar is 67.08 centimeters (26.4 inches) and weighs 6.5
kilograms (13 pounds), said Marco Frigatti, vice president of records at
Guinness World Records, who flew in from London for the recognition. A businessman discovered Magar
four years ago in remote Baglung district. Since then, he has been the center of
attraction at fairs across the country, with organizers paying to exhibit
him. Magar
replaces Edward Nino Hernandez, 24, of Colombia, who measures 70.21 centimeters
(27.4 inches). Hernandez had been declared the shortest living man after
Chinese national He Pingping died in March. Magar is a resident
of Pokhara, 124 miles west of the capital, Kathmandu.
Lewis
Family Members buried
in Bethel Church Cemetery / Ixonia Township, Sec
21, Jefferson County, WI
Cemetery
is located on CTH "P" in Ixonia Township,
about 1 mi west of Ixonia. This cemetery is owned and maintained by the
Bethel Welsh Presbyterian Church. The
cemetery is situated by the church on the north side of the road.
Lewis, Catherine Jones, b. Mar 3, 1833,
d. Feb 4, 1910, Lot 41
Lewis, Catherine, b. Sep 15, 1816, d.
Oct 3, 1880, Lot 29
Lewis, Clayton J., b. Sep 8, 1896, d.
Jun 16, 1969, Lot 7-1
Lewis, David R., b. Feb 10, 1893, d.
Apr 28, 1965, Lot 50
Lewis, David, b. Apr 1829, d. Jun 4,
1904, Lot 39
Lewis, Dorothy J., b. 1918, d. Feb 14,
1920, Lot 50
Lewis, E.R., b. Dec 31, 1849, d. Jan
29, 1905, Lot 35
Lewis, Edward, b. 1810, d. Aug 25,
1881, Lot 35
Lewis, Eleanor Jones, b. Feb 11, 1875,
d. Mar 4, 1964, Lot 7-5
Lewis, Elizabeth Jones, b. Feb 15,
1871, d. May 16, 1952, Lot 22
Lewis, Elizabeth Willams,
b. 1835, d. 1901, Lot 35
Lewis, Elizabeth, b. 1842, d. 1923, Lot
39
Lewis, Elizabeth, b. Nov 25, 1868, d.
Nov 7, 1932, Lot 41
Lewis, Grandmother, b. 1795, d. 1867,
Lot 39 <<== THIS IS TRYPHENA, THE MOTHER
OF THE CLAN
Lewis, Hattie, b. Jun 5, 1877, d. Aug
22, 1899, Lot 29
Lewis, Hugh, b. 1874, d. 1874, Lot 39
Lewis, Jane E. Pritchard, b. 11, 1842,
d. Jan 14, 1917, Lot 29
Lewis, Jane Ellen Roberts, b. Aug 14,
1896, d. Jan 30, 1935, Lot 50
Lewis, John C., b. Oct 10, 1856, d. Mar
21, 1881, Lot 41 <<== THE
COMMODORE
Lewis, John, b. Aug 2, 1863, d. May 25,
1907, Lot 43
Lewis, John, b. Jan 9, 1814, d. Aug 17,
1850, Lot 39
Lewis, Kathryn, b. Jul 19, 1872, d. Apr
4, 1953, Lot 41
Lewis, Lewis D., b. Jan 13, 1856, d.
Jun 14, 1935, Lot 48
Lewis, Lewis, b. Jun 9, 1816, d. Dec
28, 1894, Lot 41
Lewis, Margaret Jones, b. May 23, 1871,
d. Jul 11, 1962, Lot 16
Lewis, Mary Humphrey, b. Jan 31, 1856,
d. May 9, 1915, Lot 48
Lewis, Nellie, b. Mar 10, 1866, d. Nov
2, 1949, Lot 41
Lewis, Price, b. Apr 8, 1837, d. Sep 6,
1926, Lot 37
Lewis, Richard H., b. 1863, d. Nov 16,
1942, Lot 16
Lewis, Richard P., b. Dec 17, 1867, d.
Mar 21, 1956, Lot 7-6
Lewis, Rosetta, b. Oct 20, 1839, d. Oct
25, 1911, Lot 37
Lewis, Sarah, b. 1872, d. 1874, Lot 39
Lewis, Thomas J., b. Jan 25, 1840, d.
1920, Lot 29
Lewis, Thomas L., b. 1818, d. Apr 16,
1883, Lot 29
Lewis, Tryphena
Humphrey, b. Jul 14, 1894, d. Oct 28, 1966, Lot 7-2
Lewis, Tryphena
Humphrey, b. Sep 12, 1858, d. Jan 24, 1950, Lot 49
Lewis, William L., b. 1860, d. 1923,
Lot 22
Images:
Image
of cane used by The Commodore
Image
of sleigh on which he was pulled to school by this brothers and sisters
Image
of bed made for the 27-inch man by a local wagon maker
