JAMES McADORY LEWIS, the well known hardware merchant of Terral, brother of Dr. Arthur R. Lewis, is a native of Mississippi, born in Kosciusko, December 25, 1873. When he was seven years of age his father, Dr. James M. Lewis, migrated from that state and settled at Mexia, Texas, in whose, public schools the boy received his prepatory education and commenced business as a clerk in a confectionery store. In preparation for a professional career he attended the, Southern Medical College at Atlanta, Georgia, where he pursued a course in dentistry. This completed, he opened an office in his home town and after a year removed to DeQueen, Arkansas, there entering employment in a sawmill and stave factory. Contracting a bad case of ague in that swampy country, he returned to his Kosciusko home, but two years afterward removed to Fleetwood. Oklahoma, and after serving for two years as a clerk in the general store of O. C. Walker, of that place, located in Terral for the practice of his profession. Not many months thereafter he sold his business and good will, purchasing a share in the hardware stock of D. B. Bradshaw and soon aftenvard being joined by his brother, Dr. A. R. Lewis, who had bought Mr. Bradshaw's remaining interest. Under the firm name of Lewis Brothers thev conducted a growing business for about two years, when James M. became sole proprietor of the establishment. He now carries a general stock valued at six thousand dollars, does a strictly cash business, is keen but straightforward in all his transactions, supplies the goods required by the community, has the confidence of the home people, and is therefore rapidly gaining in financial strength. He owns his residence, and the progress he has made as a merchant since he settled in Terral is most gratifying. He is a large, social and genial man, albeit energetic and executive, and is especially adapted to the field he has finally chosen. He is also quite widely known in the fraternities, having served for four years as secretary of Terral Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M., and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics, he is a Democrat. Mr. Lewis' wife was formerly Lottie Agnes Malone, to whom he was married at Chickasha, Oklahoma, May 26, 1903, and the other children of her family are as follows: Mrs. T. J. Hightower, of Terral; Mrs. R. E. Schoolfield, of Ryan, and William C. Malone, of Terral. Mr. Malone died when his children were small and Mrs. Lewis was reared by her maternal grandfather. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. James M. Lewis: Agnes, born September 22, 1905, and James Malone Lewis, who died December 28, 1907, at four years of age.
     James M. Lewis comes of an old and prominent southern family, whose members have been leaders both in the professions and in the agriculture of the south. His grandfather, Dr. Oxias Lewis, was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, of Scotch-Irish parentage, but passed his active life in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Throughout the war he was an opponent of secession, and a stanch Union man. His children, by his marriage to Emily Comfort, of Connecticut, were as follows: Harriet, wife of James Hammond, died in Kosciusko;William, a dry goods merchant of Flint, Michigan: John, a traveling salesman who resides in Cincinnati; one daughter, deceased, who was the wife of J. M. Comfort; and Dr. J. M. Lewis, the father of our subject. The elder Dr. Lewis was a graduate of the University of Michigan, and a deep scholar in various fields of knowledge. He was also actively engaged in practice until his death December 28, 1889. For many years he was local surgeon for the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 was prominent as an assistant health officer of the county and state. Dr. J. M. Lewis married Sallie J. Rimmer, her father, James Rimmer, being a Connecticut man by birth, and by occupation a wealthy planter of Attala county, Mississippi. He was an ardent Confederate. The children of his family were: Dr. Arthur R.and Dr. James M. Lewis, of Terral; Oxia;, of Mexia, Texas; Louise, wife of John Davis, also of that place;Esther, now Mrs. G. A. Lyall, of Mexia; Mabel, who married Vi. C. Schutts, of Fort Worth, Texas; Mattieand John W., of Mexia.