The Friendship Between John T. Lewis And Mark Twain
By | May 24, 2022
John T. Lewis was born a freeman in 1835 in Linwood, Maryland. As a child, he learned to read and write, and in 1851, he bought a copybook to write in. He was a member of the Brethren, a church whose members were known as Dunkards or German Baptists. At age 25, in 1860, he left for Pennsylvania, settling near Gettysburg. Because of the Civil War, he fled further north, eventually ending up in Elmira, New York in 1865, where he farmed. Then he was hired by Jervis Langdon, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, to manage Quarry Farm, which Langdon had just purchased.
Lewis Lived In A Tenant House On Quarry Farm
Meanwhile, in 1869, Mark Twain, who lived in Hartford, Connecticut at the time, began courting Olivia Langdon, Jervis Langdon’s daughter. The following year, Twain married Olivia, and Jervis Langdon died, leaving Quarry Farm to his daughter Susan Crane. Lewis then moved into a tenant house on the farm. Meanwhile, Crane, who wanted space for her family to visit, expanded the main house and added a separate octagonal study for Twain.
Twain Held Lewis In High Regard
It was here that Twain met Lewis, and they became friends. As Twain said, he had never met “an honester (sic) man nor a more respect-worthy one…” While living on Quarry Farm, he raised pigs, and although he worked hard, according to Twain, he could not get out of poverty, and had to borrow money from the Cranes and ran up a rather large debt.
Lewis Saved The Langdons
According to Twain’s niece Ida Langdon, Lewis was a Dunkard-Baptist who was intelligent, and could read and write; he also amused Twain when he got into “heated discussions” with the Quarry Farm Cook. Additionally, he also became a hero on August 23, 1877, when he saved Mrs. Langdon (the mother of Ida), her other daughter Julia, and a nurse who were in an out-of-control carriage.
