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Lewis AMIS, Sr., merchant, Princeton, Ark. Foremost among those
engaged in merchandising in Princeton is Mr. AMIS, who has
built up a trade which will rank among the largest in the
county. This gentleman was born in North Carolina. Granville
County on December 22, 1822, and is the son of Joseph & Elizabeth
(DOWNEY) AMIS, natives also of Granville County, N. C. The
father was born in 1700, and was a successful agriculturist.
He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was stationed at
Norfolk, Va. He was also a colonel in the militia. For many
years he held the office of magistrate, and was a man universally
esteemed. He was widely known, was a Whig in political and
church circles. He died in his native county in 1840, and
the mother also died there eight years later. They were both
members of the Presbyterian Church, and took great interest
in religious matters. Of the eight children born to his parents,
Lewis AMIS was third in order of birth. He received his primary
education in the schools of his native county, and supplemented
the same by attending Chapel Hill College, Orange, N.C. After
the death of his father he commenced farming, then moved
to Georgia in 1857, and from there to Dallas County, Ark.,
where he has since resided. Upon coming to Princeton he embarked
in mercantile pursuits, and this he has since continued with
the greatest success. He espoused the cause of the Southern
States during the late war, and was in the commissary department.
Previous to this, in October, 1843, he had married Miss Martha
AMIS, a native of Granville County, N.C., and the daughter
of William AMIS. She died in North Carolina. The fruits of
this union were two children: Martha (wife of William M.
ADAMS, a farmer of Texas), and Joseph Warren (deceased, who
was in business with his father). On June 1, 1852, Mr. AMIS
married Miss Martha DANIEL, daughter of Lewis DANIEL of North
Carolina, and she died August 10, 1889. She was born on August
16, 1835. The children born to this marriage were seven in
number: Walter S. (attorney of Cleveland County), Eugene
H. (a Presbyterian minister now in Kentucky), Betsy (wife
of H.R. THOMAS, a farmer of this county), Amy F. (a wife
R. C. WILKINS, commercial traveler, Pine Bluff, Ark), Lewis
Jr. (merchandising at Princeton, and a partner of his father),
Alice and Mary. Mr. AMIS was county treasurer for ten years,
and discharged the duties of that office in a very satisfactory
manner. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a
Democrat in politics.