OBITUARY: John Franklin Lewis, Medford, Jackson County, Oregon ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ********************************************************************************* Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by Elizabeth Corethers 29 Nov 2002 ********************************************************************************* LEWIS, John Franklin, Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Monday, 29 Feb 1932, p. 8 - John Franklin Lewis, former resident of Eagle Point, Ore., died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. H. Catey, 822 West Twelfth street, early Monday morning from a stroke of paralysis, after an illness of the past two years. Mr. Lewis was born on Polk county, Ore., May 16, 1857. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis, were pioneers of the Willamette valley. They crossed the plains from Missouri in 1853, and built themselves a beautiful home in the Willamette valley. When the flood of '61 and '62 came, all that was left of their home was a tract of land covered with debris. During the flood the house washed down the river and lodged for a short time against some balm trees. Mr. Lewis' father broke a hole through the roof, took a cord from a bedstead and wove a net among the branches of the threes, tore up the upper floor of the house and built a platform in the trees where his family consisting at that time of himself, his wife and five children, remained 24 hours before being rescued from their perilous position. Just as they were all safely on the platform the house broke up and floated down the river. As soon as Mr. Lewis got enough together to move his family he came to Jackson county where he lived until his death in 1904. Deceased was a resident of Eagle Point for fifty years, thirty of which he had been in business. He was a man of fine character, kindly, friendly and a wonderful father. He will be mourned by a host of friends, besides his family. His wife Della Lewis, passed away March 1, 1929. He leaves nine children, five sons and four daughters, William, Thomas, George, Jerry and Harry all of Eagle Point; daughters, Mrs. E. G. Riddell, Mrs. Harold Catey, Mrs. Giles Gitsen, Mrs. E. W. Brown all of Medford, one brother, Newton Lewis, of Applegate, Ore. Funeral services will be conducted from the Perl Funeral Home March 3, at 2:30 p.m., Rev. W. H. Eaton officiating. Interment will take place in the Central Point cemetery. Pallbearers will be very intimate friends: William M. Perry, Frank Brown, John Rader, John Miller, W. Childreth and Geo. Givens.