Thomas Lewis, the eldest child of Samuel Smith Lewis, a farmer of limited means, of Salem Society in Waterbury, now Naugatuck, Connecticut, and grandson of John and Amy (Smith) Lewis, was born on April 13 (or14), 1777. His mother was Abigail, eldest child of Matthew and Abigail (Thomas) Baldwyn, of Milford and Woodbridge.

He studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Charles Backus, of Somers, Connecticut, and after being licensed to preach declined two invitations to settle in Connecticut parishes. While still living at home, he assisted young men in their preparation for college.

In 1810 he was on the eve of accepting a call to a third parish, Marlborough Society, in Hartford County, when he was attacked with severe hemorrhage of the lungs. President Dwight was able to recommend him shortly after to be Principal of the Academy in Sunbury, Liberty County, Georgia. He arrived in Georgia in December, and at the beginning of April was enough improved to begin a brief but highly successful services as a teacher.

The labor which he took upon himself for the benefit of his pupils, together with exposure incurred in assiduously visiting the sick of the neighborhood, and too great zeal in occasionally venturing to preach, proved too exhaustive, but he persevered at his post until 1804, and after a few weeks of extreme feebleness he died in Sunbury on March 3, 1804, in his 27th year. He was unmarried.

An Oration on his death, by John Elliott (Yale 1794), was delivered in Sunbury Meeting House a month later, and was afterwards published; as was also a Funeral Sermon, by the Rev. Holland Weeks, pastor of the First Church in Waterbury, delivered in his native parish on April 30.

Source:
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College: With Annals of the College History, New York: H. Holt and Co., 1885-1912, Volume 5, pp. 330-331

Submitted by Bob Franks