"Portland The Rose City, Pictorial and Biographical." Vol. 1. S. J. Clarke
Publishing Co., 1911.  p. 71.
 
CICERO HUNT LEWIS
 
     Among those who have been most active in furthering Portland's interests
and especially in promoting its commercial development Cicero Hunt Lewis was
numbered and from the beginning of his connection with mercantile affairs here
no man occupied a more enviable position in business circles His success was
rated not alone by material gain but also in the high regard which he won his
commercial integrity ever remaining unsullied through the forty seven years in
which he carried on merchandising in Portland.
 
     The width of the continent separated Mr. Lewis from his birthplace after he
came to the northwest for he was a native of Cranbury, Middlesex county, New
Jersey, his birth having there occurred on the 22d of December 1826. When
thirteen years of age he accompanied his parents on their removal to Newburgh,
New York, and when a young man of twenty years he went to New York city. It was
in the Empire state that he acquired his education and received that business
training which prepared him for the responsibilities which devolved upon him in
meeting the new conditions of the west.
 
     In the eastern metropolis Mr. Lewis was employed in the dry goods house of
Chambers, Heiser & Company, but realizing that greater opportunities were to be
secured in the then primitive but developing west he left New York city on the
13th of February, 1850, in company with L. H. Allen, taking the Panama route to
the Pacific coast. They arrived in San Francisco on the 23d of March, their
vessel sailing through the golden gate and landing them in a country rich with
promise. They remained in San Francisco until June, making arrangements for
starting in business in Portland, then a small village of no commercial or
industrial importance, its business enterprises centering on Front street. On
the 9th of June the two young men reached this city. In 1853, when Mr. Allen
returned from a trip to the east, the firm of Allen & Lewis was organized and
thus was established the largest wholesale house on the coast. The record of Mr.
Lewis from the time when he opened a small grocery house in Portland to the time
of his death constituted an important element in the city's business history for
in the intervening years he developed an enterprise which was of vital
significance in extending the trade relations of the city. At an early day he
was agent for the Adams Express Company and for a line of Pacific steamships
from San Francisco and even his three fold duties scarcely occupied all his
time. He gave tireless attention to his interests however, and with the passing
years his trade grew in volume and importance until its ramifying interests
covered a wide territory. He also became well known in financial circles,
becoming a director in the Security Savings & Trust Company and several other
heavy banking institutions.  Long before his death, his financial position would
have permitted of his retirement but he did not care to leave the field of
business and one day when asked if he did not expect to put aside business cares
he replied with a smile: "Yes, I am getting mature, it's true.  I have rounded
off three score and ten and yet I feel hardy and vigorous enough to last in hard
work for many years to come.  I don't want to stop now.  I would not know what
to do with myself.  I find my recreation and happiness in business," and for
this reason he continued actively therein until his death.
 
     On the 18th of January 1857, Mr. Lewis was married to Miss Clementina
Couch, a daughter of Captain Couch, one of the first of the courageous band who
conquered Oregon for the purposes of civilization and laid the foundation for
its present development and prosperity. His donation claim comprised all of the
property which is known as Knob Hill and became very valuable. Unto Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis were born eleven children, all of whom had reached years of maturity at
the time of his death. These are Mrs. J. E. Bingham; John Couch Lewis; Mrs.
Elizabeth Good; Lucius Allen Lewis; of the well known firm of Allen & Lewis;
Mrs. Evelyn Scott Mills; David Chambers Lewis; Sarah Heard Lewis; Robert Wilson
Lewis; Cicero Hunt Lewis; Mrs. Clementine Hall and Mrs. Frances Fairbanks.
 
     All through the years of his residence in Portland Mr. Lewis took an active
interest in the welfare and progress of the city and in the early days served as
a member of Engine Company No 1 of the volunteer fire department. The only
public office he ever held was that of a member of the water committee. His
influence, however, was always found on the side of improvement and advancement
and he cooperated in many movements for the public good. He was a prominent
member of the Masonic fraternity, exemplifying in his life its beneficent
teachings, while Trinity church found in him a member ever devoted to its best
interests. His charity was bounteous but ever unostentatious. The poor and needy
ever found in him a friend but his giving was quietly done nor did he wish the
applause of the multitude. He was plain and unassuming in all his ways. His was
the aristocracy of birth and worth and not of wealth, and no man ever met him
who did not recognize in him those sterling qualities which in every land and
clime awaken confidence and respect. One who knew him long and well said of him:
"CH Lewis was a fine man. There was no brag about him. He was quiet and simple
in his tastes yet impressed all with his genuine worth. He was hard to approach
by schemers or promoters but was generous and communicative to his friends."
 
     Mrs. Lewis occupies a beautiful home in the midst of attractive and well
kept grounds that embrace an entire city block, which was a part of her father's
original claim. She is generous to charities and has been especially gracious
and liberal toward the Samaritan Hospital, to which she added a memorial in
honor of her husband. Innate culture and refinement are hers and she has long
been a social leader.
 
 
This same biography also appears in the book:
 
"Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders"                                                     
Author:  Joseph Gaston
S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago-Portland, 1911
     

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2013 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.