Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 554] a well-to-do and much respected farmer of Hickory township, was born on the farm, where he now lives, Nov. 21, 1852, and is a son of James L. and Sarah A. (McDowell) Banks, and grandson of James Banks, who was born in Juniata County, and came to Lawrence County in 1817, settling in Neshannock Falls in Wilmington township, where he purchased a farm that was still covered with its native growth of timber. He followed farming all of his life, and proved himself to be of eminent service to the community of which he was a resident. He married Mary Law of Juniata Co., Pa., and to them were born six children: Elizabeth; James L.; Rebecca A.; Margaret; and Andrew and Mary J., twins. They were Presbyterians and followed the rules of life as laid down by that religious society.
James L. Banks was also a farmer by occupation, and kept up an uninterrupted work on his farm until the outbreak of the war. He then enlisted in the service of the government with the three months' men in the 100th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf., or, as it was popularly called, the "Round Head Regiment"; the company in which he was placed was under the command of Capt. Leasure. He was not permitted to see home or its loved ones again, for his death took place in Beaufort, S. C., in 1862, when he was forty-five years of age, his birth having been in 1817. In 1841, his marriage with Sarah A. McDowell, a daughter of Samuel McDowell of Westmoreland County, but latterly a resident of Hickory township, this county, took place, and this union resulted in the birth of five children: Josephine, who married James Quest of New Castle, Pa., and has a large and flourishing family of nine children—James, Edwin, Addie, Wallace, Mack, William, Lizzie, Mont, and Sadie; Samuel A.; Lewis, the subject of this brief personal history; Eva, who married Joseph Pyle of Neshannock township, and had four children—LeRoy E., James McDowell, Sarah E., and Gertrude Josephine; Edmond, who married Miss Rosa Bentley of New York State, and has one child, Thurman—his second wife was Miss Mollie Fletcher of Thurman, Iowa, where they now reside. In their religious views, they favored the United Presbyterian Church.
Lewis Banks finished his schooling satisfactorily in the district schools of his native town, and when still a very young man took up farming on the old home farm, where he has remained ever since, and where he takes care of his aged mother.
In 1880, he was joined in matrimony with Jemima McKee, daughter of Thomas McKee of Neshannock township, and this union has resulted in the birth of three children: Stewart, who lives at home; Gertrude, deceased; and Bertha Adelle. In politics he is a stanch Republican, but the alluring promise of political advancement has never tempted him to enter the field of active partisanship. He is a good citizen and valued member of society and reflects honor on his excellent and worthy ancestry. In the matter of religious attachments, he is a member of the United Presbyterian Church of East Brook, Pennsylvania.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
Previous Biography | Table of Contents | Next Biography
Explanation/Caution | Lawrence Co. Maps | Lawrence Co. Histories
Updated: 16 Jul 2001