Lewis was born in Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on September 9, 1820, the youngest child of William and Sarah A.
In 1853 he abandoned the practice of law for mercantile life, being elected at that date secretary and treasurer of the New Haven Wheel Company.
In 1866 he was elected a member of the New Haven Common Council, and in 1868 was sent as a Representative to the Connecticut State Legislature.
He was married, on October 5, 1858, Julia W., second daughter of John H. Coley of New York City.
Of their three children, two daughters survived them, the younger of whom, Josephine Miles Lewis, graduated at the Yale School of the Fine Arts in 1891.