[2] For many years, Lewis engaged in a heated rivalry with his nephew Patton over land grants, judicial power, and the construction of a parish meeting house.

[1] His parents were Andrew Lewis and Mary Colquhoun, and his father's family reportedly were French Huguenots who had left France for Ireland.

The Lewises leased land in County Donegal from a "proud, profligate and extravagant" man named Sir Mungo Campbell, who tried to coerce his tenants to pay inflated rents.

He fired a musket loaded with buckshot into the house, wounding Lewis's wife in the hand and killing his disabled brother.

Fearful that Campbell's family would take revenge, Lewis, in disguise, and "about thirty of his faithful tenantry" obtained passage on a ship bound for the Kingdom of Portugal.

After an investigation, Lewis was eventually pardoned by Irish authorities and granted land in western Virginia in compensation for the attack on his home.

[8][9] John Lewis married Margaret Lynn (James Patton's maternal aunt) in 1715 in County Donegal.

[23][24]: 29–31  The building has undergone substantial renovation over the years, but the original stone section of the ground floor is still visible.

[27] On 22 April 1738, the Virginia Council appointed Lewis captain over the settlers in Beverly Manor, where Indians had been stealing items and had killed a farmer.

[18]: 42  When Augusta County was incorporated in 1745, Lewis was appointed magistrate by Governor William Gooch on 30 October.

[18]: 53 By 1737, Lewis and other partners were acquiring grants for large tracts of land outside Beverley Manor, including the Calfpasture River areas.

[2]: 82  Lewis had his sons Andrew and Thomas trained as surveyors in order to maintain control over the surveying process of the Greenbrier Company.

[17]: 95 In 1748, Lewis collaborated with his nephew, James Patton, and Dr. Thomas Walker in the formation of the Loyal Land Company of Virginia.

[32][33]: 108  A grant was made to the company on July 12, 1748, according to the Virginia Council records: "To John Lewis Esq.

He was also among the ten elected commissioners of the Tinkling Spring congregation in 1741 and underwrote the cost of the meeting house's construction.