[2] It is assumed that Matthias Lewis was either a Mohegan from southern Rhode Island or a Pequot from the area around New London and Montville, Connecticut.

"[12] Nothing yet has been found to show that Lewis was ever licensed as a preacher or ordained as a minister; however, he brought away from his studies a thorough knowledge of the Bible as well as classical history.

[13] Lewis was married twice: first to Mrs. Wealthia Ann Jones in New York City in late 1828,[14] and secondly, to eighteen-year-old Mary Freeman Huston, the fourth of nine children of an escaped slave from Virginia who became a prosperous farmer in Brunswick, Maine,[15] at the Charles Street Baptist Church in Boston, on March 17, 1835.

"Picking oakum"—the actual business in unraveling the strands of rope so that they could be prepared for caulking—was a tedious, sticky job generally delegated to those workers lowest in the pecking order.

An advertisement that ran in Maine newspapers during the 1840s stated "THE knowledge of this highly esteemed Oil for the Hair was obtained from a distinguished ARABIAN by the subscriber.

It is used almost universally in that country, to make the hair grow long, to give it a healthy and lively appearance, and preserve its beauty to an advanced age.

It is decidedly the best oil that was ever used in this or any other country for preventing the Hair from coming off, giving life to the roots, and making it grow long and soft.

It also darkens it and gives a beautiful gloss....This Oil I have not been able to obtain till now, except in very small quantities, and have used it for myself and family occasionally for two or three years.

His "long black Indiany locks" were "thoroughly greased" with his oil, and as he held the enthralled crowd spellbound with his descriptions of the potency of his product, Lewis would demonstrate its power by referring to the "glossy appearance" of his hair.

At the end of the book, Lewis noted that he hadn't said all that he wanted to, and stated that "I have in contemplation the publishing of another work which will contain much interesting matter, some of which has of necessity been excluded from these pages.

In November 1843, four African-American businessmen of Boston—clothier Thomas Dalton, shoemaker and old clothes dealer James Scott, junk dealer Andress V. Lewis (no relation) and shoemaker Charles H. Roberts—who called themselves the "Committee of Colored Gentlemen" purchased the copyright of the expanded version of Light and Truth and by March of the next year produced it in one volume.

Lewis was an ethnologist, and his book Light and Truth was an African American ethnology that denounced notions of white superiority.

Lewis saw it as his mission to search "diligently…in the quest of light, and truth, in ancient, sacred and profane history, translated by English historians…truths that have long been concealed from the sons of Ethiopia."

[29] Lewis signed on as a ship's cook and steward on the merchantman Philip Larrabee of Bath, bound for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in early 1858.