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Signer of the Declaration of Independence from New York (1713–1802). Revolutionary War-dated ALS signed “Fra's Lewis & Son,” one page, 7.5 x 8.75, April 26, 1775. Handwritten letter to Philadelphia merchant to William Pollard, in full: "We have been favored with your letters of the 30 & 31 ult'o also 20 April. The money you sent by Mr. Rotch we received agreeable to your list for which please to accept our thanks. Your last letter informs us that you had receiv'd the amount of Kenneer's order which we are glad to he[ar].
Mr. Johnston with part of his family sailed f[or] Jamaica a few days before your last was received; you there say you forwarded his and our Letters, (suppose f'm Jamaica) by a Mr. Mitchell of this city, those letters are not yet come to hand. The advices p[er] express from the Eastward has put this City in a violent ferment[;] expresses are forwarded to to [sic] the So[uth]ward with the particulars to which shall reffer [sic] you." Addressed on the reverse in Lewis's hand. Professionally inlaid into a slightly larger sheet and in very good to fine condition, with scattered light staining.
The April 26th date places this letter just one week after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775—the opening armed conflict of the American Revolution. Lewis’s reference to “advices per express from the Eastward” having thrown Philadelphia into “a violent ferment” vividly captures the speed and force with which news of the bloodshed spread through the colonies. The dispatches moving “to the Southward with the particulars” reflect the urgent colonial communication network that transformed local resistance in Massachusetts into a continental crisis.
On April 23, 1775, a broadside was printed and distributed in New York City, headlined: 'The following interesting Advices were this Day received here by two Vessels from Newport and by an Express by Land.' It contained transcriptions of communications from Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Hopkins and other leaders of Providence conveying the first reports of the conflict: 'About 1200 of the regular troops have proceeded from Boston toward Concord; and having fired on the inhabitants, and killed a number of them at Lexington, are now actually engaged in butchering and destroying our brethren in the most inhuman manner.'
In his 1995 reference History Comes to Life, Kenneth Rendell places Lewis's autograph material into the 'very rare' category among the Signers; as choice example from the dawn of the American Revolution, this is a particularly desirable example.
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