Calif. Families
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Lewelling FamilyMeshach Lewelling moved his family from Randolph Co. North Carolina to Henry Co. Indiana sometime between 1820 and 1825. Some of the family, including 3 brothers Henderson, John and Seth moved to Iowa in 1840 about the time of Meshach's death. These three brothers all went west. Henderson and Seth were pioneering nurserymen first in Milwaukie, Oregon and later California. They developed several new varieties of cherry including the Bing.
Henderson went to Milwaukie Oregon in 1847. After the coming of Henderson and John Lewelling to Iowa, other members of the family followed. An older brother, William, settled in Salem and engaged in teaching. He was a preacher among the Quakers and a public speaker of great merit. A nephew, Jehu Lewelling, and a niece, Jane Lewelling Votaw, also came to Salem. Jehu was a Baptist minister, and Jane Votaw was a preacher for the Quakers. In 1852 or 3 John went back to Iowa to bring his wife and family (including Sarah and her husband Robert King and their oldest child LL King) to California via Panama and ship to SF and settled in San Lorenzo (Lewelling Blvd. is named after the family)
About the same time Henderson went back east to buy more plant material and to bring back a new wife (his 3rd at that point).
Henderson then settled on 200+ acres of land that he bought along Sausal Creek in the east bay in California. Because of all the new orchards and fruit being produced, the area became know as Fruitvale (now a neighborhood in
Oakland). In 1864 John moved to St. Helena in the Napa Valley were he was a pioneering winegrower, establishing Lewelling Vineyards. The Lewellings are related to Prince Llewellyn of Wales according to some accounts.
0. Thomas LEWALLEN (b: 28 DEC 1645 in Pembrey, Carmathian, Wales) Note: Alternate spellings are LUELLING, LUALLEN, LEWALLEN.
See: "The Lewellings: A Microhistory of family farming and agricultural development in California" by Sandra Leland Price Return to the Early California Families Page.
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