Oscar Lewis
Oscar E.
Lewis. — Prominent among the successful young
business men of Shelbyville is Oscar E. Lewis, who was born in
Franklin County, Indiana, May 20, 1860. His parents, Alexander
and Jane E. Lewis, were natives of the United States and England
respectively, the mother coming to this country in 1838. The early years of his life were spent on his father's farm, and in
1872, he came with his parents to Shelbyville, where he immediately
became a student in the city schools. He pursued his studies for
a period of eight years, graduating from the high school in 1880, and
the same year [?] in teaching, which he continued three terms,
meeting with encouraging success as an instructor, in the meantime. In 1882, he accepted a position in the mercantile house of
H. E. Schortemeier, Shelbyville, and three years later effected a co-
partnership with his employer in the grocery business, purchasing
the large stock of John W. Vannoy. Mr. Lewis, by his courteous conduct and honorable dealing, has succeeded in building up
a large and constantly increasing trade, his house being at this time
one of the best known places of business in the city. He is an enterprising man and possesses those traits of character calculated to
make him popular with the people.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, 1887,
"Shelbyville Sketches," page 501-02.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
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