Merton E. Lewis
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Merton Elmer Lewis (December 10, 1861 Webster, Monroe County, New York - May 2, 1937 Rochester, Monroe County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician.
[edit] Life
He was the son of Charles Chadwick Lewis (b. 1826) and Rhoda Ann Willard Lewis. He graduated from Webster Union School, then studied law with James B. Perkins at Rochester. He was admitted to the bar in 1887, and commenced practice in Rochester. On January 2, 1886, he married Adeline Louise Moody (1866-1894).
He was delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1894. He was an alderman of Rochester from 1891 on, and as President of the Common Council since 1894 became Acting Mayor of Rochester after the resignation of George W. Aldridge in 1895.
In January 1915, he was appointed First Deputy Attorney General by Egburt E. Woodbury who resigned on April 19, 1917. Six days later, Lewis was elected New York State Attorney General by joint ballot of the New York State Legislature, and in November he was elected at the state election to remain in office until the end of 1918.
In 1918, he declined to run for re-election, but ran in the Republican primary for governor instead. In August 1918, he urged the Republican voters to repudiate his opponent Governor Charles S. Whitman, because Whitman was backed by William Randolph Hearst whom he accused of having undermined the United States war effort against Germany. Gov. Whitman was re-nominated, but was defeated at the election by Al Smith.
[edit] Sources
- [1] List of New York Attorneys General, at Office of the NYSAG
- [2] Political Graveyard
- [3] Lewis ancestry, at Earthlink
- [4] Bio from Rochester and the Post Express - A history of the City of Rochester from the earliest times; the pioneers and their predecessors, frontier life in the Genesee country, biographical sketches; with a record of the Post Express compiled by John Devoy (1895, page 196), at Rootsweb
- [5] Bio from Landmarks of Monroe County, NY by William F. Peck (1895, Part III, p. 153)
- [6] His appointment as First Deputy, in NYT on December 19, 1914
- [7] Woodbury's resignation, in NYT on April 20, 1917
- [8] Merton Lewis declined renomination, in NYT on May 7, 1918
- [9] His candidacy announced, in NYT on May 13, 1918
- [10] His urge against Whitman, in NYT on August 13, 1918
| Preceded by George W. Aldridge, II |
Mayor of Rochester, NY 1895 – 1896 |
Succeeded by George E. Warner |
| Preceded by Egburt E. Woodbury |
New York State Attorney General 1917 – 1918 |
Succeeded by Charles D. Newton |
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