The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-04-07
WAR TIME COUPLE
 SOON TO OBSERVE
 A GOLDEN WEDDING
Rev. and Mrs. William H. Lewis Have Been Man and Wife
 for Fifty Years

1 A bride and groom of the wartime whose honeymoon was spent amidst scenes of carnages devastation and misery, which in many instances their Tndnistrations were able to alleviate Rev. and Mrs William H. Lewis, will in the beautifully decorated and home like rectory of St. Johns Episcopal church, Park avenue tomorrow | celebrate fifty years of happy married | life.
 | Born in New York city where his father, William H. Lewis, was a, prom | fnent clergyman Dr. Lewis was edu- sent to Trinity College preparatory to l following the footsteps Of his father in ministerial fields. At the same l time his wife, Catherine c. Edwards, | the daughter of @ prominent Connec- tjcut family was living at Watertown, l Conn, where her father, Charles c. 1 Edwards had established his resi- dence.
 1 Although but in his second college year at the time that urgent calls were sent for troops at the front, Dr. Lewis, l needed the demands of his country and in company with several other students and professors enlisted in the 1 Union army. He was sent to the front and served many months before fur tough was obtained to visit his rela | tives in Watertown and Bridgeport
 The meeting between MT. and Mrs ! Lewis was at this time and before re- l turning a quiet wedding was perform ed in the Christ church, April s. I 1868, where his father had assumed | the charge. A brother and brother-in- l law assisted.
 l At the age of q Dr. Lewis had been | advanced to the captaincy of his company and such participated in 1 the fighting around Alexandria and
 Fort worth His devoted wife ac- | oompanfed him as closely as possible
 upon his marches, spending, it Is said, her time and energy to the care of the
 wounded
 | Dr. Lewis attached to the 18th Con
 necticut Division Of heavy artillery | was severely wounded in the arm at Winchester and after weeks of debility
 and fever was also afflicted with ty- phoid which wasted his constitution
 to such an extent that he was granted
 honorable discharge after 2 1-2 years
 Of service. After recuperatton at the
 home of his bride, he was later able
 to return to his studies at Trinity,
 followed by course at the Divinity
 School New York.
 First assisting in the Parish work in
 North Carolina, Dr. Lewis assumed the
 western Pennsylvania and later in
 rectorship of the Church of the Nativ-
 ity in Philadelphia, where the happy couple spent between ten and twelve years. Offered a more worthy field for their activities at Calvary church, New York Dr. Lewis needed the call
 and was later instituted as assistant
 rector in the famous St. Paul's church,
 Trinity Parish, New York city, which
 he held until coming to Bridgeport 22
 years ago.
 During his incumbency at the St.
 Johns Episcopal church here he has
 seen it grow under his ministrations
 from a small congregation to one of
 the largest and most influential in the
 city and his he1pmet has greatly as- sisted him ia1 the work.
 l Preparations for the golden wedding celebration which will occurr tomor- row are upon an elaborate scale, as | guests from as far south as Washing ton and from all sections of the east have signified their intention of honor ing the couple. The presents many of which have already arrived will be | of variety and magnificence.
 At the reception tomorrow it is ex- pected that Edward Gardner Lewis and John William Lewis, sons living in the west, will arrive to join their
 brothers Robert Edwards Lewis and
 George Barlow Lewis, of Bridgeport,
 in honoring their parents.
 Assistance in receiving will be given by Mrs. Robert B. Lewis and Mrs. Barlow Lewis, daughters -in-law and
 Mrs. George H. Edwards, sfster-1n-1a1w.