Mary Gertrude Lewis

Efforts to trace the Lewis ancestral line of Eugene Ross Lewis, the father of Mary Gertrude Lewis, have only uncovered a few generations.  Eugene Ross Lewis’ grandparents, James Ballard Lewis and Mary Elizabeth Yancey, came from Spotsylvania County.  He was the son of James  Lewis and Hannah Ballard, and died in Culpeper County.  Discrepancies in various genealogy records suggest that full names of the earliest Lewis connection were likely James William Lewis and Hannah Lucinda Ballard. 

The Ballard family, however, can be traced further, to the immigrant Thomas Ballard, born in Worcester, England, who died in Williamsburg, VA.  The Yancey ancestral line traces to Charles Yancey, born in the middle 1600’s in Hanover County, also English heritage.

Eugene Ross Lewis’ mother, Sara ("Sallie") Frances Ross, was a descendant of Daniel Ross, who was among the British forces during the Revolutionary War, but remained in this country following the end of that war.  Daniel Ross was born in Scotland, bringing that country into the Sanford family heritage along with England and Wales.