06/25/2026
Here is a circa 1900 colorized portrait of William Harrison Lewis (1862-1940) and his wife, the former Mary Ann Miller (1860-1946), pioneer residents of Flagler Beach, at their home of the time in Marion County, Illinois. The unretouched, original photo follows, courtesy of Ancestry.com. They were married in 1896. Mary Ann was William’s second wife. He and his late first wife, the former Mary Isabell “Bell” Tune (1862-before 1896), were married in 1881 and shared eight children together, two of whom died at birth. Surviving were three daughters and three sons. In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, William and Mary Ann lived in Centralia, Illinois, where William was a boilermaker for the Illinois Central Railroad. A boilermaker was a highly skilled craftsman responsible for constructing, maintaining, and repairing the fireboxes and steel pressure vessels on steam locomotives. It was a physically demanding, dangerous job that involved constant exposure to extreme heat, the loud noises of riveting, and cramped, toxic conditions inside the engine fireboxes.
In March 1913, William and Mary Ann came to make their home in what would become Flagler County in 1917. Why they left Illinois for this Florida destination is unknown, but one can speculate that they were lured by one of those persuasive Thomas Verdenius ads in a Chicago newspaper for the Bunnell Development Company. Arriving in Bunnell, Florida, William came to the attention of George Moody, who had plans for a beach resort across the Florida East Coast Canal (today’s Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway) from Ocean City, a Bunnell Development Company colony along the west bank where Lambert Avenue is today. Both William Lewis and George Moody were Masons, so one can again speculate that they became acquainted in the local Masonic lodge at Bunnell. George Moody hired William Lewis to build the first three houses on his homestead claim, including George’s homestead house. As a reward, William and Mary Ann Lewis occupied the first house completed in December 1913, becoming the first residents of the future Flagler Beach. Lewis took charge of George Moody’s interests in the initial development of Ocean City Beach, which would become the future Flagler Beach downtown. He helped to make roads through the marsh and even grubbed a winding road all the way south to Bulow, known as the Lewis Trail. In 1923, the county improved the Lewis Trail as a southerly extension of Central Avenue. In early 1919, William and Mary Ann Lewis occupied George Moody’s Ocean City Beach Casino, which had been built in 1916 as a privately owned community center. They operated the bathing facilities there and improved the property. Then, in September 1919, George Moody sold the Casino to J. F. Ball.
Featured in the third image is a circa 1913 colorized photo of Mary Ann and William Lewis among the palm trees of Ocean City along the Florida East Coast Canal. The unretouched, original photo follows. William is holding a fishing rod, for he was an enthusiastic angler, widely respected locally for his extraordinary fishing skills. Among their many friends, they were known as “Uncle Bill” and “Aunt Mary” Lewis. Aunt Mary was locally revered for her cooking skills, to the same degree that Uncle Bill was the go-to guy if you needed a fishing guide. They had some great dinner socials at their later home along the canal, illustrated by the fifth image appearing here, an invitation to Uncle Bill’s smoked fish party published by The Flagler Tribune on October 6, 1927.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary had occasional visits from nieces and nephews. In 1919, Uncle Bill’s youngest son from his late first wife, Jesse Fielding Lewis (1894-1928), Jesse’s wife, Anna Mae Fleming Lewis (1894-1928), and their young daughter, Jessie May “Kay” Lewis (1915-1961), spent the summer with Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary at Ocean City Beach. Photos of Jesse and Anna are the sixth and seventh images. Jesse and his family returned to Centralia, Illinois, in October 1919, where Jesse was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad. This family’s life had a tragic ending. Jesse became estranged from his wife, shot her, and then himself in 1928 at Iowa City, Iowa. Their daughter was put in an orphanage. The Lewis family never knew what became of her.
Throughout the early 1920s, Uncle Bill Lewis was busy constructing new homes and sinking wells to supply them with water. He also operated a brick- and concrete-block-making business that George Moody invested in. A 1923 ad from that business published in The Flagler Tribune appears as the eighth image here. Uncle Bill was employed in the construction of the Flagler Beach Hotel, which started in 1924 and was completed in 1925.
In 1925, Uncle Bill was hired by the county as a bridge tender for the 1920 Turnstile Bridge on Moody Boulevard over the Florida East Coast Canal. He was the third bridge tender there, succeeding Lucious Barnett “Barney” Ruark (1886-1939). For this, he was initially paid $45 a month. By the end of his term in 1937, his salary had increased to $75 a month. A colorized photo of the bridge from 1925 or later appears as the ninth image, followed by the unretouched, original photo. The view is from the west bank, looking southeast toward the ocean. Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary moved into the bridgetender’s home on the right, which was constructed on the east bank of the canal in 1923. You can see the Flagler Beach Hotel in the far background. When the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners voted to retain Uncle Bill as bridge tender in 1927, he wrote them a thank-you letter that was posted in The Flagler Tribune, the eleventh image here.
The final two images are circa 1930 photos of Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill Lewis standing on a bridge fender or pier along the Intracoastal Waterway at Flagler Beach, the first colorized and the second the original. Uncle Bill is, of course, holding a fishing pole. Less than two years after he retired as a bridge tender, Uncle Bill suffered a paralytic stroke. He lingered for about 18 months before passing in 1940 at the age of 78. Among his pallbearers were George Moody and George Wickline. Clarence Toler, the longtime former chief of the Flagler Beach Coast Guard Station, took leave from his command at the Sullivan’s Island Coast Guard Station in Charleston, South Carolina, to attend Uncle Bill’s funeral and serve as an honorary pallbearer. His widow, Aunt Mary, passed away in 1946 at the age of 86, after suffering a long illness. These two genial pioneers of Flagler Beach now rest for eternity at Hope Cemetery, known today as Flagler Memorial Gardens, in Flagler Beach.
Mary Ann & Bill Lewis Portrait photo credit: Ancestry.com
Mary Ann & Bill Lewis Among the Palm Trees photo credit: Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/
Jesse and Anna Lewis Photos credit: Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/
Turnstile Bridge photo credit: Flagler Beach Historical Museum
Mary Ann & Bill Lewis on Bridge Fender or Pier photo credit: Flagler Beach Historical Museum
