|
a.
|
Note: 1856 Iowa Census, Delaware County, Delhi Township, Ro;; IA_52, Line 5, Page 618 1860 Iowa Census, Delaware County, Union Township, Page 2A 1880 Ohio Census, Warren County, Corwin, Enumeration District 79, Page 15 as a broom maker and was a boarder at John Patterson 1900 California Census, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, Enumeration District 62, Page 17B as a miner and says that he was a widowed 1920 Iowa Census, Delaware County, South Fork Township, Hopkinton Enumeration District 112, Sheet 2A. Living with his sister, Mary Holmes 1925 Iowa Census, Delaware County, Hopkinton, Roll 1925_1689, Line 10 1930 Iowa Census, Delaware County, South Fork Township, Hopkinton, Enumeration District 28-30. Sheet 8A 1940 Iowa Census, Delaware County, South Fork Township, Hopkinton, Enumeration District 28-31, Page 9A owner of cigar store and shows widowed Found Retirement Too Strenuous, So Oscar Still Runs Shop Can?t Sell His "Town Hall" In Election Year By Scotty McLeod About 1940 HOPKINTON?Oscar E. Lewis retired when he was 66. Eight years later he decided he had enough fun hunting, fishing and trapping and went back into business. Last Firday brought him to his eighty-sixth birthday and in his Smoke Shop here he laid claim to being the oldest man in Iowa who conducts his own business without assistance. It's small wonder that whenever a Hopkinton man finds spare minutes on his hands he drops into Oscar's place for some old fashioned loafing and some up-to-the-minute conversation. Mr. Lewis' colorful life gives him a rich store of tales from which he may draw when chatter on current events reaches a lull. Not that he isn't up on present day happening. He is. As a constant reader of the Gazette for the last 35 years, Mr. Lewis takes pride in his knowledge of today's topics. Born in Cleveland on "ground Hog Day, 1854," Mr. Lewis came to Delaware County with his parents two years later. The family settled on a farm purchased from the government between Hopkinton and Delhi in the Upper Buck Creek neighborhood. He attended Hopkinton schools until 1870 when the family moved back to Cleveland. SOLD HORSE TO JOHN D. He was in the real estate business, ran a pool hall and liquor business, a printing business, found time to serve on the city council (Mr. Lewis claims he at 27, was the youngest councilman Cleveland ever had) and was a friend of a man named John D. Rockefeller. During the period that Rockefeller was acquiring his Pennsylvania oil properties, Mr. Lewis sold him a black mare, a standardbred trotter. "You know," Lewis confided, and his blue eyes twinkled as he chuckled, "I believe I got the best of the old boy on that horse deal." In 1893 Mr. Lewis came back to Hopkinton, acquired some business property, which he still owns, and two years later went to California. His love of camp life led him to the gold fields where he found a gold-producing claim in which he still maintains an interest. For two years he operated a hotel in Los Angels. Retirement too Strenuous Mr. Lewis returned to Hopkinton in 1904 and operated various busineses there until 1920 when he retired to spend his time hunting, trapping and fishing. At the age of 75 he ran a trap line which called for 10 miles of walking every day. Feeling his retirement activies were a bit strenuous, he went back in business and opened the Smoke Shop. "I got a notion to clean this place up and sell out in the spring." Mr. Lewis said. "I would have cleaned up before, but the boys," indicating a dozen patrons with his hands, "got used to it the way it is and wouldn't like it all cleaned up." Maybe Mr. Lewis is right. Certainly the Smoke Shop has its charms as a place to loaf. The plate glass windows are so smoky that they defy the prying eyes of outsiders. Boxes, barrels and improvised seats litter the floor, but they accommodate an unlimited number of setters. "Shall we announce your retirement?" we asked Mr.Lewis as he slipped into a coat to have his picture taken. "Maybe you better not," he decided. "It would be hard to close up in an election year."
|
