Charles Swearinger Lewis

Charles Swearinger Lewis (February 26, 1821 – January 22, 1878) was a U.S. Representative from Virginia and a prominent lawyer, legislator, and jurist in what is now West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, he served one term in the United States Congress during a significant period in American history, participating in the legislative process and representing the interests of his constituents.

Lewis was born on February 26, 1821, in Clarksburg, Virginia, a community that later became part of the State of West Virginia following the Civil War. He attended local schools in Clarksburg before pursuing higher education. He studied at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and subsequently enrolled at Augusta College in Kentucky, from which he graduated in 1844. After completing his collegiate studies, Lewis read law, preparing for a professional career in the legal field.

In 1846, Lewis was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in his native Clarksburg, Virginia. His legal work quickly brought him into public life. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served from 1849 until 1852. During these years he participated in state legislative affairs at a time when Virginia was grappling with questions of internal improvements, political representation, and the growing sectional tensions that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

Lewis entered national politics as a Democrat and was elected to the Thirty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative John F. Snodgrass. He served as a U.S. Representative from Virginia from December 4, 1854, until March 3, 1855. His single term in Congress coincided with an era of intense national debate over slavery, territorial expansion, and party realignments. Although he sought to continue his service, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives concluded at the end of that term.

After leaving Congress, Lewis returned to Clarksburg and resumed the practice of law. As the secession crisis deepened, he remained active in public affairs. In 1861, he served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention, participating in the deliberations that shaped Virginia’s constitutional framework on the eve and in the early stages of the Civil War. Following the creation of West Virginia in 1863, Lewis continued his public service in the new state.

In 1871, Lewis was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, extending his legislative career into the postwar period and contributing to the political development of the nascent state. That same year he was appointed State superintendent of free schools and adjutant general of the State of West Virginia, positions he held from 1871 to 1872. In these dual roles he was involved both in the organization and oversight of the state’s emerging public education system and in the administration of its military affairs during Reconstruction.

Lewis resigned his statewide offices upon his election as judge of the second judicial circuit of West Virginia. As a circuit judge, he presided over a broad range of civil and criminal matters, bringing to the bench the experience he had gained as a lawyer, legislator, and former member of Congress. He served in this judicial capacity until his death, remaining an influential figure in the legal and civic life of his region.

Charles Swearinger Lewis died on January 22, 1878, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, the community where he had been born and where he had spent the greater part of his professional and public life. He was interred in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Clarksburg, leaving a record of service that spanned the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras in both Virginia and West Virginia.