Lewis Hege (1840-1918)

Lewis Hege (1840-1918). African American Heritage Site. , When George and Mary Catherine Hege move to the house at Lot 101 in 1851, they brought with them at least two enslaved African Americans, including Lewis, who had been born in 1840 at the Hege grist and saw mill outside of Salem. Lewis likely lived behind the main house, as indicated by the notation of "slave quarters" in the 1860 census. Lewis attended church next door, first at the log church and then the brick church (later called St. Philips African Moravian Church) when it was consecrated in 1861. He became a leader of the congregation as a young man, serving as an elder and helping to establish the school for African American children in 1867., On May 21, 1865, Lewis no doubt was present to hear a Union cavalry officer formally announce Freedom in the sanctuary of the brick church. Following Emancipation, Lewis moved to East Seventh Street in Winston. Around 1908, he moved to Yonztown, a black community in nearby Waughtown, where he spent the last decade of his life. He worked as a grocer and a day-laborer for a time. In 1870, he owned real estate valued at $100, unusual for a Freedman. Lewis was widowed twice (his third wife Eliza survived him), and had six children. He is buried in the St. Philips Graveyard #2, adjacent to Salem Cemetery.