Barzillai Lew - Legacy

Legacy

After his death in 1822, Barzillai Lew's Pawtucketville farm went to his sons, Zadock and Zimri. Zadock, a well-known musician, died in 1826 without a will and his property was sold at auction. Zimri died in 1847 in a tragic train accident in Lowell on Fast Day. A few years earlier in 1844, Zimri's son, Adrastus, married Elizabeth Freeman of Derry, New Hampshire. They purchased and cleared a piece of woodland off Riverside Street and built a house which still stands on Mount Hope Street. In 1912, at the age of 91, Elizabeth Freeman Lew recounted in an interview with the Lowell Sun: "The house where I live was, one of the houses which in slavery times, formed one of the underground railroad where runaway slaves word come for shelter and protection on their way to Canada. Those were terrible times."

Adrastus and Elizabeth Lew had five sons and one daughter. James, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, formed a popular dance band, and served as the music advisor to the Cambridge School Committee. William and Fred opened a successful dry-cleaning and dyeing business in Lowell.

In 1874, William married Isabell Delaney of Virginia and had four children: Harry, Theresa, Marion, and Gerard. After graduating from Pawtucketville Junior High School, Harry Lew entered the family's dry-cleaning and dyeing business. He was recruited to join Lowell’s Pawtucketville Athletic Club "P.A.C." of the New England Professional Basketball League and was the first to integrate professional basketball in 1902. Theresa Lew, graduated from Lowell High School as Class Salutatorian in 1912. After finishing Lowell Normal School, she taught at the Bartlett School for 25 years. Marion Lew, also graduated from Lowell High School and the Lowell Normal School music program, she taught piano to generations of Lowell children. Gerard Lew, also an outstanding athlete, graduated from Lowell High School and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was interviewed by the Lowell Sunday-Telegram in June 1913, about his experiences teaching in a poor, rural, segregated school in Gloucester County, Virginia.

In 1943, musician Duke Ellington wrote a piano piece in honor of Barzillai Lew. It is believed that Ellington learned about Barzillai Lew from his high school teacher, African American historian Carter G. Woodson at the Armstrong Manual Training School, Washington, D.C..