artist, engraver, b. Philadelphia, Pa. Lewis moved west in 1815 and settled in St. Louis, where he was employed both as an engraver and as an actor. He moved to Detroit in the early 1820's and shortly thereafter painted a picture of Shawnee Prophet, Tecumseh's brother, for Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan Territory. Through Cass, he secured an appointment as an artist in the office of Indian Affairs and accompanied Cass on treaty-making expeditions to Prairie du Chien (1825), Fond du Lac (1826), and Butte des Morts on the Fox River (1827). Lewis painted Indian portraits, scenes of tribal dances, and landscapes, and engraved pictures of such persons as Henry Clay and Daniel Boone. From 1835 to 1836 he published a selection of his works entitled Aboriginal Port Folio. P. Butts, Art in Wis. (Madison, 1936); Wis. Mag. Hist., 4; C. Drepperd, Amer. Pioneer Arts and Artists (Springfield, Mass., 1942), 50-51; Antiques, 43 (2): 77, 93; 51 (5): 320-322; T. L. McKenney, Tour to the Lakes (Baltimore, 1827).

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the James Otto Lewis Aboriginal Port-folio: A Collection of Portraits of the Most Celebrated Chiefs of the North American Indians for details.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]