My Heroes... Francis Lewis...

Wales is where this Founding Father was born. Orphaned at five, he was taken in by a doting maiden aunt. He learned his native Welsh and then Gaelic when he went to school in Scotland. His uncle sent him to school at Westminster. He apprenticed with a merchant in London and, at 21, sailed to America where he invested with a partner in New York. He lived in Philadelphia, for two years, and returned to New York to set up his business. He fought in the French and Indian war and was captured and taken to Canada and then sent to France. After an exchange, he was returned to America, with compensation from the British government. The Stamp-Act almost ruined commerce, and he retired. He served in Congress, and the British retaliated by destroying his property and imprisoning his wife, for months, without a bed or change of clothes. It ruined her health, and she died a couple years later. He lived to the age of 90.

Interestingly enough, I also learned the difference between Tories and Whigs and the origin of Whigs. I've always had a horrible time trying to remember who was who. "Those are Whigs who would curb the power of the Crown; those are Tories who would curb the power of the people." ~ Sir Richard Phillips Hmmm...