Jesse Lewis was born in Statesboro, GA in May 1899. His father, Raspberry Lewis, had come to Bulloch County from Florida as a turpentine laborer and married his mother Mimmi in 1895. By 1910, Raspberry had remarried. Jesse shared a home with his sisters Ollie and Nellie, his brother Frank, as well as two step-siblings and a boarder.
Jesse joined the war effort on September 26, 1917, in Savannah, GA. He was made private and then assigned to the 302nd Stevedore Regiment, a part of the Quartermaster Corps. As part of the 302nd, He would have trained at Camp Hill, VA. Lewis left Newport News, VA for Hoboken, N.J. on December 4, 1917 aboard the George Washington.
Jesse Lewis came down with Tuberculosis and died on March 25, 1918, having never left the United States. Because he was an African American and therefore left out of official postwar commemorative efforts, little is known about his final resting place.
An official "land ship" used for stevedore training prior to departure for Europe.
World War 1 Service Card for Jesse Lewis: https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/4267589:61174?tid=&pid=&queryId=7b5f8479-a138-4fc8-971f-0f711c5edfcc&_phsrc=kUZ23&_phstart=successSource
U.S. Army Transport Service Passenger List, 4 Dec. 1917, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/43677:3129?tid=&pid=&queryId=9a4c705f-df4d-4a6e-93d7-6f0b77812b2a&_phsrc=kUZ21&_phstart=successSource
Jesse Lewis, Family Search Military • United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS1T-L3DZ-R?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A7BKJ-LY3Z&action=view
Raspberry Lewis in the 1900 United States Federal Census.
Georgia, U.S. Marriage Records, 1828-1978, Bulloch County, Ga.