Lewis — Ancestry Record

Lewis Jayawardhana was my grandfather; my mother’s father lived in Eldeniya, Kadawatha, on his ancestral land, some twelve kilometres north of Colombo. This is his genealogical family history extracted from various records and listening to my elders. It goes back six generations from Denzil to Thelenis, Lewis’s great-grandfather. These records began around 1825, ten years after the British took control of Sri Lanka.

Lewis was the son of Cornelis.

Cornelis was the son of Alexander.

Alexander was the son of Thelenis.

This story starts with Thelenis.

Manchanayake Jayawardhana Don Thelenis lived in Radawana, forty-five kilometres from Colombo, born around 1810. In 1815, the English took control of the island of Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon.

Alexander, the game-changer

His son was Manchanayake Jayawardhana Don Alexander. Alexander had two aliases. Alisandiri was easily pronounced in Sinhala. It was further shortened to Allis Appuhamy by locals. Alexander was a farmer by trade. He left his home village, Radawana and relocated to Eldeniya during a nasty drought that lasted a few years.

Alexander knew English and the Pali language, the historical language of Buddhists. Knowing English had a tremendous advantage in the 1850s in colonial Sri Lanka.

Alexander was awarded a Mudiliyar post for his loyalty to the British empire. Alexander’s previous name was Pablis. The then-occupying English rulers gave him a new name Alexander. He was gifted with eighteen properties for his services to the crown as a Mudiliyar, a title given to village heads. His name was from then was Manchanayake Jayawardhana Mudilage Don Alexander. Alexander left his Buddhist origins and embraced Christianity by converting to Roman Catholicism.

Alexander had three siblings. Their names were Matthes, Subatheris and Stague.

Now a wealthy young man, Alexander married in 1859. His wife was Manevitage Helena Perera Sundarasekera Amarasinghe Hamine from Waragoda, Kelaniya. Her father was Manevitage Anthony Perera Sundarasekera Amerasinghe. They married at Kirimatiyagara Catholic church, some 12 kilometres north of Colombo. Jayawardhana descendants from this union onwards were Catholics, devoted ones at that.

Alexander’s and Helena’s son was Cornelis. Cornelis was born on 17th March 1862.

Cornelis’s Birth Certificate

Cornelis married Kurukulaarachchige Dona Christina Nanayakkara somewhere between 1885 and 1889.

Lewis was born to Don Cornelius Jayawardhana and Dona Christina Nanayakkara in the village of Eldeniya.

Cornelius and Christina had seven other children after Lewis. Two of Lewis’s younger siblings died in infancy, and one died before reaching five years, traumatic experiences for a young Lewis who had seen three of his younger siblings perish before turning sixteen. Lewis grew up with the survivors, two younger brothers and two younger sisters.

Cornelis and Christina's children

Don Lewis was born on 15th Aug 1890 and died on 22nd March 1961, aged 70

Elbert was born on 18th February 1894 and died on 19th Jan 1899, aged five

Simeon was born on 16th March 1898 and died in 1972, aged 74

Theresa was born on 27th December 1899 and died on 1st January 1900, aged three days

Anna, born on 6th March 1901, died in 1984, aged 83

Agida, born on 9th February 1904, died in 1975, aged 71

Theresa was born on 1st January 1906 and died on 27th October 1906, aged 10 months

Francis was born on 28th January 1907 and died in 1934, aged 27

Cornelis, Lewis’s father, had lived to his old age till seventy and died on 23rd October 1932. Christina, Lewis’s father, died on 11th December, 1948.

Ancestry records of Lewis’s siblings:-

Simon, born on 16th March 1898, married Albina Jayamanne, aka Kudamma. Their children are Lucas, Pablis, Joseph, Michael, Francis and Agnes.

Agitha married Augustine Wilathgamuwa. Their children are Robert, Mark, Cyril, Agnes and Maria.

Anna married Thomas Leo, a much younger man. Anna was 48 years old when she married Thomas Leo, a young man of 25 years. They had no children.

Francis married Barbara, and their children are Jeremias, Mary and Vincent. Francis died at 27 when his children were very young. Lewis adopted the orphaned children and provided for them. Francis’s death was tragic. He fell onto his bullock art on his way back from work.

Lewis’s records

Lewis married at thirty-five. His bride, my maternal grandmother, Dona Euphracia Hamine was the youngest daughter of an established family from an adjoining village in Mabima, some ten kilometres away. At twenty years, Euphracia was fifteen years younger than Lewis. They married in 1925. Back in the day, with short life expectations, Lewis was a mature man at the time of his marriage, considered old to be a groom.

Lewis and Euphracia’s marriage. His sister Anna was a bridesmaid and is behind him in this photo.

Euphracia’s father was Hendalage Don John Isaac from the town of Mabima. Her mother was Anna Ranasinghe. Isaac was deceased at the time of his daughter Euphracia’s marriage. Isaac’s occupation was recorded as Cultivator in the marriage certificate. The marriage was held at St. Joachim’s Roman Catholic church at Mabima. The celebrant of the service was Rev. L. M. V. Thomas.

It took four years since Lewis’s and Euphracia’s marriage for their firstborn to arrive. Society's expectation was that soon after marriage, offspring were produced. The delay in producing a child caused all kinds of trouble for the couple; there was a rumour that Lewis’s wife was barren. It was a public shame for the couple. It was considered a woman’s sole fault if a couple was childless. Lewis and Euphracia were pleased to have their first child. a son, John Francis, after long years, considered long back in the day. But sadly, their happiness was short-lived with the child's death before little Francis turned one. The boy was only eight months old. He died from a simple fever, turning blue immediately. This was in 1929.

Lewis and Euphracia in happier times

Their next child, John Christie, a son, was born two years later, followed by my mother and my auntie, Mary Catherine.

Lewis and Euphracia's children

John Francis was born in 1929 and died in 1929.

John Christie was born on 27th January 1931 and died on 18th August 2020.

Mary Susan, Denzil’s mother, was born on 8th January 1934 and died on 29th April 2013.

Mary Catherine was born on 4th March 1939 and lives at Eldeniya, in Lewis’s ancestral land.

Lewis and his wife’s family photo in 1940. From left are Christie, Lewis’s only son; Anna Ranasinghe, Lewis’s mother-in-law and Euphracia’s mother, Lewis himself, Susan, my mother, Catherine, Lewis’s youngest daughter and Lewis’s wife. Euphracia.

My mother Susan, and Thomas, my father and Susan’s fiancee at the time, Thomas in 1953 at Eldeniya in front of Lewis’s family home. Note Lewis Jayawardane dons western attire and for this photo, Thomas is donning a white jacket and a white sarong. My father’s hand is on Lewis’s shoulder.

Lewis died on 22nd March 1961, aged 70. Denzil was six years old at the time of Lewis’s death.

More about Lewis

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