Browning E. Lewis is identified with one of the representative business interests of Strang, Mayes county, as president and manager of the Cherokee Grain & Mercantile Company. He was born near Clinton, Henry County, Missouri, on the 11th of January, 1884, a son of Joe L. and Elizabeth (Wilson) Lewis. The father was born in Ohio and the mother in Kentucky.
They both went to Missouri at an early age, with their respective parents, and their marriage was celebrated in Clinton, that state. In 1886 they came to Fairland, Oklahoma, and the father was active in the conduct of a mercantile establishment until 1916, when he removed to Strang.
He achieved substantial success in the mercantile business and is now living retired here, enjoying the fruits of a life spent in diligence and industry. His wife is also living and they are highly esteemed citizens in the community. To their union seven children were born, three sons and four daughters.
Browning E. Lewis, whose name initiates this review, was the fifth in order of birth. In the acquirement of an education he attended the public schools of Fairland and was graduated from the high school at Vinita with the class of 1905. He then enrolled as a student in the Epworth University at Oklahoma City, where he completed his course in the required time.
His first occupation upon putting his textbooks aside was teaching and he taught in the schools in Mayes county until 1916, when he located in Strang. He was principal of the Strang School until 1918, when he resigned his position and bought stock in the Cherokee Grain & Mercantile Company, of which he became secretary and treasurer. In 1919 he bought the controlling interest and became president and manager. His brother Joe L. Lewis Jr., is associated with him in the conduct of the business.
Browning E. Lewis is well known in Strang as a thoroughly reliable and upright man in every relation of life, and his reputation for honor and integrity has made the business prosper and flourish to a wonderful extent during its three years of existence.
In 1911 at Vinita was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Lewis and Miss Nancy Jane Griffith, a daughter of Mrs. Inez Griffith of Salina.
To their union two children have been born: Inez Elizabeth, now nine years of age, and John Browning, three years of age. The family is affiliated with the Methodist church, in which Mr. Lewis is a deacon, and they are generous contributors to its support.
Politically he is a stanch supporter of the republican party, having firm belief in the principles of that party as factors in good: government. He is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, being head local consul and he has served as a member of the town council. During the World war he was speaker in all Liberty Loan drives and in the interest of the Red Cross and he also served on the questionnaire board. He made speeches throughout Mayes county east of the Grand River.
Mr. Lewis has always maintained an active interest in any movement for the development and improvement of the general welfare and his aid may be counted upon at all times. Although his time is, for the most part, given to the conduct of his mercantile interests, he has won prominence as a breeder of Holstein cattle and at every fair at which they have been exhibited, have carried off first and second prizes. He won the state butter fat contest open to all breeds in 1921 with his three year old cow, Sylvia DeKalb Cornucopia, who has gained the only honor of grand champion dairy cow in Mayes county for three consecutive years. He has written considerable both prose and poetry, including a story called Princess, which has met with great favor among the young people.