Lewis, Sarah Fitzakerly Guest

Born deaf as Sarah Fitzakerly; grew up in Yorkshire, England and attended the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf and Dumb from 1847 to graduation. Married a Mr. Guest but was soon widowed. Emigrated to Canada with her sister Margaret, also deaf, and Margaret's hearing husband Thomas Widd (q.v.) in 1867. Poor health prevented Sarah from holding a regular job, but she did serve as a matron at the Protestant Institution for the Deaf and Dumb that Widd established in Montreal, from 1870 to 1881. She then moved to Toronto and met her second husband, Norman Vickers Lewis (also deaf, q.v.), marrying him in 1882. Meanwhile, the Widds moved to Los Angeles, CA, and the Lewises decided to follow them there in 1886 because of Sarah's failing health, and she eventually died there at age 79.