Lewis, Isaac E.
(born: 1867 - died: 1919)Isaac Lewis, born in Hutchinson Station, KY, was the son of Henry and Mary J. Lewis. His birth year is given as 1867 in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census. [Others have given his birth year as 1870.]
Isaac, a 17-year old jockey, won the 1887 Kentucky Derby aboard Montrose. He had been around horses all of his life; both he and his older brother Garrett Davis Lewis were listed in the 1880 Census as being employed working with horses.
In 1900, Isaac Lewis was a groom at the Harlem Jockey Club in Proviso Township, Cook County, IL. He is listed in the U.S. Federal Census as living in the Harlem Village where several other African Americans from Kentucky also lived and worked at the Harlem Jockey Club as cooks, jockeys, grooms, trainers, and stable boys. In 1910, Lewis was living in Chicago, managing a Turkish bath.
For more see Black Winning Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, by J. R. Saunders and M. R. Saunders.