Lewis Burwell was born in Gloucester, Virginia in about 1651 or 1652. A major in the local militia and one of the largest landholders in the area, Burwell served as a executor for his father-in-law John Lear's estate after Lear's death in 1695. As part of his duties as an executor, Burwell went to North Carolina to collect money from Lear's properties in that colony. Burwell died in Virginia on December 19, 1710.