Let's trace the paternal roots of our
founder, John Lucas, to ensure Lucasville residents know the history.
It is a proud family story of incredible fortitude and
accomplishment. We hope it is shared with present-day inhabitants and future
generations. Research the history of these people because exploring
the Lucas family will provide much more detail about their impact on
Ohio and on America.
* Robert Lucas (Founder's
Great-Great-Grandfather)
Robert Lucas (the original “Robert”
from England) was born about 1630. He was the son od David and Amanda
(Mehan) Lucas of Wiltshire, England. In 1651, Robert married
Elizabeth Coggill (Cowgill) and lived in Longbridge, Deverill, just
south of Warminster, Wiltshire.
* Then, Robert goes to Bucks County,
Pennsylvania
In 1679, Robert embarked on the
“Elizabeth and Mary” out of Weymouth and emigrated to Bucks
County in William Penn's colony (Pennsylvania). In the next year, his
wife and their eight children took the ship “Content” out of
London and followed him to America where he became a surveyor and
farm owner along Falls River in Bucks County.
* Edward Lucas Sr. (Founder's
Great-Grandfather)
Edward, the son of Robert Lucas and
Elizabeth Cowgill, was the sixth of eight children. He was born May
14, 1659 or 1670 (sources differ). He was a supervisor of Falls
Township and a member of the Friends Monthly Meeting for thirteen
years. Monthly Meetings are the basic unit of administration in the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
* Edward Lucas II (Founder's
Grandfather)
Edward Lucas II was the son of Edward
(Sr.) and Bridgett Scott. He and Bridgett had eight children, four
sons and four daughters. Edward II was born Christmas Even 1710, the
eighth child.
* Then, Edward II goes to Virginia
Edward Lucas moved from Bucks County,
Pennsylvania and settled sometime prior to 1740 on a plantation he
named “Cold Spring.” One of the earlier settlers there, Lucas and
others first built log houses surrounded by stockades on their farms
and forts as refuges from the marauding Indians.
The Lucas farm was about three miles
from town on the road to Charles Town. Their first log house on the
land was burned by the Indians. It had probably been abandoned as
there is no account of any loss of life there.
Historian Samuel Kercheval explains how
early settlers during the Indian wars “enjoyed no peace excepting
during the winter season when, owing to the severity of the weather,
the Indians were unable to make their excursions into the
settlements.”
Edward Lucas likely built his permanent
home on his Cold Spring plantation sometime after receiving a 1760
grant from Lord Fairfax
Edward married Mary Darke about 1732 or
1734 (sources differ). Frontier life was very hard, especially for
the women, many of whom died in childbirth and young. Mary was only
34 when she died in 17433, leaving five small children.
The oldest, Elizabeth (born January 13,
1735) married William Hall of Halltown, Virginia, an Englishman. The
other four children were boys: John born in 1736, died in infancy;
Edward (III) born in 1738; Robert born in 1740; and William born in
1742.
Edward III lived and died in Virginia.
(Robert Lucas was the son of Edward Lucas III and Elizabeth Edwards.)
* William Lucas (Founder's
Father)
William, son of Edward Lucas II and
Mark Darke, was only two when his mother died. He grew up and married
in the county. His wife was Susannah Barnes and they had six boys and
six girls, all born in the part of Frederick, then Berkeley, that is
now Jefferson. One daughter Susannah Lucas, a twin born in 1773,
married Robert Buckles and they migrated to Scioto County, Ohio.
William's son Robert (1781-1853) became a Governor of Ohio in 1832
and the first territorial governor of Iowa. William's youngest son,
John, born June 16, 1788.
William served in the French and Indian
War, under William Darke (later General) and in 1776, became a First
Lieutenant, in Captain William Morgan's company of volunteers that
reinforced General George Washington, in New Jersey. William built a
large a large stone, L-shaped, 2-story house near Shepherdstown (now
West Virginia) known as "Linden Spring." William moved to Ohio and died on
July 2. 1814. in Lucasville, where he is buried.
* Then, William and family go to Ohio.
* Then, William and family go to Ohio.
* John Lucas – Founder of
Lucasville
John Lucas, son of William Lucas and
Susannah Barnes, moved with his family to Ohio circa 1802, when he
was twelve. John married Mary Lucas, the daughter of Robert Lucas and
Sarah Rion. John Lucas and Mary Lucas were first cousins once
removed. (Mary Lucas's father, Robert was first cousin to John
Lucas.)
John is credited with founding the town
of Lucasville on land warrants of his father given for Revolutionary
War service. There he opened a tavern which he operated until his
death on July 31, 1825, age 37. By his father's will he was left 376
acres in Scioto County. When he died in 1777, William Lucas was
buried in the Lucasville Cemetery with full military honors. No artistic rendering of John is known to exist -- we can only speculate on his appearance through family ties.
The Family Line – A Simple
Reference
(Not including all
children)
Robert Lucas and Elizabeth Coggill
To
Edward Lucas (Sr.) and Bridgett Scott
To
Edward Lucas II and Mary Darke
(Remember Edward Lucas II also had a son,
Edward Lucas III who married Elizabeth Edwards. They had another son,
Robert Lucas II?, who married Sarah Rion, the mother of John Lucas's
wife, Mary. A little complicated, isn't it?)
To
William Lucas and Susannah Barnes
To
John Lucas and Mary Lucas (the daughter of
Robert Lucas and Sarah Rion – John's cousin)
Haystack Knob -- Lucasville, Ohio
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