Shepherdstown, West Virginia, ca. 1861–1865
Like anything else, a town and its
humble beginnings spring from deeper connections. To reveal a place's
true history, one must examine its founders, the founders' family,
and the family's first American environment. The Lucas family
migrations from Pennsylvania to West Virginia predate the platting of
Lucasville, Ohio in 1819. The Lucas story is a unique, colorful
history.
Edward Lucas II was born December 24,
1710 in Bucks County Pennsylvania. He married Mary Darke, who was not
Quaker. The marriage was not approved of and Edward was disowned for
marrying out of unity. Edward and Mary moved in 1732 to northern
Virginia where Edward had purchased land from Lord Fairfax, 6th Lord
Fairfax of Cameron.
The farm was located at Pack Horse
Ford, about three miles from the settlement of Mecklenberg
(Shepherdstown) on the road to Charles Town. It contained three
springs on what was later called “Lucas Run” or “Rattlesnake
Run.” Before a stockade could be erected, Indians burned the first
log cabin. However, the family “had sought shelter at a nearby fort
and were thus spared."
William Joseph Darke Lucas was the son
of Edward Lucas II (1710 - 1777) and Mary (Darke) Lucas (1709 –
1743). William was born near Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West
Virginia), on January 18, 1742.
William served in the French and Indian
War, under William Darke (later General). He later served in the
Revolutionary War as a first lieutenant in Captain William Morgan's
company of volunteers that reinforced General George Washington in
New Jersey (1777 or late in 1776).
It is written …
“William Lucas, among his
companions in arms, had the character of being 'the bravest of the
brave.' Colonel Morrow (Colonel John Morrow) often said that for
coolness, self-possession, and true moral courage he had no equal in
his regiment.”
William married Susannah Parker Lucas
(Barnes), sister-in-law to James Rumsey, whose steamship experiments
took place on the Potomic River, at Shepherdstown.
William Lucas built a large a large
stone, L-shaped, 2-story house near Shepherdstown, known as "Linden
Spring." The house is on the National Register of Historic
Places.
William and Susannah moved to Ohio
after the Revolution. They had two notable sons who figured in local
history – Robert Lucas, who would become governor of Ohio and the
first governor of the Iowa territory, and John Lucas, who would
become the founder of Lucasville, Ohio.
Shepherdstown
Historians of Lucasville, Ohio have a
keen interest in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, since it is the first
home of the town's namesake. The Lucas family made a significant mark
on history. Many of us would like to explore Shepherdstown and its
direct historical relationship to Lucasville.
Shepherdstown sits above the Potomac
River, directly across from Maryland, approximately a dozen miles
northwest of Harpers Ferry. The town is positioned just a mile or so
from a well-traveled ford (known as Boteler’s, Packhorse, or
Shepherdstown Ford) which was attractive to 18th century travelers
heading south up the great Valley of Virginia, and gave rise to the
town itself.
Shepherdstown hosts a slew of federal
enterprises, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
National Conservation Training Center. But its heart is its history.
Woven into the local fabric, the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad all
came early to this mountain site; the area retains poignant memories
of Revolutionary and Civil War sacrifices. The whole town is a
designated National Register historic district. Its residential area
remains a quiet haven of 18th- and 19th-century houses tended by
preservation-minded owners aided by the Shepherdstown Historical
Commission.
Civil War
In 1860, the town was part of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, but by 1863 that would all change with the
admission of West Virginia as the 35th state in the Union.
And, by unfortunate circumstance, the
town is also located around 4 miles south of Sharpsburg, Maryland.
That positioning meant it was overwhelmed by Confederate casualties
following the harrowing bloodshed at Antietam on September 17, 1862.
All of these geographic realities meant
that the town sat on the border of north and south, in a politically
turbulent region which found itself near a devastating fight. It was
a recipe for chaos. Whereas many towns could point to one day as the
"day of days" during the war, Shepherdstown may have had a
hard time choosing. It was, as one resident wrote, "Like an
awful dream."
Of Great Interest
The Historic Shepherdstown Museum is
located in the Entler Hotel, at the corner of Princess and East
German Street in Shepherdstown. In 1983 the Historic Shepherdstown
Museum was founded to preserve and display artifacts, furniture, and
historic documents that might otherwise have been lost.
Behind the hotel in a barn-like
building is a half-size replica of James Rumsey's 1787 steamboat,
built in Shepherdstown at the behest of George Washington. There are
many tributes around town to Rumsey, whose ambition of creating a
fleet of steam-propelled boats in America ended in England, where
Rumsey was seeking patents and financing and died in his sleep.
Linden Spring – also known as the
Captain William and Robert Lucas House – still stands. It was
posted to the National Register of Historic Places on September 2,
1982 The Lucas house at Linden Spring is old, even by local
standards. It is “ a fine heavy masonry which has invested the
structure with longevity and value as a settlement-period example of
the building arts.”
Linden Spring
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