Lucasville -- Before Ohio Beginnings

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