2019 marks the 200th
birthday of Lucasville, Ohio. As part of the commemoration of the
Lucasville Bicentennial, the Lucasville Area History Society is
striving to acquaint local students with the extensive, illustrious
history of their town. The story of the Lucas family and their
various settlements – from England, to Pennsylvania, to West
Virginia, and to Ohio – reads like a fabled work of American
biography. It is a historical account of an American family that
should be shared with all pupils of local history.
It is my sincere hope that Valley Local
and other schools in the area will endeavor to include in-depth
instruction of such important area history in their Ohio History
curriculum. Doing so will draw upon valuable resources that relate
directly to our students. As they are exposed to the past, students
can take pride in being part of a living heritage while gaining
knowledge that will enrich their lives.
In this entry, to stimulate interest in
this educational endeavor, I want to share an excerpt from one source
that may enlighten local residents. I hope you enjoy this small
lesson about the Lucases, and I also hope reading it encourages you
to help us put knowledge like this into our schools. There is so much
more to learn about our people and our land.
The historical society is a fountain of
information and knowledge available to serve the community. It is one
of a very few groups within the county available for your inquiry.
Please join the society and feel free to employ them to help you with
information about the area. And, don't forget to plan now to enjoy
all the events of this Lucasville Bicentennial year.
This information has been taken from
the Iowa Biographical Series, edited by Benjamin F. Shambaugh.
It is titled “Robert Lucas” by John C. Parish, and it is produced
by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 1907.
Online:
https://archive.org/stream/robertlucas02pari/robertlucas02pari_djvu.txt
“The history of the Lucas family is a
story of pioneer settlements and frontier life, a tale of Indian wars
and boundary disputes, a story with chapters generations long, with
ever the same pioneer background and ever the same pursuit of the
border-line of civilization from England in the Cromwellian days to
the middle of the American continent two centuries later. In a word
it is the story of the transcontinental march of the American pioneer
— that wonderful tale, already three centuries long and still
unfinished, which will some day be the theme when the nation's epic
is sung.
“In England the Lucas family had been
Quaker; and when the tide of westward colonization set toward
American shores there crossed the Atlantic one
Robert Lucas who arrived in 1679 and took part in the founding of
William Penn's colony.
“Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was his
habitat; and here generations sprang forth to carry on the work he
had begun. Here Edward Lucas, the
grandfather of Governor Robert Lucas (and grandfather of
Lucasville founder, John Lucas), was born and reared and married.
For his wife he took Mary Darke, a descendent of a Cromwellian
soldier named John Rush. This same John Rush had married Susanna
Lucas at the close of the war, turned Quaker, and crossed the waters
to Pennsylvania in 1683.
“Pennsylvania grew rapidly and
prospered ; so that, by the time of Edward Lucas and Mary Darke,
Bucks County had ceased to be the frontier. The spirit of their
fathers pointed toward the mountains; and so, westward beyond the
Blue Ridge peaks and the Potomac River, Edward Lucas led his bride
and settled down again on the border land. It was near the year 1735,
runs the tradition, that he purchased from Lord Fairfax 10,000 acres
of land in Jefferson County, Virginia, and made a home for himself
and Mary a few miles above the juncture of the Shenandoah and Potomac
rivers.
“In this home, in the course of
years, a family of children grew up; and among them, born about 1743,
was William Lucas, father of Robert (and father of John Lucas,
founder of Lucasville). As he grew into manhood he met and
married, at Shepherdstown, Miss Susannah Barnes, likewise of
Jefferson County. It was Joseph Barnes, a brother, who a few years
later, according to local traditions, successfully propelled against
the current of the Potomac River a steamboat of his own invention —
Ions; before Fulton's Clermont had plied the waters of the Hudson.
“In William the long slumbering
instincts of the Quaker seem to have passed away forever; for when
the Revolution convulsed the little line of American Colonies, be
enlisted as a private in a company of the 2d Virginia Regiment,
captained by Nathaniel Welch. His enlistment was on February 13,
1777, and for a term of three years. Moreover, the army records do
not show that be attained in that time higher rank than that of
private. His military service, however, did not end with the
Continental army.
“In the Shenandoah Valley in those
days the Indian troubles were a matter of no small concern. If the
colonies needed protection against the civilized nation across the
waters, they needed no less protection against the uncivilized
nations on the western border. It seems that William Lucas was
captain of a company engaged in this frontier duty, and at the muster
of this company in January, 1781, was read a proclamation by Governor
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, warning all who had sworn allegiance to
England to leave the country.
“It was in these eventful times and
stirring environments that Robert
Lucas (and brother of John Lucas, founder of Lucasville)
was born at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Virginia, on the first
day of April, 1781.
“To the men who had settled the
Shenandoah Valley, the groping for the edge of civilization had
become a passion; and to let that enchanted borderline slip out
westward and away from them Alas not to be thought of. The Lucas
family was no exception to this rule. And so, about 1796, William
and Joseph, two older brothers of Robert, left the
Jefferson Valley and made their way to the Ohio country, pausing near
the mouth of the Scioto River. (John was 12 when he came here with his father around 1800. Another source said he was escorting Joseph's and William’s wives.)
“Where the Scioto empties into the
Ohio, they found the land subject to inundations. They therefore
moved on up the Scioto River before settling down to Avait (wait?)
for civilization. William Lucas became in time a General in the Ohio
Militia, in command of the 1st Brigade, 2d Division. Joseph sought
more peaceful ways. He entered politics and represented Adams County
in the first legislature of the State of Ohio, which convened at
Chillicothe in March, 1803. He was also appointed in that year
Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; and in this service he
continued until his death in 1808.
“Meanwhile, back in Jefferson County,
the old Revolutionary soldier felt the spirit of disquiet working in
his bones, and the allurements of the west proved too great for him.
A Virginian by birth, and a Jeffersonian democrat by everything
sacred to politics, William Lucas waited only to cast his vote in
1800 for Thomas Jefferson as President, then moved with his family to
the land where two of his sons were awaiting him. Some, at least, of
his slaves he took with him and freed in Ohio where they were
thereafter known as the Lucas negroes. On either side of the Scioto
River he bought land and settled down in what is now Scioto County.
Such was the third transplanting of the Lucas family — and the end
was not yet.
“The opening of a new century found
Robert Lucas just entering upon Ms years of manhood, with the
instincts of a Virginia gentleman and the reckless vigor and spirit
of a frontiersman. His training under the Scotch schoolmaster in
Virginia was just such as would fit him for life in this new country.
Land was unsurveyed, claims were indefinite, and boundaries were in
dispute. In December of 1803 he was appointed Surveyor of Scioto
County; and in this capacity, in connection with Nathaniel Beasley,
of Adams County, he ran the line between
the two counties of Scioto and Adams.
“In these early days, too, he became
interested in the militia movement which throughout his life enlisted
his most intense sympathy and support.” (Robert later served in
the War of 1812 with his brother John.)
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