The Lucas Family Sails to America and Settles on the Delaware

“Most of the people who heeded William Penn's call for settlement were English Quakers, who transformed Bucks County into a bustling community rich in farmland and centered around the market town of Bristol, which became the county seat in 1705. Penn himself established a country residence at Pennsbury Manor, a courtly estate in lower Bucks County.

Terry A. McNealy. Bucks County: An Illustrated History. Doylestown, PA:

Bucks County Historical Society, 2001.

The Lucas family moved from England to America long ago. They were a part of the early settlement of Pennsylvania, a place in America establishing the founder's "holy experiment” – a colony that would be free of the religious persecution they suffered abroad. Tracing the Lucas settlement to Bucks County sheds light on a noted pioneering family.

Robert Lucas (the original “Robert” from England) was born about 1630. He was the son of 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.

Historical Note – The Religious Society of Friends, also referred to as the Quaker Movement, was founded in England in the 17th century by George Fox. He and other early Quakers, or Friends, were persecuted for their beliefs, which included the idea that the presence of God exists in every person. Quakers rejected elaborate religious ceremonies, didn’t have official clergy and believed in spiritual equality for men and women. Quaker missionaries first arrived in America in the mid-1650s. Quakers, who practice pacifism, played a key role in both the abolition and women’s rights movements. Many, but not all, Quakers consider themselves Christians.

However, as they moved throughout the colonies, they continued to face persecution in certain places, such as Massachusetts, where four Quakers were executed. The Boston Martyrs is the name given in Quaker tradition to the three English members of the Society of Friends, Marmaduke Stephenson, William Robinson and Mary Dyer, and to the Friend William Leddra of Barbados, who were condemned to death and executed by public hanging for their religious beliefs under the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1659, 1660 and 1661. Several other Friends lay under sentence of death at Boston in the same period, but had their punishments commuted to that of being whipped out of the colony from town to town.

"The hanging of Mary Dyer on the Boston gallows in 1660 marked the beginning of the end of the Puritan theocracy and New England independence from English rule. In 1661 King Charles II explicitly forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism. In 1684 England revoked the Massachusetts charter, sent over a royal governor to enforce English laws in 1686, and in 1689 passed a broad Toleration act."

In 1679, Robert Lucas embarked on the “Elizabeth and Mary” out of Weymouth and emigrated to Bucks County in William Penn's colony (Pennsylvania). He arrived April 4, 1679 and soon became a surveyor and farm owner along Falls River in Bucks County.

In the next year, Robert's wife and their eight children took the ship “Content” out of London. (A ship aptly named for a wife traveling to meet her husband.) Elizabeth and the children arrived July 1680 to join her husband.

Penn's ship - the "Welcome"

This means that the Lucases were in America before William Penn settled here. Penn sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on the ship “Welcome” that departed from Deal, England, on August 31, 1682, and arrived at the mouth of the Delaware River (now New Castle, Delaware) on October 27, 1682, completing the Atlantic crossing in 57 days which was slow by 17th century standards. On October 28, 1682, the ship anchored at Upland (now Chester, Pennsylvania) on the site that had been chosen by Thomas Holme, Penn’s surveyor general.

Where Did Robert Lucas Settle?

By 1670 civil government was well established, with Upland as the capital, and in the ensuing decade a number of English immigrants effected settlements on the west side of the river, especially in the vicinity of the falls.

Considerable land was taken up within the bounds of Pennsylvania by English settlers between 1674 and 1681, while Governor Edmund Andros ruled New York as the Duke's representative. According to Proud, "The first most considerable settlement in Pennsylvania proper is said to have been near the lower falls of the river Delaware, in Bucks county . . . some of the inhabitants having settled there by virtue of patents from Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New York."

Thomas Holme’s 1687 map of Pennsylvania shows the tracts of land acquired by the First Purchasers. (Library Company of Philadelphia)

As you can see, Robert Lucas had a plot on the Delaware River just below the falls. (See the map just about where "D" is on "Delaware River")The "Falls of the Delaware" became the center of a little English colony several years before Penn's arrival.

Wayland Fuller Dunaway, PhD. in “The English Settlers in Colonial Pennsylvania” writes ...

“When West New Jersey came into the possession of William Penn and other Quaker proprietors, colonists of that faith soon began to arrive, settling Salem in 1675 and Burlington in 1677. It is estimated that by the close of 1678 at least 800 immigrants, mostly English Quakers, had settled in West Jersey. Some of these located in Salem and vicinity, but Burlington became the Quaker headquarters and chief center of influence.

“As a by-product of this invasion of West Jersey by English Quakers, a respectable number of the newcomers crossed over to the west side of the Delaware and added to the slowly growing number of the English within the bounds of Pennsylvania. This was the source of the Quaker settlements in the province before the arrival of Penn, and they located chiefly at the Falls of the Delaware,

“It is estimated that about 1400 Quakers, mostly English, emigrated to New Jersey and Pennsylvania before Penn's arrival, though the majority of these settled in West Jersey. Some, however, settled lower down the Delaware in and around Newcastle and Hoarkills. In 1681 a Yearly Meeting was established at Burlington, with jurisdiction over all the Quakers within the bounds of the present states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.8 Prominent among this group of early English Quakers was Eobert Wade, who settled at Upland, bought 650 acres of land and built the famous "Essex House," at which was held in 1675 the first meeting of Quakers on Pennsylvania soil.

“Thus it appears that before the founding of Pennsylvania proper under Penn's charter there was already within the present bounds of the Commonwealth an advance guard of English settlers, deriving their land titles from Governor Edmund Andros, the Duke's representative on the Delaware. These settlers were mostly Quakers, and were established principally at the Falls of the Delaware, Shakamaxon, Upland, and Marcus Hook, and vicinity.”

When William Penn arrived on the “Welcome” at Delaware Bay in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 1682, with a hundred travel-weary Quakers and a charter granted by England's King Charles II, he traveled inland. Remember, Robert Lucas was already there with his family, as they had arrived a few years before.

Penn detoured to Chester to meet with Quakers and worship at a local Friends Meeting. Although he has been, on occasion, credited with the founding of Quakerism in Pennsylvania, several pioneering members of the Religious Society of Friends had settled in the region prior to his arrival. It is evident among the Quaker settlers were the Lucases.

Early records are spotty, but the first Quaker to settle in what is now known as Pennsylvania, according to historian Rufus M. Jones, was probably Robert Wade, who had emigrated from England in 1675. Wade not only helped establish Pennsylvania's first Quaker meetinghouse at Chester, but he also provided lodging for the proprietor when he arrived. A meetinghouse had also been constructed in Falls, now Fallsington in Bucks County, in 1680, two years before Penn's arrival. The colonists who established the meeting at Falls had obtained their patents for land from Sir Edmund Andros (1637-1714), governor of New York.

Particulars About the Lucas Family

Robert Lucas, as one of the residents of the new town near the Falls, signed an April 12, 1680 petition to the governor of New York requesting a ban on selling strong liquors to the Indians, and another dated 13 September 1680 charging neighbors Gilbert Wheeler and William Biles with selling rum to the Indians.


On September 13, 1681 Robert Lucas sat on the bench with others at the Upland Court, under Penn's deputy governor William Markham. And, in1683 Lucas was a member of the provincial assembly.

Robert surveyed and served at constable. On February 11, 1685 the Bucks county court appointed men to lay out a particular road "with the assistance of Robert Lucas, a surveyor.” In December 1685 Robert Lucas and “another” were elected high-constables. And, Lucas had at least one scrape with the law himself. In1692 a case was brought against Robert Lucas for his shooting an ox. No damages were awarded as the ox was so little harmed.
Robert Lucas obtained two tracts of land in Bucks county.

1. The first tract contained 177 acres, and its location can be seen on the Thomas Holmes map. The property fronted the Delaware River, about seven properties south of the Falls. According to Battle's book, starting in 1678 lands in this area were granted under the authority of Gov. Andros and the Upland Court, surveying began in 1680, and few records have survived, and Robert Lucas was located there soon after his family arrived in 1680. In 1684 William Penn confirmed that he had sold the land to Robert Lucas (Patent, Bucks Co. Deeds 2:173). In 1702 a warrant for the resurvey of the tract was recorded for Robert's son Edward Lucas.

2. The second tract contained 322 acres. It was located just south of the Falls, the third tract west of the Delaware. When townships boundaries were established in 1692, the northern most lands in Falls Township included that of widow Lucas. In terms of the Holmes map, it lay just west of the Jeffrey Hawkins tract. Robert Lucas had purchased it from William Penn. A warrant for a survey for 200 acres was recorded in 1682 (PHMC, Copied Survey Books, D-68, p. 91). A warrant for a resurvey of the 244 acre tract for Robert Lucas son of Robert Lucas was recorded 19th of 3rd mo 1702 (PHMC, Copied Survey Books, D-68, p. 123), and the survey was returned 18th of 9th mo 1702 for 322 acres (PHMC, Copied Survey Books, D-68, p. 134).
In December 1697 the heirs of Robert Lucas went in to court and had recorded on December 16th three Bucks county land transactions.

First was a patent, dated 31st day 5th month 1684, from William Penn confirming that he had sold to Robert Lucas a tract of land in Bucks county of 177 acres. The patent describes the land by metes and bounds; the land fronted the Delaware River, and adjoined that of Joshua Board.

Second was a deed, dated 4th day 10th month 1697, by which Robert Lucas sold to his brother Edward Lucas his half interest in the same 177 acre tract for £60, which half interest he had inherited by the terms of the will, dated 6th day 10th month 1687, of their father Robert Lucas. Robert [the son] signs by his mark.

Third was a deed, dated 6th day 10th month 1697, by which Elizabeth Lucas relict and executrix of Robert Lucas deceased and their sons Giles and Edward Lucas sold to Robert Lucas, the brother of Giles and Edward, a tract of land in Bucks county of 244 acres for £60, which tract Robert Lucas senior had purchased from William Penn and had given to his wife Elizabeth by his will dated 6th day 10th month 1687. Some adjoining properties are named, that of Jeffrey Hawkings to the north, Peter Webster to the east and William Dark to the south. Elizabeth signs by her mark, while Giles & Edward sign.

In short by these last two transactions: 1) For £60 Edward got full ownership of the 144 acres on the Delaware originally inherited jointly with brother Robert, and 2) Robert exchanged his half interest in the 144 acres for the 244 acres at Manenges[?] originally inherited by his mother Elizabeth, and 3) Elizabeth, John and Giles got £60 for the 244 acres.

Note – The Abstract of Will:

Robert Lucas, in co. of Bucks, written 6 day 10 mo 1687.
Gives my now wife Elizabeth 245 acres at Manenges[?].
Gives sons Edward & Robert plantation by riverside where I now liveth jointly.
Gives sons Giles & John jointly 200 acres lying between lands of William Brion & William Darke.
Divides personal estate equally between wife & all children.
Wife to be guardian of minor children, unless she remarries & then all sons.
Witnesses George Browne & Daniel Sleng[?].

Administration requested December 21 1703 by son Edward, wife Elizabeth declining.
(Philadelphia Will Book A, page 330, #122. Abstracted by compiler; will viewed on FHL Microfilm #21721.)

Sources:

J.H. Battle. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 1985 Spartanburg S.C., originally publ. 1887.

Bucks County Historical Marker. http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-18

Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds; Deeds, 1684-1866; Index, 1684-1919. FHL microfilm series.

William W.H. Davis. A Genealogical and Personal History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Edited by Warren S. Ely & John W. Jordan. originally published as Vol. III of History of Bucks County Penn., 2nd edition NY & Chicago, 1905. Reprinted Genealogical Publ. Co. Baltimore 1975. Reprinted in two parts for Clearfield Co. by Genealogical Publ. Co. Baltimore 1994., Vol. 1, p. 66-7.

Wayland Fuller Dunaway, PhD. The English Settlers in Colonial Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania State College. https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/viewFile/28141/27897

“A Partial List of the Families Who Arrived at Philadelphia between 1682 and 1687.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Oct., 1884), pp. 328-340., p. 228.

Philadelphia Co., Pennsylvania. Register of Wills. filmed at City Hall, Phila. FHL microfilm series titled 'Wills, 1682-1916; indexes to wills, 1682-1924'.

Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive ..., Volume 1 edited by Francis J. Bremer, Tom Webster. 2006.

“Quakers.” https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/history-of-quakerism

Society of Friends, Middletown Monthly Meeting, Bucks Co. Pa. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. FHL Microfilm 388,585., Item 1, Bucks Co. Quarterly record of births & deaths, p. 180.

Website: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, State Archives, Land Records.

Sources For Further Inquiry

Ancestors and descendants of Robert Lucas, died 1740, of Burlington County, New Jersey, Bucks County, Pa., and Warren County, Kentucky

Record Source: Published Materials

Governor Robert Lucas : his ancestors and descendants

Author: Hall, Betty Porter.
Published 1989

Lucas genealogy

Author: Kemp, AnnaBelle, 1890-
Published 1964

Robert Lucas
Author: Parish, John Carl, 1881-1939.
Published: (1907)