Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-06-13
GENERAL ROBERT LUCAS.

DeI lue uduIe VI IlOOeIt LuCdS dS 'ioV
of a former chief executive of the
State, except from the fact Of the dis
pute over the Michigan boundary-the
so-called Toledo war" But General
Lucas was a man whose memory de-
serves to be perpetuated. The son OF
a Revolutionary officer, descendant
of William Penn, an officer in the
United States regular army, major
general of the Ohio militia, in the
war Of 1912, twice governor Of this
State, chairman of the Democratic ma
tional convention which nominated
Andrew Jackson for the presidency
the second time, first territorial gov
ernor of Iowa, he was certainly man
above the average. To him belongs
the unique distinction Of being the
governor of two commonwealth, each
of which named county in his honor,
and each had, while he was chief ex-
ecutive, boundary dispute, which in
both cases Governor Lucas conducted
to a successful issue.
He was born at Shepherdstown,
Jefferson county, Virginia, on April
l, 1881. Though it was All Fools
Day, Robert Lucas was wise man in
his day and generation, and worthy
of every honor which fell to him. His
father, who had been a captain in the
Continental army, was a descendant
of William Penn, the Quaker founder
of Pennsylvania, and his mother was
of Scotch descent. The father had
such strong love for human freedom
that though Virginia was slave
State, he freed his slaves, who had
come to him by inheritance. Robert
Lucas was the inheritor of the same
intense love of liberty and human
rights.
In the year 1900, the Lucas family
removed to Scioto county, Ohio, To-
eating in what is now Portsmouth.
Young Robert was in his nineteenth
year. He had been given the limited
education then available to the chill
dren of parents of limited means
reading, writing and arithmetic-to
which be himself added a knowledge
of surveying. This work he took up
and found it remunerative.
Having secured the means Of sup
porting a wife, Robert Lucas in 1910
married Elizabeth Brown, who died
two years later, leaving an infant
daughter. In 1916 he married Miss
Amy Summers, native Of Vermont,
whose family had removed to the
Western wilderness. Her family later
removed to Muscarine county, Iowa.
At this time Lucas had been for some
years county surveyor of Scioto coun-
ty, his brother Joseph being associate
justice of common pleas Robert was
later made justice of the peace for
Union township, that county, which
led him to study the law to fit him
self for his new duties.
AS was natural to the son ola Revo-
lutionary sire, he was Of a military
turn of mind, and early joined the
Ohio militia. He had reached the
grade Of major-general when the war
of 1912 came on, and with some 200
menof his division he was under
Hull on the latters expedi-
ton into Canada, and was a witness
of the inglorious surrender at Detroit.
But he escaped the surrender by hid
ing his sword in his brother's trunk,
putting on citizens dress, and walk
ing into Detroit before the British
reached it. After taking notes of the
Of the day, he went on a
small vessel to Cleveland. In recog-
milton Of his services he was commits
stoned as captain in the Nineteenth
I. S. infantry on March IA, 1872.
On February 20, 1918, he was promo
ted lieutenant-colonel of the same reg
iment. He resigned his commission
in the regular army on June 80, how
ever, to accept commission as brig
adier-general of Ohio militia in de-
fense of the frontier, serving from
July 25 to September 10 Of thatyear.
Naturally he drifted into political
life, and was elected to the Ohio leg
islature in 1914. For nineteen consec-
tive years he served in either the
house or the senate, most of the time
as the presiding officer of the latter
body. In 1920 and 1928 he was one
of the Democratic electors elected