Robert Lucas ( governor ) Robert Lucas ( April 1 , 1781 – February 7 , 1853 ) was the 12th Governor of the U . S . state of Ohio , serving from 1832 to 1836 . He served as the first Governor of Iowa Territory from 1838 to 1841 . Early life . Lucas was born in 1781 in Mecklenburg , now Shepherdstown , a small community along the Potomac River in Virginia located in far eastern West Virginia . He was the son of William Lucas and Susannah Barnes . Lucas came from a Quaker family whose roots stretched back to 1679 in Pennsylvania , though the family had recently relocated to Virginia . Lucas ' father , an American Revolutionary War veteran , owned slaves and large amounts of land . According to family legend , Robert ' s uncle , Joseph Barnes , built a steam - powered boat long before Fulton ' s invention . Robert received some early schooling in mathematics and surveying , skills which would prove invaluable to his future work . Around the age of nineteen , Lucas moved to the Scioto Valley of the Northwest Territory , now Ohio . He was preceded by other family members , including two older brothers and a cousin . One brother would later become a general , while his other brother and his cousin would become Ohio legislators . The family bought large parcels of land ; eventually the nearby town of Lucas was named for them . For his skill in recruiting troops for the Army during the increasing hostilities between England , France , and the U . S . , Robert Lucas was made Captain in 1807 . He was elected to the Ohio General Assembly for the first time in 1808 as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives . He was married to Elizabeth Brown , his landlord ' s daughter , in 1810 . Lucas and his wife had a daughter , Minerva , in 1811 . Through complex political maneuvering , Lucas was made a Brigadier General in 1810 or 1811 . War of 1812 and rise to power . Lucas served in the War of 1812 and was famous for his resourcefulness and calm in an increasingly chaotic campaign . As one of his contemporaries stated , " As a spy he was productive and brave — as a soldier he had no superior . " Lucas rose to national prominence during the court - martial trial of General William Hull . Hull was accused of incompetence in the loss of Detroit and the Michigan Territory to the British in June 1812 , and the journals Lucas kept during the campaign were used as evidence to convict Hull . Lucas ' political career blossomed and in 1818 he was named Speaker of the Ohio State Senate . He was the Ohio Presidential elector in 1820 for James Monroe . In 1822 , he lost the State Senate election to his former brother - in - law and political rival , William Kendall . Shortly after , around 1824 , Lucas built a large brick house two miles east of Piketon , named Friendly Grove , which became an epicenter of local political activity , and still stands today . Lucas regained his State Senate seat in 1824 , and actively campaigned for Andrew Jackson . He was an Ohio Presidential elector in 1828 for Andrew Jackson . Lucas again lost his senate seat in 1828 to Kendall , and Lucas was part of the electoral congress that elected Jackson President that year . Lucas won his senate seat back in 1829 , in a special election after Kendall resigned ; again , he was elected Senate speaker . In 1831 , Lucas ran for the state assembly and lost , but he quickly rebounded . Ohio Governor , 1832 - 1836 . As an ardent Democrat , perhaps the highlight of his career was to serve as the chairman and president of the 1832 Democratic National Convention , the Democratic Party ' s first national convention . Lucas was also nominated the Democratic candidate for governor in 1832 , and won after a vitriolic campaign . Lucas County , Ohio , was established and named for the governor during his second term , in defiance of the Michigan Territory , which also claimed the land around the mouth of the Maumee Riverthus provoking the almost - bloodless Toledo War . Iowa Territorial Governor , 1838 - 1841 . During his tenure running Iowa , he again showed his tendency towards conflict with other states , starting the Honey War with Missouri . Technically , Lucas was not the first acting governor of the Iowa territory . William B . Conway , appointed territorial secretary by Martin Van Buren , arrived in Iowa six weeks before Lucas and thus assumed the duties of acting governor . Friction developed between Lucas and Conway over some of the decisions Conway made in Lucas ' absence , and led to an acerbic relationship . Lucas was often at odds with the territorial legislature , his liberal use of absolute veto power and his condescending rebukes of legislators often made him the target of acrimonious exchanges . Conway complained to Van Buren that Lucas committed " vexatious , ungraceful , petulant , ill - natured and dogmatic interferences " with the legislature . Van Buren and the U . S . Congress responded by limiting the territorial governor ’ s veto power and his ability to make appointments . Lucas served for only a few years as territorial governor , from 1838 – 1841 , and spent those years mostly in Burlington , Iowa and Muscatine , Iowa ( then called Bloomington ) , as there were only provisional accommodations in Iowa City for the territorial legislature . Death and legacy . Lucas was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City , Iowa . Lucas ' retirement house in Iowa City , Plum Grove , is maintained by the state as a monument to Lucas .