| NewtonLucas |
NEWTON LUCAS, a resident of Pea Ridge township,was born in what is now Cooperstown township, December 11, 1838. His father,D. R. Lucas, was one of the pioneers of Brown county, born in Butler county,Ohio, March 21, 1810. His father, John Lucas, was born September 7, 1760,in Virginia, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was taken prisonerby the Indians and by them taken to Kentucky and Ohio. He was pleased withthe country, and after the close of the war located in Kentucky, but failedto secure a good title to his land and lost it, and then went to that partof Ohio now included in Butler county, secured a large tract of land inthe Miami bottom, improved a farm, residing there until his death June15, 1836. His wife’s name was Jemima Robbins, who was born November 19,1768, who died on the home farm, November 22, 1831, aged sixty-three years.She was the mother of twelve children. Daniel Robbins Lucas was raisedin his native county, but when a young man went to Indiana and commencedthe study of medicine.In January, 1836, he came to Mt. Sterling,Illinois, and commenced to practice his profession. He also engaged inteaching and in the mercantile and lumber business. About 1843 he purchasedland in Lee township, and resided there the greater part of the time untilhis death, which occurred January 26, 1884. His wife’s name was Sarah AnnKeith, to whom he was married in 1836; she was born in Hardin county, Kentucky,December 14, 1817, and died March 22, 1890. She was the mother of twelvechildren; their names are: William, Newton, Martha, Ann (now dead), MaryE., George W., Henry C. (now dead), John H., Ethan A., Helen A. (now dead),Daniel W., Benjamin F., James E. Three dead and nine living, seven of whomlive in the county, one, B. F., lives in Colorado. I. E. lives in Missouri.Newton received his earlier education in the pioneer schools which wereheld in the log houses with furniture of the moist primitive kind, wherethe teacher boarded around among the scholars; as soon as he was largeenough to manage a yoke of oxen he worked upon the farm. He caught thePike’s Peak fever in the spring of 1860, went across the plains in an oxwagon to the Rocky Mountains, returned in July of same year. He met withan accident December 25, 1860, while cutting a tree for firewood; in tryingto get out of the way of some falling limbs, the tree struck and crushedhis hip, making a cripple of him for life. He was appointed route agenton mail route from Clayton, Illinois, to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1864, but aftersome two months’ service resigned; taught school during the winter of 1862-’63at what is now Fargo, in this county; taught at Ashland, Adams county,during the winter of 1869-’70; remained with his parents until he was marriedin 1865; then farmed and operated a saw mill until the spring of 1871,when he moved to Scotland county, Missouri, and operated a saw mill forthree years; then moved to Memphis, Missouri, and went into the hay businesswith his brother for two years; moved back to Brown county, Illinois, engagedin farming and running a sawmill; operated a sawmill on Sangamon riverbottom during the winter of 1880-’81; moved to Mt. Sterling in the springof 1882, and operated a steam thresher, lived there until December, 1883;then bought the farm he now lives upon; owns 220 acres; farm is well improvedand has good buildings; the house he built himself.
In politics he is a Republican; cast hisfirst ballot for Abraham Lincoln for president, and Richard Yates for governor;has always been a Republican; and was a delegate to the Republican StateConvention, May 4, 1892.
August 29, 1865, he married Barbara Frank,who was born in Davison county, North Carolina, February 21, 1842, daughterof William and Sarah (Winkler) Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas have three children:Minnie S., William D., Ruth R. Minnie is the wife of Henry L. Leeand has two children; they live in Maxwell City, New Mexico.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 155-156.
Copyright1999-2006 Judi Gilker; all rights reserved. For personal use only.Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictlyprohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright must appearwith the information.
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