A Letter from
Aaron Briney Lucas
to
Mary Elinor Lucas
1938

Dear Granddaughter:

I am sorry to be unable to give you definite information regarding your ancestors, as requested in your letter. No one seems to have thought it worth while to keep a "pedigree" or cared greatly from whence we came. The summer I lived with my Grandfather [Parker Lucas], he told me something of his father and his grand father and of the migration of the family from Virginia to the "Northwest Territory" when Ohio was created a Territory. Beyond that there is only the legend -- corroborated in some aspects (and crossed in others] by a "chart" father bought during his service as a member of congress.

Grandfather's story and Father's chart unite in saying that we are lineal descendants of Lord Colchester, (Charles Chester Lucas) who was a gallant soldier in the armies of King Charles 1st during the Cromwellian War. He was taken prisoner by Fairfax, at the capture of Colchester, court martialed and shot in 1648. The family was "proscribed" and Thomas (Tom) Lucas and his brother Ralph escaped to America and settled in Virginia. A sister, Margaret was a "Lady in waiting" to Henrietta Marie, Queen of Charles 1st. She became the second wife of Sir William Cavendish, and is known in history as Duchess of Newcastle. She was among the notable women buried in Westminster Abbey in the 17th century. Her "Life" of Sir William Cavendish received high praise from John Dryden and Charles Lamb. Dryden wrote "Seldom, if ever, has family rectitude been so proudly proclaimed" as in the epitaph at her burial niche. When you visit the "Abbey" you may read it. Thus:

-- M A R G A R E T    L U C A S.
Duchess of Newcastle
Youngest sister to the Lord Lucas of Colchester.
A noble familie, for all her brothers were valiant
and all her sisters virtuous.

As I remember it, Grandfather said we were of the family of Ralph Lucas, who was in Washington's Army at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. Father told me we descended from Tom Lucas, -- Ralph's brother. These tales are more or less legendary. The certain facts are that the family lived in Virginia before, during and after the revolutionary war. And were, for a time, slave-owners. And one of them [was] a "preacher-prize-fighter." Grandfather often told me of his preaching a sermon in the forenoon and "licking" the "big-bully" of the community, before a crowd of his parishioners, in the afternoon  , in response to a challenge of the "leader" of the "hosts of sin." Granddad seemed to me more proud of his "fighting ability" than of his power in the pulpit.

When the conflicting claims to ownership of lands of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and other of the former "colonies" were adjusted, and the "Northwest Territory" created by congress, Robert Lucas and his "tribe" moved to Ohio. In the "bunch" was "David Lucas" -- my great-grand-father. In Ohio, Robert Lucas became governor. Lucas county (Toledo) is named for him. He was, it is said, chairman of the first National Democratic convention. As a reward for his political activities Andrew Jackson appointed him Territorial governor of Iowa -- Lucas county, Iowa, is named for him. Robert, the governor, was the brother of David -- my great-grand father. Our branch of the "tribe" followed Robert to Iowa -- in 1854 -- settling on land in Bremer County, where I was born in 1858. My father, William Vincent Lucas, was born in Carroll County, Indiana, July 3d, 1835; his father, (my grandfather) Parker Lucas, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, July 25th, 1814.

Going into reverse: -- your Father, Parker Vincent Lucas, was born at Castalia, Dakota Territory, March 28th, 1888. Second son of Aaron Briney Lucas and Ella Madora Mayne. He was named for his great-grand-father, Parker Lucas, and his grand-father, William Vincent Lucas. He is one of three children. All boys. His older brother is Carroll Mayne Lucas; his younger brother is Aaron Briney Lucas. The former lives in Berkeley, California; the latter is in the United States Military service at Fort Douglas, Utah. Parker was in the air-service during the World War and Briney in the Navy.

Your paternal grandfather -- Aaron Briney Lucas, was born near "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" -- across the line in Bremer County, Iowa, September 22d, 1858. The second son of William Vincent Lucas and Sophronia Maria Lowe. The first (and oldest) son of W.V.L. and S.M.L. , was Charles Chester Lucas -- named after Lord Charles Lucas, of Colchester. He was born July 1st, 1857. Died in November, 1875, at Waverly, Iowa.

Your paternal grand-mother, Ella Madora Mayne, was born at DePeyster, St. Lawrence County, New York, September 1st, 1859. She was the sixth (6th) child and fifth daughter of Thomas Mayne and Jeane Beggs. Her brothers and sisters in the order of their age, were John J., Rose (Dike) Elder; Mary Blossom; Sarah Henderson; Maggie Wetherell; all older than she; Harriet Luella Shidler; Earl H. Mayne. Rose and Hattie (Harriet) live in Long Beach, California. Earl is a Doctor in Brooklyn, New York. All the others are dead.

Your Paternal great-grandfather, William Vincent Lucas, was born near Delphi, but in Carroll county, Indiana, July 3d, 1835. Oldest son of Parker Lucas and Mary Moore. He had four brothers: John Todd, Christopher David, James Cavendish and Isaac Elliott. Three sisters, "Lisha" (married L. L. Lush), Martha, (married Lawrence Rew) and Mary, who died in infancy. William Vincent Lucas [was] married to Sophronia Maria Lowe in August, 1856. Their "wedding trip" was in [an] ox-drawn covered wagon from Indiana to Bremer county, Iowa, where W.V.L. had been the year before to "take-up-land." He was a "plow-preacher" and school-teacher, as well as farmer and rail-splitter. (A "plow-preacher" is a farmer who "plows" the fields on week days and "preaches" the beauty of holiness and eternal life in Paradise on Sunday). In 1859 he was appointed deputy county treasurer of Bremer county and served as such until the civil war. He enlisted as a private in Company "B", 14th Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry and was elected 2d lieutenant. Promoted to first lieutenant and when Capt. Currier showed the "white feather" at the battle at Corinth, was promoted to captain. He served four years in the army and was breveted "Colonel" after his discharge in 1865. He always preferred the title "Captain" however, because of his association as such with his men. It was often said of him that no officer in the Regiment, if in the army was more loved and trusted by his men, than he. Daring old Colonel Shaw once said in my hearing, a few years after the war: -- "Why the _____ was it that all your men always tried to protect you in times of greatest danger and wanted to shoot me in the back?" Following his return from the war he was elected treasurer of Bremer county and re-elected twice and then sent to the state legislature.

In 1872 he bought the Bremer County Independent, at Waverly and was the editor thereof for four years. In 1876 he bought the Shell Rock, (Iowa) News and was a Presidential Elector on the Republican (Hayes and Wheeler) Ticket. Canvassed the state and became prominent as a "Stalwart" -- "Stand-pat" party man. While on a speaking trip, he bought the Cerro Gordo Republican, at Mason City, Iowa, and moved to that city after the election in November, that year. Sold his newspaper interests at Waverly and Shell Rock. Elected Chief Clerk of the State Legislature at the sessions [of] 1877 and 1879 and State Auditor of Iowa in 1880 -- leaving the newspaper in the hands of A.B.L., who in the meantime had won the degree of LLB. as a graduate of the Law Department of the State University of Iowa. This, per haps, was his greatest mistake. If it was true that the Romans taught the Gladiator, Regulus, "The poor, weak, timid Shepherd lad, who never knew a harsher note than a sheep's blat, to drive his sword through links of rugged brass and warm it in the marrow of his foe," then his contemporaries, who first called "Briney" -- "Salty" and the "salt that had lost its savor" -- the "boy editor" -- the "underdone youth, not yet dry behind the ears," -- "the amateur poet" -- "the shadow of his honorable sire who rattled around in his father's shoes like a pebble in a tin can," and other equally complimentary names, such as only "Tom" and "Jim" and "Will-Ed" could think of -- taught "Briney" the courteous, (if never very meek) young lawyer, to dip his pen in vitriol and gall and with the reckless abandon of a mad boy used all the invective, irony, sarcasm, bitterness and slurs he could find in Byron's "English Bards and Scotch Reviewer's" -- Burn's "Holy Millie's Prayer," Pope's "Dunciad" -- Dryden 's "Hind and Panther" and the letters of Junius. He rubbed "salt" on their sore-places until they changed their "pet" names from "Boy Editor" (that rattled around with an unmusical sound) to "The Hornet" -- "The Wasp" of the North Iowa Press whose "stinger" left a festering sore, that only time would heal. "Jim" lost his job. Will-Ed sold his paper and "Tom" lost his via fore closure of mortgage. The "Republican" was made the official county paper with better than a thousand more subscribers than its biggest competitor. W.V.L. was a "stalwart" who supported Grant and Conkling. A.B.L. was a so-called "Mugwump" who supported Garfield and Blaine.

Following the expiration of W.V.L.'s term as State Auditor, A.B.L. went to Dakota territory. The Republican was sold to Leo Chapman and Carrie Lane (later known to fame as Carrie Catt -- Carrie Lane Chapman Catt). W.V.L. followed A.B.L. to Dakota Territory, locating in an adjoining county, where he was elected County Treasurer. He became Commander of the State Organization of the Grand Army of the Republic and was appointed the first commandant of the State Soldier's Home, at Hot Springs. While in that position he was elected to congress in 1894 but defeated for renomination, through trickery, in 1896. Elected delegate to the St. Louis National convention that nominated McKinley for President in 1896. His wife died in 1896. Was appointed Receiver of the United States Land office in 1397 and served four years. Was then reappointed Com�mandant of the Soldier's Home and served two years. In 1903 he moved to Santa Cruz, California (where A.B.L. was living) and resided in that city until his death in November, 1921.

He was self-taught, as school privileges in Indiana when he was a youth were practically nil -- consisting of a one-room, community built Log House. The "course of study" was McGuffey's Speller and reader; Ray's Practical Arithmetic and the Bible. He had a bright mind; wisdom without book-larnin' and the expressive vocabulary found in the bible. He was a great singer and taught back-woods singing school. He possessed both moral and physical courage to a rare degree. He delighted to speak in public. Rhet Clarkson said of him on one occasion, as Henry Grattan said of Dr. Lucas (a distant kinsman), after a speech in the Irish Parliament: -- "He rose with out a friend. He sat down without an enemy." No man that I ever heard, while reporting political speeches, could make a better im�promptu, off-hand speech, that stirred a crowd, than he could. N. V. Brower, (whom I called Nux Vomica), editor of the Dubuque Times, said he was "always loaded for bear." For 20 years after the war his favorite past time, (in politics) was to "wave the bloody shirt and hang Jeff Davis." He was a patriot to the last and thrice happy that four of his grandsons enlisted for service in the World War. (Parker and Briney (my sons); Vincent and Arthur (Fred's sons).

Your paternal great grand mother, Sophronia Maria Lowe, was the third of four daughters born to Rev. John Lowe and Laura Ann McAhron. She was born October 15th, 1836, in Kentucky and taken while yet a child to Indiana, where she grew to womanhood and married W.V.L. Her father was killed by a falling tree, during a storm, while hunting deer. Her mother then married Christopher David William Scott -- an itinerant minister of the Christian (then Campbellite) Church. Her oldest sister, Merilda, married Hamilton Hoover, of Delphi, Indiana, where they both lived until their deaths, sometime after we moved to California. They left 5 or 6 children whose whereabouts are to me unknown. Her second sister married Aaron Briney (whose name was given to me). She died soon after the war. Her younger sister Charity, married a Mr. Dimmitt. They also lived near Delphi, Indiana. I have no knowledge of their fate or their children.

The legend is that John Lowe was a Virginian who went to Kentucky with Daniel Boone. He was a mighty hunter, frontier preacher and missionary to the Indians. "Aunt Laura" as everybody called Grand mother, was born in County Cork, Ireland, and came to America when a child, with her parents, who settled in Kentucky, she was "divinely tall and most divinely fair" when a girl, with the blue eyes and rich coloring of a beautiful Irish colleen. A high-spirited woman with all the attributes of a true Christian. A truly helpful wife to her preacher husband. She was so loved by the Indians in Minnesota, that her person and property and home were spared and protected throughout the Indian Uprising that led to the New Ulm and spirit Lake Massacres. "Elder" Scott was equally loved and trusted by the Indians among whom he labored. Grandfather Scott died about 1880 and Grandmother Scott about a year later. Both lived to celebrate their 80th birthdays. He went first. And then she did not care to linger. When I wrote her obituary, I quoted her as saying to the spirit of her departed lover:

"If after death, love comes a waking And in their camp, so dark and still,

Our dead loved ones hear bugles breaking Their camp upon the hill.

To me the slow and silver pealing That then the last high trumpet pours,

Shall softer than the dawn come stealing, For with its call -- comes yours."

Grandmother Scott was unable to read or write when she married the Reverend John Lowe. He taught her both reading and writing. She be came proficient in both and is the person who first read to me, in my youth "Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress," and several of the "hymns" used in the church services during the '60s. Of a kindly, gentle, charitable disposition, she made friends wherever she went, and her charities were not only as large as her means allowed but kept her comparatively poor to the end of her days. But she was a happy soul and a true "help-meet" to her husband.

Grandfather Scott was a "learned man" for the day and age in which he lived. A regular contributor to the "Herald of Gospel Liberty" and other religious papers. A thorough bible student who liked to "debate" with "infidels" and "atheists" the questions of the "inspiration of the scriptures" and the verities of the bible. He believed the bible and every word in it -- from "cover to cover." He was also a great hunter and trapper and the equal of an Indian in following a trail through the woods, whether of man or animal. I know nothing of his ancestry or whence he came. But I do know he was a good man in his life and lived as nearly as man can according to the "golden rule."

Grandfather Parker Lucas was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of a Captain Moore who served in the army throughout the war of 1812. He was with General Hull when that pusillanimous General surrendered to the British. Father, who was his first grandson, used to tell the story that his Grandfather Moore would take him on his lap and say: -- "you must grow up to be a good man and true American. Don't ever lie, or cheat or steal or swear. But if you ever do swear -- say god-damn old Hull." Grandmother Lucas was burned to death when I was 4 or 5 years old. I remember the tragedy of her death. Her little daughter, Mary, came to her one morning while she was cooking break fast at an open fire-place. Some one opened a door. The air current drew the leaping flame into the room, catching the child's night-dress. Grandmother picked her up and ran out the door, calling to Grandfather for help. He was in the barn, doing the morning chores. The flames enveloped both Mother and child. Grandfather rushed to help them and extinguished the flames. Both were burned so badly they died within a few hours. Grandfather, a few years later, married Sylvia Fulton, a school teacher. She was either a sister or niece of Robert Fulton, who operated the first steamboat on the Hudson River. There were no children by the second marriage. She was the "grandmother" I loved best and most. Probably because she was very fond of me. I lived with Grandfather and Grandmother Lucas the year I was 15 years old. Grandmother was rather proud of the "speech" I made at the "celebration" of Grandfather's 66th birthday. She had it printed in the Waverly Republican. When I was in Waverly in 1931, one of my old school mates showed it to me in her scrap-book. I had the stenographer in the office copy it from the "files." I am enclosing it for you to read, if you care to. But it is not to be "censored" by Professor Henry^[1]. It will not "pass muster" with the more classic efforts of present-day "bright-boys" of the family.

But I wish you to return it -- as it is the only copy I have of it.

I know but little of Mommany's family history. I know only that to me, she was the best and most nearly perfect woman in the world. The "Lovely woman, nobly planned To comfort, counsel and command" the poet had in mind when he wrote his tribute to the pioneer wife and mother, she was the sixth of eight children. Six girls and two boys. When Grandfather and Grandmother Mayne celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, all the eight children were alive and present. All were married and six of them had children. There had not been a death in the family.

Your great-grandfather Mayne (Thomas) was a Scotchman. I do not know the date of his birth. He was born in Scotland and went to northern Ireland when a young man. He married your great-grandmother at Belfast. They lived in Ireland, near Belfast, until about 1850 when they migrated to the United States, settling at DePeyster, St. Lawrence County, New York, where he lived on a farm until after the war. About 1866 the family moved to northwestern Illinois. In 1872 they moved to Mason City, Iowa, where they lived until after the death of Mr. Mayne, in 1899, I think. Grand Mother Mayne continued to live on the "old home" place for about ten years. She then came to Meadows, Idaho, to live with "Mommany" and I. She found the snow too deep and the weather too cold in the winter time and went to Long Beach, California, where she made her home with "Rose," "Maggie" and "Hattie" until her death in 1920.

She was an "old fashioned" Mother of great personal worth. She so raised her children that there was never a divorce or scandal in the family. And only one "second marriage." After the death of Rose's first husband (Dike) she (Rose) married James Elder and went with him to Long Beach, California, where Elder died. Rose is still alive and active as a cricket [at] 88 yrs of age. I visited her last summer, on my trip to California. What was said of Margaret Lucas, the Duchess of Newcastle, and her brothers and sisters, may well be paraphrased to say of her: -- "All her sons were valiant and All her daughters virtuous."

Your great-grandmother Mayne was born Jeanne Beggs. Her family were land-owners, near Belfast, in northern Ireland. She was the oldest of a family of six girls -- three of whom came to the United States. I know but little about them -- having met them but two or three times. Mrs. Ballantyne lived at Janesville, Iowa when we visited her in 1882. Mrs. Garner lived at Finchford when she visited "us" at Mason City in 1881. Mrs. Carr lived at Seattle, Washington, where "Mommany" and I visited her while at the Alaska-Yukon exposition in 1909 or 1910^[2].

This, however, is enough to show you that you come from English-Irish-Scottish ancestry, in which, legend says, there is a mixture of German blood through great-great-grand Mother Moore. Her Mother, it is said, was German.

Of your Mother's ancestry I know nothing. Grand-father Dunagan is the only one of "Jean's" people I ever saw. Except, of course, her sisters there at Boise.

Except "Mommany" and "Mother" your paternal ancestors lived four score years or more -- always enjoying vigorous health. And then, like a clock, running down in the night, passed away with smiles on their lips and songs in their hearts. They feared not to die, but "looked ahead to smiling skies; to sunlit roads that lead away, where one can turn untroubled eyes upon a fairer, better day."

I have written this piece-meal, between using the typewriter for other work. But I have not time, today, to revise it or to correct the literary errors in it. It is not meant for a biography of the family. Your request for it suggests however to me the idea of writing the family history embodying such data as Father left to Brother Fred and I, plus what I know of the activities of my Grandparents, my uncles, aunts and cousins. None ever attained to greatness, but for the most part they were honorable, useful citizens and helpful in the communities in which they lived.

Will give you "news" of the folks on a separate sheet.

With sincerest love,

Poppaty

Dallas, Texas

February 22, 1938

^[1]"Henry" was Elinor's husband of about 2 years, Henry Nash Smith, a noted scholar of American Studies in later years (and the uncle of the transcriber, CNS).

^[2]The Alaska-Yukon Exposition was held from 1 June to 16 October 1909, on grounds that would later become the main campus of the University of Washington.

Written (and typed) by Mary Elinor Lucas's grandfather, Aaron Briney Lucas, at the age of 80.
 
See also the Autobiography of William Vincent Lucas, A. B. Lucas' father.
 
Transcribed and formatted for the
Web by CNS.

Last updated on 27 Nov 2010.