ROBERT LUCAS, the first Governor of Iowa Territory, was the fourth child of William and Susannah Lucas, and was born April 1, 1781, in Jefferson Valley, at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Virginia, a few miles from Harper’s Ferry, where his ancestors settled before the Revolution. His father, who was descended from William Penn, was born January 18, 1743, and his mother, of Scotch extraction, was born October 8, 1745. They were married about the year 1760, and reared a family of six sons and six daughters. His father, who had served as a Captain in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war and had distinguished himself at the battle of Bloody Run, emigrated with his family to Scioto County, Ohio, early in the present century.

     At the time of this removal Robert was a young man. He had obtained his education chiefly in Virginia, from an old Scotch schoolmaster named McMullen, who taught him mathematics and surveying. The latter afforded him remunerative employment immediately upon his entrance into Ohio.

     He was married at Portsmouth, Ohio, April 3, 1810, to Elizabeth Brown, who died October 18, 1812, leaving an infant daughter, who afterward became Mrs. Minerva E. B. Sumner. March 7, 1816, he formed a second matrimonial connection; this time with Friendly A. Sumner, who bore to him four sons and three daughters.

     The first public office held by Robert Lucas was that of County Surveyor of Scioto County, the commission from Governor Edward Tiffin, of Ohio, appointing him such being dated December 26, 1803. December 16, 1805, he was commissioned by Governor Tiffin justice of the peace for three years. His first military appointment was that of Lieutenant of militia, by virtue of which he was authorized to raise twenty men to assist in filling Ohio’s quota of 400 volunteers called for by the President in view of possible difficulties with the Spanish. He was subsequently promoted through all the military grades to Major General of Ohio militia, which latter rank was conferred upon him in 1818.

     He was a Brigadier-General on the breaking out of the war of 1812, and had much to do with raising troops. He was appointed a Captain in the regular army, but before his commission reached him he was already in active service, scouting, spying, carrying a musket in the ranks and in other useful capacities. After Hull’s surrender he was paroled and returned to Ohio. He was in the course of time made a Lieutenant-Colonel, and then a Colonel, from which position he resigned.

     He served in numerous civil offices in Ohio, and at the time of his second marriage, in 1816, he was and had been for some time a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving successively for nineteen years in one or the other branch, and in the course of his legislative career presiding over first one and then the other branch. In 1820 and again in 1828, he was chosen one of the Presidential electors of Ohio. In May, 1832, at Baltimore, Maryland, he presided over the first Democratic National Convention—that which nominated Andrew Jackson for his second term as President, and Martin Van Buren for Vice President. In 1832 he was elected Governor of Ohio, and re-elected in 1834. He declined a third nomination for the same office.

     Under the act of Congress to divide the Territory of Wisconsin and to establish the territorial government of Iowa, approved June 12, 1838, the subject of this sketch was appointed Governor of the new Territory, and he immediately accepted the responsibility. A journey from the interior of Ohio to the banks of the Upper Mississippi was then a matter of weeks; so that, although Governor Lucas set out from his home on the 25th of July, delaying on his route a few days at Cincinnati, to arrange for the selection of the books for a territorial library, it was not till nearly the middle of August that he reached Burlington, then the temporary seat of government.

     The first official act of Lucas as Governor of Iowa was to issue a proclamation dated August 13, 1838, dividing the Territory into eight representative districts, apportioning the members of the Council and House of Representatives among the nineteen counties then composing the Territory, and appointing the second Monday in September ensuring for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly and a delegate to Congress. His first message to the Legislature, after its organization, was dated November 12, 1838, and related chiefly to a code of laws for the new commonwealth. He opposed imprisonment for debt, favored the death penalty for murder (executions to be in the presence of only the Sheriff and a suitable number of witnesses), and strenuously urged the organization of a liberal system of common schools. The organization of the militia was also one of his pet measures. There was a broad difference between the view of a majority of this Legislative Assembly and the Governor, on many questions of public policy, as well as points of authority. This resulted in the sending to the President of a memorial, dated January 12, 1849, signed by eight of the council and seven of the Representatives, praying the removal of Governor Lucas. In addition to this, a memorial for the Governor’s removal was passed by both Houses, signed in due form by their presiding officers, and transmitted to the President. The charges made were met by a protest signed by eight Representatives, and a result Governor Lucas was allowed to remain in office until the next change of administration.

     In 1939 and ’40 occurred the well-known boundary dispute with Missouri, which was finally settled in favor of Iowa, by the Supreme Court of the United States. November 5, 1839, Governor Lucas announced that the Territory had advanced in improvement, wealth and population (which latter was estimated at 50,000) without a parallel in history, and recommended the necessary legislation preparatory to the formation of a State government. This was overruled by the people, however. Among the latest of Governor Lucas’s acts was a proclamation dated April 30, 1841, calling the Legislature to assemble, for the first time, at Iowa City, the new capitol.

     March 25, 1841, he was succeeded by John Chambers. He lived a private life near Iowa City until death, February 7, 1853, at the age of seventy-one years.

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