J.B.C. Lucas

John B. C. Lucas, son of James H. Lucas, and grandson of Judge Jean B. C. Lucas, was born December 30, 1847. Mr. Lucas was born to the inheritance of a good name and an ample fortune, and his lines were cast in pleasant places from his youth up. He was educated at Washington University and at Eastern institutions of learning, and in his young manhood assumed, and has since worthily borne, all the responsibilities which rest upon those favored by fortune. Becoming the executor and principal manager of his father's vast estate, he has always been one of the largest representatives of real estate and other property interests in St. Louis. While the numerous and varied ramifications of his business have kept him in close touch with the industrial and commercial development of St. Louis in all of its phases, he was most prominently identified for some years with the banking interests of the city, and devoted a large share of his time to the affairs of the Citizens' Bank, of which he was president, prior to its consolidation with the Merchants'-Laclede National Bank, in 1897. As a banker he coupled judicious conservatism with that degree of public spirit and enterprise which makes a banking house a prime factor in promoting the growth and development of a city. His father and grandfather were conspicuous for their loyalty to the city and their devotion to its interests. They were pioneers in the establishment of public institutions, and the making of improvements calculated to accelerate the growth, to add to the attractiveness, and to increase the prestige and importance of St. Louis as a center of trade, commerce and manufactures. They were, from the start, leaders in the great work of building a metropolis, and broad development followed in the wake of their enterprises. The same spirit which actuated his sire and grandsire has governed J. B. C. Lucas in all the relations which he has sustained to St. Louis as a business man and citizen. His father, whose ideas were broadly liberal, and whose instincts were generous and philanthropic, planned for the future, and left much important work to be carried forward by the son for the public good. These trusts and obligations he has discharged in strict accordance with the spirit of their conception, and through him his illustrious ancestors still continue to be public benefactors. In tastes, manners and disposition Mr. Lucas is much of an old-school gentleman, easily approached, genial in his intercourse with friends and business associates, and always kindly and sympathetic in his dealings with those who enjoy few of fortune's favors. Fondness for outdoor sports is one of his distinguishing characteristics, hunting and fishing being his favorite recreations, and he indulges his tastes in this direction with a regulation governed by the seasons for such sportsmanlike pastimes. He married, in 1876, Miss Mary C. Morton, of Louisville, Kentucky, and after her death was wedded to her sister, Miss Isabel Lee Morton. His children are three daughters and two sons.

-From Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis : a compendium of history and biography for ready reference

Lucas, the older brother of Maroons' owner Henry Lucas, was the president of the NA and NL Brown Stockings.