The Lucas Family, Part Two

When it comes to the history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis, the members of the Lucas family that we're really interested in are the children of James H. Lucas. Specifically, we're interested in his sons, J.B.C. Lucas, Robert Lucas and Henry Lucas.

As mentioned yesterday, James Lucas married Marie Emilie Des Ruisseau in Arkansas in 1832. When he died in 1873, his estate was divided among his widow and children. The children of James H. Lucas included William Lucas, who was born in 1836; J.B.C. Lucas, born in 1847 (and, according to the census records, was commonly referred to as Charles); Nancy L. Johnson, born in 1849 and married to Dr. John B. Johnson; Robert J. Lucas, born in 1850; Elizabeth L. Hager, married to John S. Hager; James D. Lucas; Joseph D. Lucas, born in 1856; and Henry V. Lucas, born in 1857.

John B.C. Lucas was born on December 30, 1847, died in September of 1908 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. He is significant because he was the president of the Browns Stockings of St. Louis from 1875 to 1877. You can find more posts on him in the sidebar, including a photo and brief biography.

Robert Lucas was born in 1850 and died on May 18, 1922. He is significant because he played for the championship Union Club's first nine in the late 1860s. According to the box scores, Lucas pitched, caught and played the outfield for the Unions. He was also an attorney and, like most of the members of his family, was involved in the real estate business. Robert Lucas was described in the St. Louis Daily Republic as being an "effective left-handed twirler of the Union Club, [who] could fill any position with credit" and there is evidence of his playing baseball as late as 1875.

Henry V. Lucas was born on September 5, 1857, died on November 15, 1910 and is buried at Calvary Cemetery. He is significant because he was the founder of the St. Louis Maroons and the Union Association. Lucas' Maroons club, in 1884, was the first St. Louis baseball team to win a national championship and, in 1885, became the second St. Louis club to play in the National League (the first being his brother's Brown Stocking club). I've written plenty about Henry Lucas and you can find all of those posts over in the sidebar.

I've also posted some information about the division of James H. Lucas' estate and more general information about the wealth of his children that you may be interested in looking at. But the main point I'd like to make here is that the sons of James H. Lucas were involved in St. Louis baseball across three decades, from the 1860s into the 1880s. They were involved with three of the biggest clubs in the history of 19th century St. Louis baseball: the Unions, the Brown Stockings and the Maroons. You literally can not write the history of 19th century St. Louis baseball without mentioning the Lucas brothers. And I didn't even mention a cousin, Charles Lucas, who, like Robert Lucas, was a member of the Union Base Ball Club.

As I said yesterday, I could write a great deal more about the Lucas family and how significant they were in the history of St. Louis baseball but a lot of that stuff is here on the blog if you're inclined to look for it. My goal was just to briefly untangle the Lucas family genealogy for you and I think I did that.