John B. Lucas
In the memorial annals of Greene county there are few names held in better remembrance than that of the late John B. Lucas, who died at his home on beautiful "Lucas Hill" on the Dayton pike just west of Xenia in 1916 and whose widow is still living there, occupying the substantial old brick house in which Mr. Lucas was born and in which he died and which was erected on that charming site overlooking the delightful valley of the Little Miami by his mother's family nearly one hundred years ago. As the inheritor of large landed interests Mr. Lucas had for years occupied a position of prominence and influence in the community in which all his life was spent and there were few movements having to do with the extension of the best interests of this county that had not profited by some act of promotion on his part. For at least thirty years he was an active member of the Greene County Agricultural Society and was for about twenty-five years the president of that body, relinquishing his service in that connection only about five years before his death. For fifteen years he was a member of the old county infirmary board and in other ways gave of his time and energies to the public service. Generous to a fault and ever liberal with the considerable means at his disposal, there were not many calls either of a private or semi-public character that did not find him ready with instant assistance. As an instance of the public-spiritedness of his responses along this line, it may be recalled that it was he who financed the famous old "John B. Lucas Band." a musical organization that reflected much credit on Xenia back in the '70s. An interesting sidelight on the thoughtful kindliness that actuated Mr. Lucas's movements may be gleaned from the following paragraph taken from a biographical sketch relating to him published by the Xenia Gazette following his death: "For years there was no snow storm which did not bring out Mr. Lucas and his horse and snow plow, and early in the morning workers starting out to their daily toil found the paths cleared for them by this kindly man, whose generous forethought brought him from his country home to help make Xenians comfortable. Many a blessing has been showered upon him by those who, because of his forethought, did not have to wade through snow that often amounted to deep drifts." A small thing, perhaps the reader will say; but indicative of a spirit all too grudgingly manifested in this age. On the large farm inherited by Mr. Lucas from his parents is situated the famous Kil Kare Park, formerly "Lucas Grove," along the river at Trebeins, now operated by the traction company that has a line through the farm.
John Bassett Lucas was born on July 22, 1841, son of Thornton and Mary (Blessing) Lucas, both of whom were bom in Shenandoah county, Virginia, the former in 1802 and the latter on June 5, 1797, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Beardsherer) Blessing, who were the parents of four children, those besides Mary having been John, born on December 25, 1793; Elizabeth, February 18, 1806, who remained a spinster, and Jacob. The Blessings had a good property in Virginia, but a growing hatred for the institution of slavery which had fastened itself on the Old Dominion prompted them to seek a new home in a free state and it was decided to move to Ohio. Consequently in 1816 the elder son, John Blessing, then twenty-three years of age and who had served as a soldier of the War of 1812, was provided by his father with a liberal supply of money for investment purposes and was sent West to pick out a place of settlement, his objective point being the valley of the Little Miami in this county, excellent reports of which section had been going back to Virginia. In order to minimize the danger of robbery, in those days a no inconsiderable one, John Blessing traveled as a person of no consequence, carrying with him a quite wonderful musical clock, a sort of a music-box, exhibitions of which along the way invariably secured for him welcome hospitality and he came through without molestation. Upon his arrival here he bought six hundred acres of land along the east bank of the river two and a half miles west of Xenia and began to prepare there a place for the later coming of the rest of the family. In the meantime his father, Lewis Blessing, was closing out his interests in Virginia and in 1824 came to this county with the other members of the family and settled on the tract that had been selected by his son John, and in that same year began the erection of the brick house which still stands there overlooking the river and which is now occupied by Mrs. Lucas. The year following the arrival of the family here Lewis Blessing and his younger son Jacob died of what then was called "immigrant fever." As an instance of the comparative cost of funerals in those days and now, it may be interesting to note that their funerals were conducted at a cost of eight dollars each. A granite monument in Woodland cemetery marks the last resting place of this pioneer. John Blessing, the "pathfinder" of the family, continued to develop the place on which the family had settled and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on December 2, 1864, he then being in the seventy-second year of his age, and he also lies in Woodland. He had retained his uniform as a soldier of the War of 1812 and Mrs. Lucas still possesses the old "Lafayette" chapeau which was the distinguishing feature of that uniform, now a relic of inestimable value.
Thornton Lucas, then just past his majority, came to Ohio with the Blessings in 1824 to assist them in the labors of establishing a new home and he remained on the place, an invaluable aid to John Blessing in getting the tract under cultivation. Some years later Thornton Lucas's brother, Basil Lucas, also came out here from Virginia and established his home in this county. In 1838 Thornton Lucas, married Mary Blessing and they continued to make their home on the home place, spending there the rest of their lives, his death occurring on December 4, 1874, and hers, October 31, 1877. Thornton Lucas was reared a Democrat, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War threw in his forces with those of the administration. He and his wife were Baptists. They were the parents of three children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch having been one who died in infancy and Lewis Morton, who died in 1861 at the age of seventeen years. All these are resting in Woodland cemetery.
John B. Lucas grew up on the farm on which he was born and was early trained in the ways of practical farming. He completed his schooling in a private school and on August 18, 1864, was united in marriage to Alice Quinn, one of Greene county's most accomplished school teachers. After his marriage he established his home on the home place, the general management of which by this time had largely fallen upon his shoulders, and when, upon the death of his parents ten or twelve years later; he inherited the farm he continued to make his residence there and so remained until his death. Mr. Lucas was a stanch Republican. In addition to his farming interests he also had interests in other lines and was for some time engaged in the lumber business at Xenia in association with his brother-in-law, Elias Quinn, under the firm name of Quinn & Lucas. His lifelong activities in the general afifairs of the community have been referred to above, but it is not too much to say that he gave a stimulating touch to all the forms of endeavor with which he thus became connected. After his marriage he became afifiliated with the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, of which his widow has been a member since the days of her girlhood, and was ever after a consistent supporter of the same. To John B. and Alice (Quinn) Lucas one child was born, a son, Thornton, named in honor of his grandfather, who died in 1889 in his twenty-fifth year. In 1913 Mr. Lucas suffered a stroke of paralysis and was thereafter an invalid, for nine months or more before his death being unable to walk without assistance. He died on the night of December 20, 1916, and is buried in Woodland cemetery.
Since the death of her husband Mrs. Lucas has continued to make her home at "Lucas Hill," the operations of the farm now being carried on by one of her nephews. Though long past four score years of age, she retains the liveliest interest in current affairs and maintains her church and other associations with much of the zest of other days. During the days of her young womanhood she was for nine or ten years engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county and she has never lost her interest in movements looking to the promotion of the cultural life of the community, in the development of which she has been a helpful participant for more than eighty years, for she was born in this county, a member of one of the real pioneer families, and has lived here all her life. She was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Goes Station on February 16, 1831, daughter of Amos and Jane (Goe) Ouinn, both members of pioneer families, whose last days were spent here, the former dying in 1837, after which his widow married George Andrew, of Xenia township, and became the mother of Samuel G. and John C. Andrew.
The Hon. Amos Quinn, who was serving as representative from this district in the Ohio General Assembly at the time of his death in 1837, was the third in order of birth of the nine children born to Matthew and Mary Quinn, who came to this county with their family from Kentucky in 1803, members of the considerable colony of Scotch Seceders which settled here about that time, and further mention of which family is made elsewhere in this work. Amos Quinn was born in Pennsylvania, his father having moved from that state to Kentucky, and was but a lad when he came with the family to Greene county, the family locating on what is now known as the Routzong farm in Xenia township, where he grew to manhood. His father was a man of superior education and he thus received a degree of schooling much in advance of that common to the time and place and as a young man was for some time engaged in teaching school in this county, older chronicles referring to him in this connection as "a gentleman of genial temperament, not to be crossed by any amount of rebelliousness on the part of his pupils." He early took an active part in public affairs, served for years as justice of the peace in and for his township and was everywhere known throughout the county as "Squire" Quinn. From 1830 to the time of his death he served as sheriff of Greene county and, as noted above, was elected representative to the state Legislature from this district in 1835 and was thus a member of the General Assembly at the time of his death. He was a member of the old Associate church, now the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, and was buried in the old Associate graveyard in that city. Amos Quinn left a widow and three children, Mrs. Lucas having had a brother, Elias, who died at his home in Xenia on April 15, 1900, and a sister, Sarah, who remained unmarried and who spent her life with her sister, Mrs. Lucas, living to a ripe old age. As noted above, Amos Quinn's widow married again and lived for years afterward. Elias Quinn, who was born on January 8, 1827, served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, going to the front as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was an active member of the local post of the Grand Anny of the Republic at Xenia. For many years he was identified with industrial and commercial circles in Xenia as one of the leading lumber dealers of that city, and continued thus successfully engaged until his retirement eight or ten years prior to his death. On April 26, 1859, Elias Quinn was united in marriage to Margaret Andrews, who survived him for more than three years, her death occurring on November 19, 1903. To that union were born four children, namely: Leila, who for years was engaged as a teacher in the Xenia city schools and is now teaching in the Ohio State Soldiers and Sailors Orphans' Home there; Elizabeth, wife of John Cooper, living just west of Xenia; Willa Mary, who died in 1915, and Ralph E., who is engaged in the railway service at Xenia.
Jane Goe Quinn, mother of Mrs. Lucas, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Samuel and Alice (Van Horn) Goe, and was but nine years of age when her parents came with their family to Ohio, floating down the river in flatboats to Walnut Hills, where they stopped and where they remained for two years, at the end of which time, in 1811, they came up here into the valley of the Little Miami and settled on a. tract of land where the village of Goes, north of Xenia, later became established. Samuel Goe was a soldier of the Revolution and he and his wife were members of the old Seceder congregation on Massies creek, both being buried in the Massiescreek cemetery. It was there on that pioneer farm, now the site of Goes Station, that Jane Goe grew to womanhood and it was there in 1826 that she married Amos Quinn. Samuel Goe and wife were the parents of six children, Mrs. Quinn having had four brothers, Isaac, John, Thomas and James, and a sister, Sarah.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918