John H. Lucas
A native son of Ironton, Lawrence County, and a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of this now thriving industrial city, Mr. Lucas is the sole owner of the large and representative retail drug business conducted under the title of the Lucas Drug Company, with a large and admirably equipped establishment. Mr. Lucas became virtually dependent upon his own resources when he was a mere boy and through his ability and well-ordered efforts he has achieved distinctive success and gained secure vantage ground as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of his native city and county, where his friends are in number as his acquaintances. He is one of the most progressive and liberal of the admirable coterie of men who have been potent in furthering and maintaining the civic and material prosperity of Ironton. The significant colloquial term "Booster" applies to him most effectively in all that touches the interests of his native city, to which his loyalty is unwavering and marked by deep appreciation.
John H. Lucas was born at Ironton on the 25th of October, 1858, and is the youngest in a family of five children, the others being: William, Clara, Ludwig and Carrie. Mr. Lucas is a son of John H. and Luvina (Schachleiter) Lucas, the former of whom was born at Waldheim, in the Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, in 1836, and the latter of whom was born near the city of Berlin, Germany, in 1838. John H.Lucas came to America when a youth and in 1852 he established himself as a pioneer of Ironton, where he engaged in the work of his trade, that of baker, incidentally erecting the first bakery in the city. He died in 1861, when but twenty-five years of age, and his widow survived him by more than two score years, she having been summoned to the life eternal in 1909.
The public schools of Ironton afforded to John H. Lucas his early educational advantages, which were limited, as he began to learn the lessons of practical industry when a mere boy and thus depended upon self-application and experience in later years to supplement and round out his education, this training having made him a man of broad views and mature judgment. At the age of twelve years Mr. Lucas became errand boy for a local drug store, and that he availed himself fully of the technical advantages afforded him in connection with this line of enterprise is shown by the fact that he studied and worked until he had qualified himself thoroughly as a pharmacist. He became prescription clerk and served in this capacity until 1880, when he went to Proctorville, Lawrence County, in which village he established a drug store and engaged in business on his own responsibility. In 1889 he sold the stock and business and returned to Ironton, where he became clerk in the drug store conducted by Drs. Gray and Robinson. In 1893 he became associated with his employers in founding the Lucas Drug Company, and in 1897 he purchased the interests of his partners, since which time he has continued the business in an individual way and under the original title. His establishment is essentially metropolitan in its equipment and facilities and in addition to handling drugs, medicines, toilet articles, sundries, etc., he has a well-stocked department devoted to paints, oils, window glass, etc. The establishment has long controlled a substantial and representative trade, based upon fair and honorable dealings and effective service, the while the success of the business has been heightened by the personal popularity of the proprietor.
In addition to his drug business Mr. Lucas has been concerned with the development and upbuilding of other important enterprises in his native city and county. He is vice-president of the Home Telephone Company and a director of the Iron City Savings Bank, besides which he has made judicious investments in local real estate and has aided in the physical upbuilding as well as the social and material progress of Ironton. His influence and co-operation have been given in support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city, where he served for some time as president of the Business Men's Association and where he is now vice-president of the Ironton Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lucas is found arrayed as a loyal supporter of the cause of the republican party, his allegiance to which he has found no reason to sever in the face of modern disaffection in its ranks. In the Masonic fraternity he has received the ultimate or chivalric degrees, and is affiliated with the Ironton commandery of Knights Templar, as well as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1884 Mr. Lucas wedded Miss Ola B. Carter, who passed to eternal rest in 1887, and who is survived by one son, Emerson, who resides in Washington, D. C., and holds a responsible position with the Southern Railway Company; he married Miss Margurta May Jury, of Louisville, Kentucky. On the 27th of December, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lucas to Miss Florence T. Turby, daughter of William W. and Henrietta Turby, of Ironton, and the five children of this union are: John H., Jr., William T., Gray, Richard and Paul. John H. Lucas, Jr., is manager of the business of the Texas Oil Company in the city of Birmingham, Alabama; William T. is a student of electrical engineering in the Western Reserve University, in the city of Cleveland; and the other children remain at the parental home.
From A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916