So Many Children He Had To Marry and Marry and Marry

by genealogysleuth

Thomas Lucas didn’t live in a shoe but he had a lot of children, 16 in fact, possibly 17.

He was born April 27, 1814, in Liberty Township, Clinton County, Ohio, to James Lucas and Hannah Bowman. He came to central Illinois with the rest of the Abraham Lucas clan – Abraham was his grandfather – and members of their Baptist Church from Greene County, Ohio, in the later 1820s. Within a short time after their arrival, James Lucas died. John Lucas and John Turner, uncles, were named guardians of Thomas, age 13. John Lucas was married Hannah Bowman’s sister Mary. John Turner was married to James Lucas’ sister Sarah.

On June 10, 1834, Thomas married one of John and Sarah Bowman Turner’s granddaughters, Mary Turner, a sister of the infamous Spencer Turner. Thomas and Sarah had 10 children. There is a long-held story that their first daughter was named Minerva. She apparently was born before they were married and she died. I have found no evidence of this child. Mary Turner Lucas died on October 4, 1855, leaving seven living children. Two months later their two oldest daughters married. Thomas was left with an adult son, a not so healthy teenage son who did not survive his mother long, a 9 year old son and two young daughters.

On May 1, 1856, less than seven months after the death of his wife, Thomas Lucas married Harriet Gambrel, widow of John Lanham. She was 38 and had no children of her own. However, she added two daughters to the Thomas Lucas family before she died on January 5, 1867. By then there were two of Mary’s daughters and two of Harriet’s daughters at home but one of Mary’s daughters married in April of that year. Thomas was down to three minor children.

On July 10, 1867, six months after the death of his second wife and on the 33rd anniversary of his first marriage, Thomas Lucas married Charlotte Bowman, the widow of Jacob East and a relative of Thomas’ mother. She was also the sister of the soon to be husband of her new stepdaughter Arminda Lucas. Probably it was Thomas’ marriage to Charlotte that introduced the young couple.

We know Charlotte had three children by her first marriage but not what happened to them. It does not appear they survived infancy. Thomas had three children at home and soon he and Charlotte had more, four more to be exact. Thomas’ last child was born posthumously and only lived about six weeks.

Thomas Lucas died August 18, 1874. Both of Harriet’s daughters were at home although one married within months. (Parent dies, child marries. Seems to be a pattern.)

Thomas Lucas was buried at Lake Bank Cemetery with two of his wives, several children and, later, other children and grandchildren.

Letters of Administration issued to Allen Lucas, eldest son, on August 22, 1874, same date as his Petition. The estate contained 918 acres of land. The widow received $234.88. The surviving children or their heirs each received $46.97.

Sometime after 1880 Charlotte and her surviving children moved to Oxford, Kansas, where there were other Lucases and Bowmans as well as others who had left central Illinois for the promise of land in Kansas. She did not remarry but is not buried in Lake Bank.

Whatever happened to Jacob Bowman?

Richard Bownam was born on October 20, 1767, in Somerset County, NJ. He married Mary Senteney and they had 10 children. By the time he was ready to draw up his will in April 1829, he was living in Hamilton County, Ohio. Apparently the first child Abraham and the last child William were deceased by that time as he does not mention them. George was living nearby in Ohio. Ezekial was in Indiana on his way to Illinois and the remaining children were in Logan County, Illinois. Three of the four girls and Ezekial were married to Lucases.

The remaining children except for Jacob that is. It is obvious from the will, which names every living child regardless of sex, that no one knows where Jacob is. Twice in the will Richard writes: "if my son Jacob return or call for his share within two years..." Richard thinks Jacob is alive and might return although he prudently makes provision for Jacob's share if he doesn't within two years.

All we know about Jacob is that he was born between 1802 and 1808 and that in 1829 his father did not believe he was dead. Did he run away? Did he go off on a trip and never return? I have never seen any research which finds Jacob.

It seems to have been a close family. They traveled together and lived in proximity even as adults. Four of them married into the same family, to three siblings and their cousin. After Richard's death Mary moved to Illinois to Mt. Pulaski Township to be with her family and is buried in Steenbergen Cemetery.

So what happened to Jacob?

Everyone May Be Someone

Some people just want to find out about their direct ancestors. They think that will be enough. They ignore all the external people they find: siblings of in laws, neighbors, business associates, anyone who isn't their direct ancestor. They don't know how addictive this "little" genealogy hobby will become.


Don't fall into that trap. When you find a person who married into your line and you see something about his brother write it down. Often when a person married into a family other siblings and/or cousins also married into the same family. Or maybe they didn't but their children did. You may not know why now but someday you'll wish you had made the notes when you had the chance.


Originally I busily entered my ancestors into my database. This is a time consuming and, I admit, sometimes semi boring process. Naturally I avoided "unnecessary" people. I quickly learned that, sooner or later, I would need those unnecessary folks. Now I enter all sorts of people, even people who are totally unrelated to me [as far as I know today] but who were living in the area. I am no longer surprised when I eventually find a connection.


About 13 years ago I "met" Neal Downing. Back in the 1850s and 60s three children of Samuel Downing married three children of Robert Downing. These lines were previously unrelated, from different parts of the country, but ended up a mile apart in Logan County. I am a descendant of one of those marriages. Neal descends from another. His ancestors left Logan County and moved west - long gone but once they were closely related.


Last winter Neal commented he didn't know as much about his wife's family. In an amazing coincidence her ancestors had also lived in Logan County but moved west. They met in California. He sent me the line they knew, no names I recognized as they were from a different part of the county - until I got to her ancestor Charity Bowman. I did a double take.


I am related to both Neal and his wife. Charity was a sister of Hannah Bowman, my 4th great grandmother. Their mother Mary Senteney Bowman is my 5th great grandmother and Jackie's 4th great grandmother. Hannah, Charity and their mother are all buried in Steenbergen.


Take the time to write down those names and whatever else you run across. You just never know.

The Mystery of Berryman B. Wood

This is about Berryman Baughan Wood. Berryman B. is not related to Lida although all but three of her grandchildren are his great grandchildren.

Berryman was the son of Solomon and Phebe Lucas Wood. His parents came from Greene County, Ohio, with the migration of church members who formed the Lake Fork Predestinarian Baptist Church in Logan County, Illinois. Phebe's parents, Abraham and Marcy Kelsey Lucas, and living siblings also made the move. The couple bought land and settled at Rocky Ford in Corwin Township, about 15 miles from the rest of the family. Berryman was born there on December 22, 1834.

What happened next is a mystery due to the 1856 courthouse fire. We know that Solomon Wood was the second coroner of Logan County. We know Phebe died after 1839 when her last child was born, probably before Solomon sold his land on what is now Lucas Chapel Cemetery and moved in 1842. [Land records survive.] It assumed that Phebe is buried in Lucas Chapel but time and the regular spring flooding of Salt Creek have erased all traces of burials in that section of the cemetery.

Solomon remarried by 1847 and his last child was born February 23, 1848. Less than two months later Solomon was dead. Rhoda Tuman Winn Hoffman Wood, the widow, was Administrator of the estate [notice published in Springfield paper]. On April 23, 1849, the widow deeded all interest in Solomon Wood's land to his heirs and they in turn deeded all interest in her premarital property to her. John Lucas signed as guardian of Joel, Berryman, Lucinda, Rebecca and Solomon. By 1858 the record indicates Ezekiel Bowman was guardian of the two remaining minor children, Solomon and Rebecca, and executor of the Wood estate.

Berryman was apparently raised by John Lucas, his mother's brother, who was married to Sarah Bowman, a sister of Hannah who was the widow of James Lucas, another brother of Phebe. [Remember this. It will come up again.] Ezekiel Bowman was their brother. The 1850 census lists him as "Benjamin."

On December 22, 1855, Berryman married Sarah Katherine Lucas. Berryman was a grandson of Abraham Lucas. Sarah was a great granddaughter of Abraham Lucas. Her grandparents were Hannah Bowman and James Lucas. Berryman and Sarah produced 13 children while bouncing around the country. They went to Missouri but returned to Logan County. They went to Texas and returned to Logan County. They went to Kansas and returned to Logan County. On January 20, 1896, Sarah died.



The above picture is of children and grandchildren of Berryman B. and Sarah Katherine. We suspect it was taken when they gathered after Sarah's death. They placed a stone for her.

The rest of Berryman's life is also a mystery. My grandmother remembered him with love and amusement. No children or grandchildren survive and almost all of the great grandchildren have died. No record of Berryman's death has been located. We know it was 1911-1915, probably 1912-1914. When he died no one put up a stone. Years later a grandson made a marker out of concrete and put it on the grave. The death year is unreadable.