Ohio History Journal

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Editorialana

Editorialana.                         415

 

1838 President Van Buren appointed Mr. Lucas governor of the Territory

of Iowa. In this position he exhibited great capabilities in the organiza-

tion of the territory into the state. The election of William H. Harri-

son as Whig President in 1840 caused Mr. Lucas' removal from the office

of (Iowa) governor, when he returned to Ohio and was nominated by the

people of his home district for membership in United States Congress.

In the election he was unsuccessful.  He then sold his farm and home

at Friendly Grove and returning to Iowa made Iowa City his home.

He again took a prominent part in the politics of the territory of his

adoption. He was elected a member of the convention which was to

create a constitution for the forthcoming state of Iowa; served at the

head of several important committees, one of them being the Committee

on State Boundaries, which was to consider the dispute over the line

separating Iowa from Missouri; Mr. Lucas, therefore, appears to have

been peculiarly the hero of state boundary disputes. About this time

he was charged with being a confirmed office seeker for he looked "with

longing eyes to the governorship of the state whose early destinies

he had watched and guarded as the pioneer Territorial Governor. But

younger men were pushing to the front and now his declining years

came upon him and the fate of a superannuated statesman brought him

that fretful idleness that is so hard for men of action to endure."  In

1852 he deserted the party he had so long and zealously served and

joined the Whig forces. Death ended his career on December 8, 1853.

He died at his home, Plum Grove, and the following day was buried in

the cemetery at Iowa City.

Such are the brief and concise facts of his phenomenal life. That

such a career must have had for its foundation and results a strong

character and unusual ability, goes without saying.  Mr. Parish, his

biographer, has followed his life in a most faithful and in not ungraphic

portrayal.  He has in a most successful degree pictured the back-

ground events in which Mr. Lucas was so prominent a figure.      Mr.

Parish has an easy flowing style and the historic instinct to properly

emphasize the larger incidents, while leaving nothing to be desired in

detail. The little volume is tastefully produced as to typographical and

mechanical composition. It has the double value of historic interest in

the development of two states, Ohio and Iowa.

 

 

CENTRAL OHIO VALLEY HISTORY CONFERENCE.

Various historical and patriotic societies located in the southern

part of Ohio have issued a call for a conference of the different historical

societies of the Central Ohio Valley to be held in Cincinnati on Novem-

ber 29 and 30 next. The committee appointed for that purpose consists

of Charles T. Greve, Chairman, Isaac J. Cox and Frank P. Goodwin,

Secretary. In the circular sent forth by the committee, they state: