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: