Category: Lucas/Frank/Lee

Henry Lansing Lee

November 9th, 2023

Henry Lee (1863-1935) was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana to Henry Bruce Mulroy Lee and Phoebe Long Lee. He had three sisters, Minnie, Carrie, and Mary Alice; and two brothers, Fred and Charles. We’ve got lots of photographs of Henry.

Henry married Minnie Lucas in 1888.

Henry and his wedding party. Henry is seated at the left and his brother Fred is seated on the bottom right, and brother Charles I think is standing with his arm on Henry’s shoulder

Henry was a telegraph operator for the railroad. When he and Minnie were first married, they moved to Bakersfield, California, where his brother Charles lived.

Henry’s telegraphy book

Later they lived in Watrous and Maxwell, New Mexico, near La Junta, Colorado, and Dodge City and Richfield, Kansas. They ended up in Trinidad, Colorado.

Stagecoach stop in Richfield, Kansas, managed by Henry Lee. He is on top of the stagecoach – here is another picture apparently taken at the same time.

Henry Lee on left

Grace, Henry, Barbara Lucas, Blanche, Ethel Cupp?, Minnie seated, Mabel and Harlan Lee. This might have been a photograph taken when they made a visit to Timewell.

Henry Lee

great grandfather

great great grandfather

3rd great grandfather
Minnie Sara Lucas Lee

November 2nd, 2023

Minnie Lucas (1868-1948) was the first of three children of Newton and Barbara Lucas. She was born in Timewell, Illinois, and had two siblings, Ruth (1875-1960), and William (Willie) 1873-1950. It seems as if they were very doted on children judging from number of photographs of them we have.

Minnie

Ruth and Minnie in the 1880s

Minnie married Henry Lee in 1888 (her 2nd cousin once removed I think). That means that Amassa and Elder Lee are both our 3rd great aunt and uncle and our 4th great grandparents. They are Henry’s great grandparents and Minnies’s great aunt and uncle. Very confusing!

Minnie and Henry on their wedding day in 1888

Minnie’s wedding dress

After Minnie and Henry married they moved quite a bit – Bakersfield, California, northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, and Dodge City, Kansas. He was a telegraph operator for the railroad and they lived right next to the railroad stations.

They had eight children, Henry Claude (1888-1898), Mamie Edith (1890-1891), Carl Lucas (1892-1895), Harry Sterling (1894-1896), Mabel Ruby Isabel (1896-1989), Grace Elmyra (1898-1980), Minnie Blanche (1900-1988), and Harlan Newton (1904-1967). The first four children all died in childhood.

They bought a house in Trinidad on Tillotson in the early 1900s, where they lived the rest of their lives. Henry died in 1935.

Gram (Joan Roper) went to stay with Minnie in Trinidad every summer- she had happy memories of staying with her “Gramma”.

She remembered that Minnie was very devout – she read the Bible at the dining room table every night, and she walked to the First Christian Church every Sunday (at least a mile or two). She walked everywhere, to the grocery, post office, wherever she needed to go.

She especially loved her grandchildren, Edgar, Joan, Mildred, Mary Lee, Claudia and Norton. She writes in one postcard to her daughter, Mabel:

“Dear Mabel, Edgar’s pictures are just splendid. I just keep looking at it how many times I have seen just that same look on his face so natural”

Gram thought Edgar might have been her “favorite”

Mary Lee Benedict, Minnie Lee, Grace Benedict

Minnie Lucas Lee

Great grandmother

Great great grandmother

3rd great grandmother
Mattie, Sadie and Jessie Lucas

October 26th, 2023

Making a leap from Barbara Frank Lucas’ ancestors to Newton Lucas’ more recent ones – Mattie (1878-1942) , Sadie (1879-1965) and Jessie (1883-1973) Lucas.

Mattie, Sadie, Jessie

They were the daughters of Ethan Allen Lucas, Newton’s brother, and his wife Leora. They lived their whole lives in Timewell, IL, and I believe they were close to Barbara, Ruth, and Lizzie Lucas as they appear in many pictures together. Sadie was a schoolteacher, but I don’t know if Mattie and Jessie were. Their mother died when they were little and their father married Mary Ratcliff.

I remember our grandparents Mabel and Clyde Roper (Mamie and Pappy), visiting them often in the 1950’s and 60’s. Sadie was the namesake of Gram’s donkey, and Jessie of one of her dogs.

The picture above is so sweet of them as young ladies. I wonder if they had a bolt of the plaid fabric and made their dresses – so creative and well-made.

Jessie Lucas, Blanche Bratcher, Mabel Roper, Ruth Lucas Fornwalt (behind), Lizzie Lucas, Sadie Lucas (in back). Probably in the early 1960s

Mattie, Sadie and Jessie Lucas

1st cousins 3x removed

1st cousins 4x removed

1st cousins 5x removed
Newton Lucas

September 26th, 2023

Newton Lucas driving his new auto with Ruth and Barbara in the back seat

The postcard sent by Barbara’s sister Sarah Frank to her when she heard about the car.

Newton Lucas must have been an adventurous person, with his trip to the Rocky Mountains in his twenties, and buying a car at age 71 in 1909! Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908.

Here is a timeline of his life: 1860 Trip to the Rocky Mountains

Dec. 25, 1860 While cutting firewood, a tree fell on him, crushing his hip and making him a cripple for life*

1866: Went with his brother William to Texas, bought 600 head of cattle and drove them back to Illinois. They crossed the Red River on April 22, and reached Quincy on Sept. 20, 1866. Apparently it was not a financial success.*

1872-1876 in the hay and grain business with his brother William, also operated a sawmill during these years.*

1882-1883 Operated a steam thresher in Mt Sterling*

1883 Bought his farm of 220 acres in Pear Ridge Township, Ill.*

1892 Was a delegated to the Republican State Convention. He had cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860*

*From Lucas Genealogy by Annabelle Kemp, 1964
Barbara Frank Lucas, 1842-1923

September 25th, 2023

Barbara was born in Davidson County, North Carolina to William and Sarah Winkler Frank. She was the oldest of eight children.

She married Newton Lucas in 1865 when she was 23, and they had three children, Minnie, Ruth and Willie.

Ruth, Newton, Willie, Barbara, Minnie

We have three letters from Barbara to Minnie, one written August 29, 1861. Her letters are chatty, and in this letter she talks of hair pins and dress fabric she has seen, also the state of Willie’s buggy which has gotten muddy. She writes:

Ruth sent you a letter today. I told her it would have been very good if she had left somethings out – I want you to be sure and Burn it – she had no business to say anything about P____ she don’t like Elmer very well and is a lttle jealous of Lizzie because Willie takes her more than he does Ruth”
I wonder what Ruth had spilled in her letter that left Barbara so concerned? I guess we will never know! Lizzie is Willie’s future wife. Barbara also asks about Minnie’s two children, Mamie, age one, (not our Mamie) and Claude, age three:

Ma would like to know if Mamie ever gets spanked, hope she don’t…I do want to see them so bad.”
Ma is Sarah Winkler Frank. Sometimes Barbara looks stern in her photos, but I don’t think that was her nature at all. She seems warm and caring.

Newton and Barbara on their wedding day, August 29, 1865
Newton and Barbara Lucas

September 23rd, 2023

Other views of their home and farm in Timewell, IL. Bottom picture shows Harold, Barbara, Newton, Ruth and Laura Lucas