Lucas was born in
Pont-Audemer,
Normandy,
France. He attended the
Honfleur and
Paris Law Schools, and graduated from the law department of the
University of Caen in 1782. He practiced law in France until 1784, when he immigrated to the United States and settled near
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. He engaged in agricultural pursuits. Lucas was a member of the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1792 to 1798. He served as judge of the
Court of Common Pleas in 1794. In the early 1800s, newly-elected President
Thomas Jefferson appointed Lucas to a secret mission to
St. Louis and
New Orleans. Lucas reported directly to the president on the sentiments of the Spaniards in those cities toward the United States, in preparation for Jefferson's efforts at westward expansion. With strong support from President Jefferson, He served from 1805 until 1820, when he resigned. He also served as commissioner of land claims of northern Louisiana from 1805 to 1812. He then resumed agricultural pursuits. While in Missouri, Lucas donated land in downtown St. Louis in 1816 for a courthouse (known as the
Old St. Louis County Courthouse) that is now part of the
Gateway Arch National Park. When the courthouse was abandoned in 1930 as the court functions relocated to larger quarters, his descendants fought unsuccessfully to get the courthouse back. The
Gateway Arch frames the view of the courthouse from the
Mississippi River. Lucas died near St. Louis in 1842. He was buried at
Calvary Cemetery. Five of Lucas' sons were to die violently, including
Charles Lucas, who was killed in a duel with
Senator Thomas Hart Benton. A grandson,
Henry Van Noye Lucas, owned a major league
baseball franchise in St. Louis in the late 19th century. == References ==