The Thomas Lucas Family at Lake Bank CemeteryThe stone on the far right, the tall stone, is that of Thomas Lucas. Thomas had three wives and 17 children. The first wife was Mary Turner. She had 11 children before she died in 1855. Her stone is on the far left. The next stone belongs to her son George. Mary was the maternal grandmother of
Lillie Margaret Wood Ryan and sister of
Spencer Turner.
Seven of the children were under 15 at the time of her death. This might explain why seven months later Thomas remarried to the widow Harriet Gambrel Lanham. Harriet was 38 and apparently without children. Thomas and Harriet had two daughters before she died in 1867. Her stone is third from the left. Five months later he married the widow Charlotte Bowman East who had three children. Charlotte and Thomas were first cousins through his mother Hannah Bowman. I don't know what happened to her first three children but the happy couple had three children before Thomas died in 1874 leaving a pregnant widow. That child died about six weeks after birth.
Charlotte soon moved to Kansas where she died in 1908 and was buried in Sumner County.
Although his father died when he was 13 Thomas was not a poor man. This may account for his ability to find a new wife so speedily each time.
