Butte County
Biographies
THOMAS J. LUCAS
THOMAS J. LUCAS.—A worthy
descendant of a “forty-niner,” and himself the father of an enterprising and
energetic family, is Thomas J. Lucas, of Bidwell’s Bar. He was born in San
Francisco, June 1, 1859, a son of John Lucas, who came to San
Francisco in 1849, where he followed his profession as an architect and builder.
John Lucas was born in Limerick, Ireland, and with a brother, George Lucas,
went from there to Australia, and then came to California. George Lucas
afterwards went to the Hawaiian Islands and became a builder, and in time a very wealthy man. Their mother, before her marriage,
was Bridget Carroll. She was born in Ireland, and had eleven children, two
girls and three boys of whom are living.
T. J. Lucas grew up in San Francisco, and
as a journeyman worked in many places from San Francisco to San Diego in the
butcher’s trade, and then went to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became foreman
of a meat business, on the Island of Maui, at Wailuku, continuing there from
1882 to 1886. He then returned to California, and for the next ten years
followed his trade in Oroville. In 1896, he came to Bidwell’s Bar and purchased
a farm of one hundred sixty acres, and secured his water rights. He has a
butcher shop on his farm, and has there butchered extensively, selling to the
workmen engaged in building the U. C. Railroad, and supplying the
camps of the construction company, for a radius of twenty miles around. He
retailed his meat in competition with the large shops in Oroville, selling to miners, farmers, and construction camps in his vicinity. He
thoroughly understands the butcher and meat business.
Mr. Lucas now devotes his time to
ranching; and in this he has the distinction of having proved, by
experimenting, that all kinds of vegetables, berries, apples, prunes, oranges,
olives, late peaches and Bartlett pears are a sure crop in his part of the
county; and he also finds that English walnuts and figs do well. He sees a
bright future for fruit-growing in the Bidwell Bar district. The ranch is
located on the Oroville and Quincy road, about eight and one-half miles from
Oroville. Mr. Lucas also does considerable mining on his own land in the
winter, and nearly every year finds a new pocket of gravel carrying gold in
paying quantities.
Thomas J. Lucas married Miss Lena Klof, born at Enterprise, Butte County, the daughter of
Philip Klof, the pioneer hotel- and store-keeper at
Enterprise. They have four boys and one girl. George is a bridge-builder who
works for the Swayne Lumber Company. Frank was employed by Charles Ward in the
meat business at Oroville, but is now a soldier in the United States Army;
August, at present a volunteer in the United States Navy, is a stock-raiser and
miner, at home, and is the owner of seventy-eight acres of land, with a water
right, adjoining his father’s ranch, and which he acquired from his brother
George; while Jack and Ruth are still at home. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are
interested and active in any movement for the development of the county; and to
this development Mr. Lucas has contributed in a considerable measure by his
untiring research work and experimentation.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
05 August 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1226-1227, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies