LUCAS STORY Ann 1761

They had at least four children:
1. Robert LUCAS senior (1689-1763) – my direct line. (See under)
2. William LUCAS senior (1693-) a farmer and grazier, married Frances HORDMAN in 1719 and had five children: William junior (the youngest of these) married Mary née LUCAS in 1755 at Bilsby and farmed in Louth, as did his descendants. William junior returned to Orby (where he had been born and was a churchwarden) for his three children's baptisms and later, his own burial.
William junior's eldest child, Richard married Sarah WELLS in 1778 at Saleby. He was a mercer (a dealer in fine fabrics and cloths) and had six children.
3. Ann LUCAS (1696-1696).
4. Margaret LUCAS (1699-) who possibly married William CASTLEFORTH in 1722. If so, it was their son, Lucas CASTLEFORTH, who was a grazier and churchwarden at Bilsby and where his gravestone can still be seen.

Robert LUCAS senior (my line of descendant), the eldest son of William the elder and Ann (née DINNIS), married Ann HORDMAN in 1718 at Bilsby. He was a yeoman (land-owning) farmer and made a Last Will and Testament in 1759, four years before he died.

Children:
1. George LUCAS (1719-).
2. William LUCAS (1722-1792) married Catherine BURSEY and they had four children: Frances (1751-1755); Richard (1753-1822) married Ann FENTON and their son, Thomas, (1784-1816) kept the Bluestone Tavern in Louth; Robert (1754-); and John (1756-1757).

After the death of his first wife, Catherine, William, described as a joiner, married Rebecca BROWN in 1766 at Alford. They, also, had four children: William junior (1766-1828); John (1768-1825) married Elizabeth Johnson; Hordman (1770-1824); and Charles (1774-1832) a tailor, married Elizabeth WALSOM in 1797 at Boston where he made his home and reared his children. Their grandson, Charles LUCAS (1842-1916) was an accountant who became Mayor of Boston from 1913 to 1915. He died in 1916 and on the day of his funeral, flags on municipal and public buildings were flown at half-mast.

3. Charles LUCAS (1724-1809) a farmer and grazier, married Frances DESFORGES. Her ancestors are related to the family of Elizabeth EPTON (wife of John CADE). Charles and Frances have shared a gravestone in Beesby St Andrew Churchyard since their deaths in 1809.
4. Hordman LUCAS (1728-1764) bearing his mother's maiden name, was a farmer and married Mary WILKINSON at Well, in 1751.
5. Ann LUCAS (1731-).
6. Robert LUCAS junior (1731-1821) father of Ann LUCAS, wife of John BEMROSE.
7. Lucy LUCAS born circa 1735- 1799. Because of the anomaly of her being baptised in Saltfleetby St Peter, it has not yet been confirmed that she is a daughter of Robert senior and Ann. Her first husband was William NELSEY whom she married in 1758 at Bilsby. William, a farmer, died in 1770 at Mumby. Lucy married her second husband, another farmer, Benjamin HILDRED jnr in 1771, again at Mumby.
8. Richard LUCAS (1740-1742).

Robert LUCAS junior was also a farmer and like his father, could sign his own name. Anne BATES of Bilsby had Robert junior's illegitimate child baptised on 3 September 1758; on the thirteenth of that month, Robert married her. This child, Richard Lucas BATES, adopted his father's name, became a farmer and married Elizabeth PARKER, a widow of a farmer. Richard moved to Alvingham and farmed his wife's land. They had seven children.

Anne, wife of Robert LUCAS junior, died shortly after her marriage of 1758. In the December of that year, Robert junior, the widower, married his second wife, Eleanor (née WILKINSON).

Children:
1. Ann LUCAS (1761-1846) later to become the wife of John BEMROSE, mother of Susannah (née BEMROSE) CADE.
2. Matthew LUCAS (1762-1843) bearing the name of his mother’s (Eleanor née WILKINSON) father.
3. Mary LUCAS (1764-1846).
4. Eleanor LUCAS (1765-1841). Both she and her sister, Mary, remained single.
5. Robert LUCAS the younger (1767-1850).

Robert LUCAS junior died in 1821 aged a grand old ninety years and until a few years ago, his and Eleanor's gravestone could be seen in Withern churchyard. Unfortunately, like many of these old little churches which have fallen into disrepair and then disuse, Withern St Margaret's and its churchyard were sold to a private buyer in the early 1980s.

Ann (née LUCAS) BEMROSE died on 1 April 1846, nine days after her husband, John BEMROSE senior who died on 22 March 1846. They both were interred at Willoughby churchyard.