William Vincent Lucas (July 3, 1835 – November 10, 1921) was a United States

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, within the Republican party. He served as the

State Auditor of Iowa The Iowa State Auditor is the state auditor of the Government of Iowa, United States. The office's mission is to "serve as the taxpayers' watchdog" by "ensuring that government officials use taxpayer dollars for the intended purposes to benefit t ...

; and later a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from South Dakota.

Biography

Born near

Delphi, Indiana Delphi () is a city in and the county seat of Carroll County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. Located twenty minutes northeast of Lafayette, it is part of the Lafayette, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,893 at the 2010 c ...

, Lucas moved to Iowa in 1856. At the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Lucas joined the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

, enlisting as a private, and then receiving a First Lieutenant's commission in Company B, 14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was a Captain when he was discharged at the end of the war. After returning to Iowa, Lucas served as Bremer County Treasurer from 1866 until 1872. He was editor of the ''Waverly Republican'' from 1872 to 1876, and editor of the ''Cerro Gordo Republican'' from 1876 to 1883. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. in 1878 he was appointed Chief Clerk of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

, a post he held until 1880. From 1879 to 1880 Lucas served as Mayor of Mason City. Lucas served as Iowa's State Auditor from 1881 until 1882. At the completion of his term he moved to

Chamberlain, South Dakota Chamberlain is a city in Brule County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Missouri River, at the dammed section of the Lake Francis Case, close to where it is crossed by Interstate 90. The population of Chambe ...

. Lucas became a farmer, and served as Treasurer of

Brule County Brule County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,247. Its county seat is Chamberlain. History Brule County was created on January 14, 1875, of territory partitioned from Charles Mix County ...

from 1888 to 1890. When the Soldiers Home in

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

was constructed in 1890, Lucas was appointed the first commandant with the rank of Colonel, and he served from 1890 until 1894. In 1892 Lucas was elected to Seat B, one of South Dakota's two at-large seats in the

, and he served one term, March 4, 1893, to March 3, 1895. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894, and served as a Delegate to the 1896 Republican National Convention. In 1897 Lucas moved back to Chamberlain, where he served as Register of the United States Land Office until 1901. Lucas served as commandant of the Hot Springs Soldiers Home again from 1901 to 1903. In 1904 Lucas moved to

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

, where he lived in semi-retirement while writing a column, Pen Points, for the ''Santa Cruz Sentinel''. He was active in the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

. In addition, letters Lucas submitted for publication to the Waverly Democrat in Iowa were compiled and published as 1918's ''Pioneer Days of Bremer County, Iowa''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Lucas was a Four Minute Man, one of thousands of volunteers who made speeches in support of the war effort. In addition, he served as a member of Santa Cruz's draft board. Lucas died in Santa Cruz on November 10, 1921. He was buried at Oakwood Memorial Park in Santa Cruz, California.

References

*
William V. Lucas
' at Santa Cruz Public Library 1835 births 1921 deaths People from Delphi, Indiana People from Mason City, Iowa Union Army officers State Auditors of Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota Burials in California People from Chamberlain, South Dakota Military personnel from Iowa {{SouthDakota-politician-stub