Elizabeth Lucas (abt. 1625 - 1685)

Born about 1625 in England

Descendants

Died 1685 at about age 60 in Bunbury, Cheshire, England

Biography

Elizabeth was born about 1625. The seventeenth century in England was a time of great turmoil , social upheaval and changes in the way England was ruled.

At some point she went to live in Bunbury, Cheshire. The village of Bunbury has existed for many centuries and was mentioned in the Doomsday book. The major sources of employment in the area were farms, dairying, or as a servant in one of the Halls which existed at the time.

Elizabeth Lucas was born in Cheshire, England.

St Boniface is the principal church of Bunbury parish and is a magnificent sandstone building, several features Elizabeth would have known and admired are still present today including twelve painted figures from a former parclose screen of around 1450, which include Saint Catherine, Saint Apollonia, and Saint Anthony of Egypt; they were restored in 1988 and are currently mounted along the south wall.^[1]

England went through great tumult in the mid 1600s and Cheshire saw brother turned against brother, father against son during the English Civil War. The civil war(s) was a series of armed conflicts and political plotting and scheming that took place between the Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads) and the Royalists (known as Cavaliers) between 1642 and 1651. The first (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) civil wars had the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.^[2]

Several "battles" took place in Cheshire relatively close to Bunbury during this time period. (Battle of Nantwich (Acton) and Battle of Rowton Moor (Chester)). As news traveled very slowly at this time many people would have been unaware of exactly what was happening though news of the battle fought at Acton church would have reached Bunbury and district and would have caused consternation. Cheshire was predominantly a Royalist county and hence there would have been much unrest following the execution of King Charles 1 in January 1649 for treason. ^[3]

Following the execution of the KIng, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England. He effectively ruled England from 1649 until 1660. ^[4]

Cromwell was a very strict Puritan and wanted further reformation of the Protestant church saying that the Catholic ways needed to be removed from the practice of the faith. Puritans advocated greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and corporate piety. Puritans were similar in outlook to Calvinists. He was greatly hated in Ireland following the extreme savagery used against Catholic soldiers ( supporters of King Charles the Second ) and civilians at Droghera and Wexford. ^[5]

Cromwell's government divided the country into 11 districts, each under a major general, who were responsible for tax collection and justice, and for guarding public morality. Church attendance was compulsory. Seemingly all forms of entertainment available at the time were forbidden as horse racing and cockfights were banned, plays were prohibited, gambling dens and brothels were closed, as were many alehouses. Drunkenness and blasphemy were harshly dealt with. ^[6]

It is in this period of time that Elizabeth Lucas and Richard Lucas were married. They had a son also named Richard Lucas in 1654.^[7]

in 1660, following the death of Oliver in 1659 and the failure of his son Richard to rule effectively, Parliament offered to restore the monarchy if Charles would agree to concessions for religious toleration and a general amnesty. Charles agreed to these proposals. He returned to London on a wave of popular support to be crowned Charles II (1660-85). Following the return of Charles came a relaxation of the strict Puritan morality of the previous decades. Theatre, sports, and dancing were revived.

in 1663 the Great Plague of London occurred, with thousands of deaths in a very short space of time . The rich fled London though they were shunned when they returned to their country homes. Richard and Elizabeth may have learnt of this months after it happened.

This was followed in 1666 by the Great Fire of London where many buildings and dwellings were destroyed . Christopher Wren drew up plans to rebuild London which King Charles II liked but could not afford, so Wren was charged with rebuilding the churches and eventually Saint Paul's Cathedral was built. ^[8]

Richard, her husband died in 1671 and was buried in Bunbury parish. Elizabeth lived a further fourteen years and was buried in November 1685.

Research notes

Neither birth nor death records were kept at this time so baptisms/christenings and burial dates are used as proxies.

Elizabeth was born in the 1600s possibly in Cheshire though a christening record has not been found either in Cheshire or elsewhere.

There is a marriage recorded in 1657 in Holy Trinity , Coventry, Warwick, England between a Richard Lucas and an Elizabeth Drackford. A search of the Cheshire records had failed to identify any such a marriage. The date of this marriage is after the birth of their son, Richard. From the 12th to 17th century the practice of "handfasting" was common - where couples pledged their troth to one another . This was usually followed soon after by a Church ceremony - a wedding. Whether Richard and Elizabeth undertook handfasting and then for some reason were delayed in having the Church wedding is not known. In English law at that time handfasting was as legally binding as a wedding in Church.

Sources

1. ↑ BunburyInformation
2. ↑ Civilwar
3. ↑ Cheshireviewofthewar
4. ↑ Cromwell
5. ↑ Cromwellmore
6. ↑ Puritans
7. ↑ HandFasting
8. ↑ FireandPlague

Christening of son Richard

• "England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F739-44Y : 7 December 2017), Richard Lucas, 20 Sep 1654, Christening; citing , , Bunbury, Cheshire, England, Record Office, Chester; FHL microfilm 2,093,576.

Marriage record

• England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NN3T-MYN : 10 February 2018), Richard Lucas and Elizabeth Drackford, 1657; citing Holy Trinity, Coventry, Warwick, England, reference 2:251SDC5, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,657,254.

Burial of husband Richard

• "England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F73S-GQ8 : 7 December 2017), Richard Lucas, 10 Feb 1671, Burial; citing , , Bunbury, Cheshire, England, Record Office, Chester; FHL microfilm 2,093,576.

Burial record

• "England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F36M-KPJ : 7 December 2017), Elizabeth Lucas, 18 Nov 1685, Burial; citing item 2 p 57, , Bunbury, Cheshire, England, Record Office, Chester; FHL microfilm 2,093,505.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Gordon Stewart for creating WikiTree profile Lucas-1952 through the import of My Ancestry tree..ged on Feb 15, 2013.

Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Gordon and others.