The following reminiscences were written by Anna Eliza (Whidborne) Elverson, grandaughter of James Lucas.  Anna Eliza lived from 1851 to 1934, and I suspect these notes were written rather late in life.  The originals are currently in the possession of ??? [Check with Devitt Elverson in New York].

FAMILY NOTES BY
ANNA ELIZA (WHIDBORNE) ELVERSON

My grandfather James Lucas married Mary Green, an orphan who was left in the care of her uncle and aunt. The only thing I ever heard of her girlhood was that once she had expressed a desire for some object and her aunt said “Well my dear, if you want it, you ought to have it, for all belongs to you!”

She had a large family, all girls but the last one. Two died when the eldest, my Aunt Eliza was but fourteen years old.

My Aunts Maria and Mary have always spoke of her with great reverence. She seems to have been very capable. The last born daughter, my Aunt Sarah was born a healthy child. She had whooping cough when quite an infant and was laid out three times. She however recovered but unfortunately, she never grew tall or clever and this appointment and anxiety caused her mother’s death.

My grandfather was given a ship in his uncle’s merchant service, but when my grandmother died, she made him promise not to marry again, not to go sailing again, but to stay home and bring up his half orphan children.

Perhaps she foresaw the necessity of this. For one of their friends became very kind to the eldest girl (only Fourteen) and proposed that my grandmother’s jewels and clothes be given for a time into her charge to be taken care of until my aunt grew up. From that time , they all entirely disappeared. Some lady, probably the same, as good as proposed to my grandfather, but he politely refused, he said he  had loved his first wife too much to ever take a second. They lived in a house called the Conical House at Loampit Hill and seem to have enjoyed it as there was a nice garden. The little girl, my Aunt Jane, seems to have been a great character. She was full of fun. The writing master rebuked her for some childish fault, but found it hard to keep his gravity when she bravely patted his head saying “My son, my son, hold thy peace and go thy ways.” When she was about nine, she died very suddenly. In her diary, they found that she had written her birth  Jane Lucas: born___ died___ the right month. No one knows what put the thought in her little mind.

My grandfather had a favorite godson. He was out at sea, and asleep, sitting in his cabin. Someone came in and was startled to see his godson bending over him. They noted the time exactly and afterwards it was found that the young man had died at that very hour.

My great-great uncle was a man of great wealth. He had no children and his property all descended to my Great-uncle John. He married and I think, had no children, or at any rate, none that lived. Of his nephews, he liked my grandfather the best and it was arranged that my Aunt Mary Anne should live with him. They lived partly at Worthing; the house was called Heane House. The rest of the year, they lived near London at Tooting. The property there, which was very large, was eventually very foolishly sold.

When Uncle John died, he left his property between my Uncle James and Joseph Lucas, but I think that Uncle James had the largest share. My aunt Mary Anne spent all her youth with Uncle John. She was devoted to him, admiring him and all that he did. We always think that he only half appreciated her unselfish affection. He only gave her a very small dress allowance, but out of that little, she used to spare some to help a poor sick woman who died in great misery. She was always most generous to everyone, not only of money (I am glad to say that my Uncle James gave her a large share of his great wealth) but also of her kindness. For instance, when my father died at the Priory, my mother, grandmother and all of us children were taken in, and my Aunt Mary Anne had beds made on the floor for my mother and for me. It must have been most inconvenient for her, but her own comfort or convenience was not a thing she ever considered at all. She was the kindest of aunts to us.

My aunt Maria was the cleverest of her family, and I suppose the most beautiful. She had a lovely clear complexion, regular features and curly dark hair. Unfortunately, a friend had been seeing someone ill of small pox and she shook hands with my poor aunt. She mentioned that she had only just left the invalid. My poor Aunt Maria felt a thrill of horror pass through her, and a few days later, when away from her home, she became very ill. She could scarcely get home in time to take to her bed. It was a most dreadful case of small pox. The doctor, when she was convalescent said, “My dear, if you had not been vaccinated, you would have been as rough as a brick bat.” Her great beauty was destroyed, but even so, there was enough remaining to make one realize how great it had once been. In her old age she was very bent and seemed to dwindle in size and weight. She was musical and could play by ear. Sometimes, when she came home from church, she would try to recall the voluntary. She could have played like a master, I think, if she had practiced when she was a girl. This is what she never did but took her lesson and the master seems never to have found out. She was clever and knew a lot about politics. I remember how she used to deplore the partition of Schleswig Holstein and the doings of Chamberlain and Dr. Gladstone.

My Aunt Eliza lived by herself until very late in life. She eventually married a doctor, Mr. Rushforth. She was very nervous always about her health. She died at a great age of no disease whatever.

My uncle James, the only boy and the youngest of the family, suffered, I think’ from the want of mother’s care. He lost his health when a schoolboy. He had been drilling and was very hot. The drill sergeant told all of the boys to take off their coats for coolness. This foolish step ruined my uncle’s health. He got inflammation of the lungs and soon afterwards, went into a decline.

He was sent to Devonshire to be educated by a clergyman-my father. This led to my father meeting my mother, and he very soon fell in love.

My uncle James never married, but lived at the Priory, Westbury on Trym with his three sisters, Aunt Maria, Aunt Mary Anne and Aunt Sarah. When he died, his great wealth was divided between Aunt Maria, Aunt Mary Anne, Aunt Eliza and my mother.  Also he left my brother 500 pounds a year.

All of my aunts and my mother left the bulk of their property to my brother, though I and my sisters were left comfortably off.

When my Uncle James grew up and became possessed of his fortune, he went to Switzerland for a tour with his two sisters Maria and Mary Anne. They took a courier and a ladies’ maid. In those days, ladies wore large bustles to set off their dresses. My aunts and their maid all filled their bustles with tea. Tea was very expensive in those days and in France an immense duty on it was exacted. Also, the tea on the continent was more like straw than tea. My aunts always looked on this piece of wickedness with great delight. I think they quite enjoyed being criminals. They went through the great St. Bernard Pass and enjoyed the hospitality of the monks. One of them they called “Father Oui”. They also went through the Mauvais Pas. It really was bad in those days, there were no railways, I believe.