According to family legend, Robert's uncle, Joseph Barnes, built a steam-powered boat long before Fulton's invention.

For his skill in recruiting troops for the Army during the increasing hostilities between England, France, and the U.S., Robert Lucas was made Captain in 1807.

[5] Lucas' political career blossomed and in 1818 he was named Speaker of the Ohio State Senate, he was succeeded in 1819 by Allen Trimble, who would also go on to be Governor.

Shortly after, around 1824, Lucas built a large brick house two miles east of Piketon, named Friendly Grove, which became an epicenter of local political activity, and still stands today.

Lucas County, Ohio, was established and named for the governor during his second term, in defiance of the Michigan Territory, which also claimed the land around the mouth of the Maumee River – thus provoking the almost-bloodless Toledo War.

William B. Conway, appointed territorial secretary by Martin Van Buren, arrived in Iowa six weeks before Lucas and thus assumed the duties of acting governor.

Lucas was often at odds with the territorial legislature, his liberal use of absolute veto power and his condescending rebukes of legislators often made him the target of acrimonious exchanges.

Conway complained to Van Buren that Lucas committed "vexatious, ungraceful, petulant, ill-natured and dogmatic interferences" with the legislature.

[10] Van Buren and the U. S. Congress responded by limiting the territorial governor’s veto power and his ability to make appointments.