This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: LUCE Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/RRB.2ACE/5992 Message Board Post: JOSHUA MARSDEN LUCE, was born in Cattaraugus County, N. Y., August 18, 1830. At the age of twenty years he removed to Kentucky, where he taught school for one year. For three years he was employed in the capacity of salesman at Nashville, Tenn. He then returned to New York and remained for two years. In March, 1857, he removed to Kansas, locating in Franklin County, and took a claim; here he opened up a farm and operated a saw-mill, and pursued other vocations. In 1861-63 he was an Indian trader and returned to his farm and continued his farming pursuits in conjunction with stock-raising which he pursued until 1877. He then opened a country store in Centropolis, and still follows that occupation. He has held various public offices. In 1858 he was Enrolling Clerk of the Territorial Council, and was afterward for a time assistant clerk of Hon. Hugh S. Walsh, Secretary of Kansas Territory, and Acting Governor in 1859; was appointed Assistant Indian Agent for the Sacs and Foxes.! In 1866 he was elected a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, and re-elected in 1870. In 1867 he was appointed Clerk in the United States Senate's Committee on Public Lands, in which capacity he served one year. He refused to pay the political assessments to the agent of the Congressional Republican Committee, and though highly complimented for his fidelity and efficiency, was politely invited to step down and out. The amount demanded was only 5 per cent of his salary, which was $2,560 per annum, or about $128. He then accepted a clerkship in the United States Treasury Department, which he resigned in less than a year and returned to his farm in Kansas. He has generally been a Democrat in political ideas, but during the war was a staunch Union man, and affiliated with the Republican party. He was married at Centropolis, August 10, 1860, to Miss Susan C. Keithley. History of the State of Kansas