The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Author: Donald R. Unman
Charles Lukens was born of the union of John Lukens and his cousin Sarah Lukens in 1744. His father John was one of the founders of the American Philosophical Society in 1766, was a noted astronomical observer and on January 20, 1784 discovered a comet subsequently known as “Lukens Comet”. John was Surveyor General of Pennsylvania from 1761 to 1775 and again from 1781 until his death in 1789.
Charles married Margaret Sanderson and lived in York County, Pa and in 1771 purchased land from his father. Charles followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Deputy Surveyor in the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna.
Charles became an active citizen of York County and on November 3rd, 1775, he was appointed to the committee of Safety. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, he along with others formed into a military company known as Associators. Charles was a Captain in the Fifth Company formed in the spring of 1776 in York County. Congress in November 1777, appointed Charles major-commissary of the military stores in the department of Carlisle. Charles later became Major of Artillery in Colonel Benjamin Flower’s Regiment. Charles brother Jesse was killed in the Revolutionary War during a raid in the Wyoming Valley. Jesse was wounded on Christmas Day, 1775 and died a few days later. Charles died in 1784.
Charles’ ancestors were Quakers and his ancestor Jan Lucken was part of the Krefeld contingent, and one of the original 33 settlers (13 families) of Germantown Pennsylvania, purchasing in 1682 their land from William Penn. They were led by Francis Daniel Pastorius a German of Winsheim in Franckenland to America in 1683.
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