This is Mazon Monday post #265. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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John McLuckie, a prominent figure in the history of Mazon Creek fossil collecting and an early member of ESCONI, was well known—along with his wife Lucy—for their extraordinary fossil collection. The two are pictured together on the left in the photo above. The photo was taken at the 1959 All-Clubs trip to Braidwood. During the 1950s and early 1960s, they hosted numerous fossil collecting trips to Braidwood for ESCONI and other rock clubs. We have a post about the 1959 trip here. John and Lucy were named honorary ESCONI members in 1957. It's said that they had several petrified Lepidodendron stumps displayed as yard decorations.
The McLuckies have three species named for them - a branch scar on the tree fern Psaronius, a spider, and an insect.
- Caulopteris mcluckie, Lucy and John McLuckie
- Curculioides mcluckei. Lucy and John McLuckie
- Mcluckiepteron luciae, Lucy McLuckie
John is pictured below at "George Langford Night" on June 13th, 1958, which commemorated the release of Langford's first book "The Wilmington Coal Flora from a Pennsylvanian Deposit in Will County, Illinois".
In this photo, George Langford is writing an incription in a book for John!
The acticle below is from the March 1952 edition of the newsletter... How many of you would love to visit the McLuckie's this spring!
The McLuckie house in the 1950s in Coal City, IL.
Truly One Of The Finest!
If you were riding around the Strip Mining country of Illinois on a Sunday afternoon, you might pass thru Coal City and along a shady street with attractive small houses, most of them painted white. There would be nothing to distinguish this small house, painted white, attractive, comfortable looking, with a well kept garden in the back, but if it's McLuckie's, stop! Get out and walk around toward the back, and Wow there's a concretion that looks like the tire from a B-24! Along the flagged court in the rear are petrified trees and stumps, and more concretions; now you are really excited! Walk down the basement steps and there is the Rosetta Stone!! Well, if it isn't a Rosetta stone, what is it; it, too, unlocked the secrets of the past way down in the earth! Mr. McLuckie says it came up in a shovel, and he saved it and brought it to where we all may look at it.
There is a table with a guest book to sign, filled with many interesting names, books and pamphlets on the lore of this wonderful country of the Fossil Forests and a book of excellent photographs of many fossil finds. Along the wall, not too far from the stationary tubs, is a case of beautiful specimens of leaves and stems, horseshoe crabs, shrimps or shrimp-like animals, sharks' eggs (am I right?), and hung on the wall above, another case filled with rare and wonderful finds. There is a magnifying glass so you may study them carefully. Another case holds many more. Some are for trading purposes and if you look longingly enough, Mr. McLuckie may give you one. Mr. & Mrs. McLuckie really know their collection and told us many interesting facts about it. They were most generous with their time and patient with my amateur status, and I was glad to hear him say, "They are all worth keeping, you can use them for trading with collectors far off who do not have access to our Strip Mines."
As I write this it is cold and snowing but I know out there waiting for me are beautiful ferns, calamites, sigillarias, annularias hundreds of them, but since they have been there for about a quarter of a billion years, they will probably be there when spring comes and I can again visit the wonderful Mazon Creek region and McLuckie's basement.
Wylma Kromwell (Mrs. w. B.) Kelly
Photos from the inside of their house.
John McLuckie passed away 58 years ago on April 10th, 1963 at the age of 70. The following page appeared in the May 1963 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. From the stories We've heard, he was greatly missed!
JOHN M. McLUCKIE HAS LAID DOWN HIS ROCK HAMMER.
For many years the name of John McLuckie has often been mentioned in almost the same breath as fern fossils. For John, with the help of his wife Lucy, had spent much of his spare time collecting the nodules and had a very outstanding collection. Several variations were named for John and his wife.
Even more wonderful was his generosity in helping both those just starting to collect and those very much advanced. Many of us in ESCONI are indebted to him for his many kindnesses. Because of the great help he gave ESCONI, he and his wife were made honorary members in 1957.
Many are the individuals and groups that were invited into their home to see their collection and to talk "fern fossils". John liked above all to hunt, find, and talk about these fossils. As operator of the "big shovel" many years he had an advantage and a pleasure in seeing many mammoth remains and impressions of ancient life revealed.
John left us April 10, 1963 after a long illness. He was born September 18, 1893 in Carbon Hill and lived his entire lifetime in Coal City.
He will be greatly missed.
ESCONI gave Lucy a memorial for John in June 1963. Jim and Silvia Konecny along with Tony Sobolik made the presentation.
The McLuckie fossil collection was donated to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 1989. A few pictures of their collection can be found here. Some of the pictures below are from their website,
