The first person in the United States of the name of TUCKER, of whom I have seen any authentic account, was RICHARD, who came from England in 1632, in company with an individual called George Cleeves. The place or town from whence they came is unknown to me. These two persons purchased, in 1637, of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the proprietor, that whole neck or tract of land upon which the present city of Portland, Maine, is built; they thus being the first settlers of said place.[1] Richard was living there in the year 1645.[2]
From Farmer's great work[3] I copy the following:--
"TUCKER, JOHN, Hingham, at an early period. JOHN married Mary Richardson, of Newbury, in 1676. EPHRAIM and MANASSEH were admitted freemen in 1678. ROBERT, of Weymouth, in 1639. ROBERT was Representative of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1680 and 1681. ROGER, of Salem, died about 1661."
We find JOHN TULKER, or TUCKER (name spelt both ways on different records,) living at and owning land in Hingham, Mass., previous to the drawing of house-lots there, September 18, 1635.[4] He was married, at Hingham, to Widow Norton, in June, 1649, by Rev. Peter Hobart.[5]
GEORGE TUCKER, aged twenty-two years, was among the passengers to be transported (conveyed) to Virginia, imbarqued in the Safety, of London, John Grant, master. August 1, 1635; he having been examined by the Minister of Gravesend, as to his conformitie to the discipline of the Church of England, and having taken the oath of allegeance and supremacie.[6]
THOMAS TUCKER, aged twenty-one years, imbarqued in the Globe, of London, Jeremy Blackman, master, for Virginia, August 7, 1635.[7]
JOHN TOOKER, or TUCKER, was one of the fifty-five original proprietors of the town of Brookhaven, Long-Island, New-York, in 1655. He came from the vicinity of Boston.[8]
Married at Boston, in March, 1658, by Rev. Peter Hobart, JOHN TUCKER, and Elizabeth Hobart, of Hingham, Mass.[9]
HANNAH TOOKER, (daughter of JOHN, of Brookhaven, Long-Island,) and Richard Smith, of Smithtown, Long-Island, were married, June 20, 1670.[10] She had a sister, RUTH, who married Daniel Smith, before 1680, and had three children.[11]
Among those admitted freemen of Massachusetts, were:--JOHN TUCKER, of Portsmouth, N.H., admitted February 21, 1675-6; JOHN TUCKER, of Hingham, Mass., May 23, 1677; EPHRAIM TUCKER, of Milton, Mass., May 8, 1678; MANASSES TUCKER, of Milton, May 8, 1678; MEROS TUCKER, of Salisbury, Mass., April 18, 1690.[12]
At the valuation of the rateable estate belonging to Brookhaven, New-York, in 1675, against the name of JOHN TOOKER, Sen., is set down--6 oxen, 7 cows, 5 three-year-old. 1 two-year-old, 3 yearlings, 1 horse, 18 swine, 15 sheep, and 20 acres of land and meadows. At another valuation of the same estate, in 1683, JOHN TOKER, Sen., had 4 oxen and bulls, 4 cows, 5 three-year-old. 4 two-year-old, 5 years, 6 horses, 17 swine, --sheep, and 36 acres of land and meadows. JOHN TOOKER, Jr., had 1 horse, 3 cows, 2 three-year-old, 1 two-year-old, 1 hog, and 5 acres of land and meadows.[13]
JOHN TUCKER and Sarah Riggs were married May 9, 1681. (See Essex Court Records, Gloucester, Mass.)[14]
JOSEPH TUCKER was ensign to the Foot Company in Brookhaven, Long-Island, in 1700.[15] He was probably a descendant of JOHN TOOKER, Sen., on the of the first settlers of Brookhaven.
Mr. Barber[16] says, shipbuilding was commenced in Saybrook, Conn., about 1720, by JOHN TUCKER.
The settlement of Sandown, N.H., was commenced about the year 1736, by MOSES TUCKER and others.[17]
Many of the above-named individuals were undoubtedly the ancestors of the greater portion of the TUCKER family, now resident in the United States of America; and although I am unable to find the connecting link between any one of them and that branch of the family to which I belong, still, perhaps, at no far distant day, some one may be lucky enough to demonstrate the connexion existing between. It was for this reason that I collected for the foregoing facts, supposing they might serve as the nidus for further researches on this very interesting subject.
Footnotes
[1] Hayward's New-England Gazetteer, 12mo. Boston: 1839.
[2] New-England Historic-Genealogical Register, 8vo. Boston: 1848-50.
[3] Farmer's Genealogical Register of the Early Settlers of New-England, 8vo. Lancaster, Ms.: 1829.
[4] New-England Historic-Gen. Reg.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] New-England Historic-Genealogical Register.
[8] Thompson's History of Long-Island, 2 vols., 8vo. New-York: 1843
[9] New-England Historic-Gen. Reg.
[10] Thompson's History of Long Island.
[11] Ibid.
[12] New-England Historic-Gen. Reg.
[13] O'Callaghan's Documentary History of New-York, 2 vols., 8vo. Albany: 1849.
[14] New-England Historic-Gen. Reg.
[15] O'Callaghan's Dictionary History of New-York, vol. 1, page 358.
[16] Barber's Antiquities of Connecticut.
[17] Hayward's New-England Gazetteer.
The above text is from the introduction in "A Genealogical and Historical Account of the Descendants of Henry Tucker, by George H. Tucker, M.D., June, 1861; pages vi-viii
Retyped and reformatted by: Kathy Leigh, August 1, 2001
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