Life History

Notes

• I am reproducing here the excellent documentation gathered by Mary Nell Burnett on William Tucker.  Many salient details of William and Mary's life are presented here.  Note that one of the witnesses of William Tucker's will was Miles Knowlton, who later married William's widow Mary.  The will was made just one day before William's death.
  
  •Name: William TUCKER
  •Sex: M
  •Change Date: 17 NOV 2009
  •Birth: BET 1803 AND 1810 in Younger Creek, Hardin County, Kentucky
  •Death: 17 JUL 1834 in Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Residence: 15 OCT 1827 Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Census: BET 01 JUN 1830 AND 22 SEP 1830 Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Will: 16 JUL 1834 Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Note: His will was filed with the county clerk two weeks after his death.
  
  •Event: Journal Conclusion 29 MAR 1835 Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Note: Seven months after Williams death, Mary filed a preemption claim with the goverment in order to keep the land that he had first settled on in 1822. She filed the claim on behalf of her minor children, Narcissa, Harden, Mississippi, Augusta and Nelson Tucker, heirs of her late husband, William Tucker.
  
  •Event: Newspaper Article 16 MAR 1830 Arkansas
  •Note:  Arkansas Gazette, March 16, 1830
  No. 12 - Whole No. 532
  JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
  The following is an official list of the JUSTICES OF THE PEACE elected by joint vote of the General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, on the 7th day of November 1829.
  PHILLIPS COUNTY, Mooney township, Austin Kendrick, sen., Jehiel Ashley, William Tucker, Dodson Tharp, Thomas Bland, William Ritchey.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro BEF 1803
  •Note:  William Tucker, A Forgotten Settler of Phillips County, Arkansas
  
  There are many men and women whose names are recorded in the pages of Arkansas's history. This honor having been granted to them in recognition for their contributions or achievements. They come from all walks of life, explorers, trailblazers, pioneers, inventors, writers, actors, generals and presidents. When we hear their names mentioned, we know who they were and what they did to make their mark on history. Then, there are those whose names have never been known to us, they have been come lost in the dusty pages of time. They came to Arkansas for many different reasons, but most came for the chance of a new life and the most prized commodity of all, a chance to own their own land.
  
  They were a hardworking group of people who came from all over and from all walks of life. They cleared the land, planted their crops, and raised their families. Those who lived on the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers tried to tame these great rivers, the fought the elements and a Civil War. Through it all they persevered. They built communities and became part of them. The communities became towns, some prospered some did not. Some of these men and women went on to have their names remembered, some did not. William Tucker was such a man.
  
  William Tucker was born and raised in the Younger Creek area of Hardin County, Kentucky. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is believed he was born about 1805. He was the fifth child born to Nathan and Permelia ( Cheney ) Tucker. His parents had emigrated to Hardin County, Kentucky from Harrison County, Virginia about 1800. Nathan Tucker, Sr., is found on the tax rolls of Hardin County every year from 1801 until 1833 when his names disappears from the rolls.
  
  Nathan and Permilia were the parents of 6 known children, William was the youngest of their 3 sons. Not much is known of his early years. Both of his brother names appear on the Hardin County tax rolls after they reach the age of 21, William's name does not. The only time his name appears in any of the records of Hardin County is when he marries in 1825.
  
  •Event: Tax List Hardin County, Kentucky
  •Event: Journal Intro 1823 Mississippi Township, Arkansas County, Arkansas
  •Note: He appeared on the Sherriff's census in 1823, in Mississippi Township, Arkansas County, Arkansas.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro DEC 1822 Territory of Arkansas
  •Note: There are other records to prove that William had moved to Arkansas about 1822. William's name appears in a court suit in Arkansas for "Trespassing on Public Lands". The suit was dismissed in May 1823. Trespassing was common practice.
  •Residence: 29 NOV 1829 Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Residence: 05 NOV 1831 Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Residence: 09 AUG 1833 Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Residence: 11 DEC 1833 Phillips County, Arkansas
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 02 JUN 1827 Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Note:  This is known from a land deed. This is the first time that William's name appears in the Phillips County deed books. The deed is a quit claim deed from Jared Nelson. No description of the land is given. It reads:
  "Know all men by these present, that I Jared Nelson of the Territory of Arkansas and County of Phillips for and in consideration of the sum of Four hundred dollars, to me in hand paid the receipt where of I do hereby acknowledge, have remised, released and forever quit claim unto the Sd William Tucker his heirs and asigns forever all the right, title, interest property property Estate and demand which I the said Jared Nelson have in and to or ever had to a certain improvement whereon Wm Tucker now lives, to have and to hold the Sd premise, with all the premises and appurtenances unto him the Sd William Tucker his heirs and asigns forever so that neither I the Sd Jared Nelson or any other person or persons in my name or behalf shall or will hereafter claim or demand any right title to the premises aforesaid or any part thereof, but they and every of them shall by these premises be excluded and forever barred in witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal this 2nd day of June 1827."
  Test. Jared Nelson
  Josiah Twedell
  Territory of Arkansas
  County of Phillips
  ~~~~~ I George W. Ferebee Clerk of the Circuit Court of Said County do Certify that the foregoing instrument of writing is a true copy from the original filed in my office for record on the 18th day of February A.D. 1830, and recorded the same day. Geo. W. Ferebee Clerk & Ex~Official Recorder.
  
  A search of the deed records revealed no other entry for a Jared Nelson and his name does not appear on the 1830 census for Phillip's County. If there was a relationship between the two men, this deed does not give any clue as to what it may have been. It's possible that the connection is the man who was the wittiness for the deed, Josiah Twedell. He was a cousin to William's wife, Mary. Mary's father Benjamin Twedell had a sister Sarah, who married a James Nelson in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 07 AUG 1820 Little York Township, Hardin County, Kentucky
  •Note: William was most likely living in his fathers household in the 1820 census. There were two males listed in the age 10 to 16 column and two males listed in the 16 to 21 column. If he was born between 1803 and 1810 this would place him in the 10 to 16 age column. William's name is never listed on any of the Hardin County tax rolls, the names of his brothers, Nathan Tucker, Jr. and Thomas Tucker do appear on the rolls as soon as they turn twenty-one.The only explanation for the absence of his name on the tax rolls is that he must left home before he turned of age to be taxed.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 1822 Phillips County, Territory of Arkansas
  •Note: Sometime between 1820 and 1822 William has moved to Arkansas.This information comes from his wife, Mary Tucker. Shortly after William's death in 1834, his widow Mary files a pre-emption claim with the federal government.
  
  In it she states;
  "The petitioner sets forth in her petition, and proves the facts to be true by several citizens, that, in the year 1822, her husband, William Tucker, settled on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, in the county of Phillips, and Territory of Arkansas. He continue to reside there on, and made considerable improvements, until his death, the 16th of July, 1834, that when her husband first settled on said land, it was not surveyed, and when the country was surveyed, the improvement of aforesaid was on the 16th section of the township.The petitioner prays that she may be permitted to enter the land she resides on as a pre-emption right under the different acts of Congress, securing to the settlers on public lands a preference of entering their improvements and etc. The petition refers to several cases were Congress has extended the like privileges to other citizens. The committee fully acknowledges the principal, that whosoever so what should be permitted to reap, but they deny the principal, that if Congress has once errred, that is right to continue in error. The committee in examining into the grants of the United States, of the sixteenth section in each township of the public lands, have come to the following conclusion; That all said grants of the sixteenth section are given to the township for common schools for the instruction of children forever. Your Committee believe there is a vested right in the township for a particular specified purpose, and that neither Congress, the State or Territory in which the land lies, nor the citizens of the township, can appropriate said sixteenth section to any other purpose than that specified in the grant. Your committee believed that it would be but a Justice to the petitioner and her children to permit her to enter a quarter section of other land in lieu of the land she resides on, and therefore report a bill."
  
  •Event: Journal Intro BET 1827 AND 1853 Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Event: Journal Intro 16 JUL 1834 Mooney Township, Phillips County, Arkansas
  •Note: "On this sixteenth day of July A. D. 1834 William Tucker of the County of Phillips, in the Territory of Arkansas being in A low State of health, And believing that he was about to depart this life And being of Sound Mind, made and declared, the following as his last Will and Testament (to wit) He gave and bequeathed to his wife Mary Tucker, All his estate both personal and real during her Widowhood. And in the event of her again marrying, he gave and bequeathed to her One third part, of his said estate, And the services of Negro Man Charles, during her natural life. He further stated that it was his wish, that his Sons, should be well educated And that his wife Mary Should be Sole Executrix of this his last will and Testament."
  
  The above will was made in the last sickness of William Tucker at his residence in the County of Phillips, And it was made the day before the death, of the Said William Tucker, And at the time of making it, he called upon Miles Knowlton and John W. Cooper to bear testimony that it was his last will. Sworn to and Subscribed before me this 5th day of August 1834, N. N. W. McHenry, Clerk, Miles Knowlton and John W. Cooper.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 31 DEC 1822 Arkansas County, Arkansas
  Tuesday Evening, February 4, 1823
  Vol. IV No. 7 ---- Whole No. 163
  Remaining in the Post Office at Arkansas, Ark. on the 31st December 1822, which if not taken out within three months, will be sent to the General Post Office, as dead letters.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 31 DEC 1826 Arkansas
  •Note: Tuesday, February 6, 1827, Vol. VIII - No. 6 - Whole No. 370, LIST OF LETTERS REMAINING in the Post Office at the Mouth of White River, A.T., December 31, 1826. Tucker, William.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 31 MAR 1826 Arkansas
  •Note: Tuesday, April 18, 1826, Volume VII - No. 16 - Whole No. 328, LIST OF LETTERS REMAINING in the Post Office at the Mouth of White River, A.T. 31st March 1826.
  
  Tuesday, November 6, 1827
  Vol. VIII - No. 45 - Whole No. 409
  Commissions, for the term of two years, were issued, by the Governor of the Territory of Arkansa, on the 15th October 1827, to the following persons, as JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, in and for the Townships and Counties to which their names are respectively affixed, and deposited in the Office of the Secretary of the Territory, at Little Rock.
  Phillips County, Wm. Tucker, Mooney.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro 1820 Hardin County, Kentucky
  •Note: Very little is known about William Tucker's life. The few facts that are known about his life come from the documents that were created during his lifetime and afterwards. Census, tax, land and court records help to piece together the details of his life.The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is almost certain that he was born in the area of Hardin County, Kentucky known as "Younger Creek". His father Nathan Tucker, Sr. was listed on the tax rolls of the county from 1802 until 1833 when his name disappears from the tax rolls.
  
  •Event: Journal Intro AFT 1820
  •Note: His youngest son Nelson Tucker who was enumerated in the 1880 census gave his father's birthplace as Kentucky.
  --  Mary Nell Burnett, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=52589&id=I383
  

Sources

• 1. RootsWeb ID: I383 -- William Tucker
  • Name: Name: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=52589&id=I383;;
• 2. RootsWeb ID: I384 -- Mary Twedell
  • Name: Name: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=52589&id=I384;;