When we left off with Duncan Tucker, he had been thrown in jail for abandoning his wife, escaped, and shot in the back for escaping. The year was 1891, and it was not a good one for Duncan T. Tucker, now aged 29. But things were about to change.
My first post on Duncan Tucker can be found here: The Seduction of Duncan Tucker . Before he had hit 30 years old, Duncan, from the wild and wooly community of Big Lick, in Stanly County, North Carolina, a village named for a natural salt lick, Duncan had already had a full and chaotic life. He had been married and widowed in the same year. He had fathered three sons by three women he had not married, in relationships that lasted no more than two years. He had been brought to court for the charges of Retailing and then Seduction. He was forced to marry a second time and became the father of a fourth son. The marriage was not a happy one.
Duncan had been arrested for abandoned that wife, and after escaping from jail, a posse went in search and finding him, shot him in the back. The Community of Big Lick was vociferously opposed to that action and came to the aid of their friend, Duncan T. Tucker, the Cassanova of Big Lick. Duncan was a peaceful man, and beloved in his community, despite being the love them or leave them type.
Duncan recovered from his wounds and his friends raised $300 in pure gold to get him out of jail. The three men involved in hunting him down and shooting him were charged with that cowardly act. What would Duncan do after that?
Why, he got the hell out of Dodge, well, out of Big Lick, to be factual.
Daily Concord Standard
Concord, North Carolina • Page 1 |
April 1, 1897
Duncan had been living in Winnsboro, South Carolina and returned to Stanly County to visit. He had made some decisions in life, and it was about this time that he may have found his calling.
1898
First, duty called. Duncan T. Tucker served as a Private, Second North Carolina Infantry, in the Spanish American War.
1899
Name | Duncan T Tucker |
---|---|
Age | 43 |
Birth Date | abt 1857 |
Residence Date | 1900-1910 |
Street Address | 1184 Spruce St., San Bernardino, Cal |
Residence Place | San Bernardino, California, USA |
Party Affiliation | Republican |
Occupation | Boilermaker Helper |
After the War, it appears that Duncan relocated to San Bernadino, California. He would be back and forth to California for a while. He had found work as a Boilermaker Helper.
This was so different from the cavalier Romeo that was Duncan T Tucker in his twenties. This new Duncan was seeing the world, gaining the discipline of the military, developing a useful and career oriented skill, and jumping on the new, modern mobility that the great Railroad era provided.
Duncan would return to North Carolina, at least for awhile, but not nessarily to Stanly County. At some point and place he would meet Rebecca Cook.
1903
Rebecca Cook was born and raised in Madison County, North Carolina. Madison County is a beautiful rural area in the mountains of North Carolina and on the border of Tennesee. It was even more sparsely populated and rustic at the turn of the century than now. Sometime probably between 1900 and 1903, Rebecca met Duncan Tucker.
Rebecca
Rebecca was the daughter of William E. Cook and Virginia Freeman. Her family originated in Yadkin County, in the foothills of North Carolina. She was one of six children, all sisters, with the exception of one brother who died as an infant.
Duncan T. Tucker married Becca Cook on August 26, 1903, in the town of Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The Groom stated he was 37, and the bride 26. He was the son of Lewis Tucker, and his mother's name was Whitley. Her fathers name was William Cook and her mother's name was Freeman.
Would this be the one that took? Would this be the love story that would last? With Duncan T Tucker? Not a chance.
1905
September 3, 1905, Duncan files for a divorce against Rebecca. This time he was the Plaintiff. There may have been a reason for that.
Becca
Rebecca Cook Tucker would return to North Carolina, first not to Madison County, but to neighboring Buncombe County. Rebecca would eventually remarry and would have one daughter, Eliza, but not necessarily in that order.
Elizabeth Virginia "Eliza" Jenkins was born on April 6, 1908 in Buncombe County, North Carolina. She was supposedly the daughter of Becca and one Alfred R "Bud" Jenkins.
What is odd is that Becca married Alfred Bud Jenkins on May 6, 1917, in Buncombe County, nearly a decade later. Rebecca is found in the 1920 and 1930 census, living with Bud in her hometown of Marshall, Madison County, NC. After Bud dies in 1939, she moves in with her daughter, Eliza, who had married a Finney, and is living in Winston-Salem in Forsyth County, several counties northeast of Madison, in the central-eastern part of the state. She is found living with Eliza in the 1940 and 1950 census's and working as a Cook. Becca Cook Tucker Jenkins died on July 15, 1957, at the age of 83. Her body was returned to her hometown of Marshall for burial.
1906
Duncan had now been married three times, widowed once, divorced twice, but was still at 4 sons, some were now comng of age. So what would he do next?
The Shawnee Oklahoma paper,
Shawnee News-Herald - 16 Oct 1906 - 5
Duncan appears in the 1914 - 1917 City Directories of San Bernardino, living on the same street, and always working as a boilermaker.