The Seduction of Daniel Tucker - Chapter Two - Finding Himself

 

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.

Concord Daily Star, October 1893

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 • Thu, Apr 1, 1897Page 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 

reported that he went to Texas. 

Duncan would return to Shawnee and make his home there for at least a few years. 

1906

In the 1906 City Directory of Shawnee, Pottawatomie County,  Oklahoma, Duncan T Tucker is seen as a Helper at C R I & P Railway. He was living at 1103 East Whitaker Avenue. Just above him n the list is Adolph B Tucker, a Rivet Heater at the same company. This is Duncan's son Dolph. Dolph is living at 1101 East Whitaker Avenue. Two spaces below Duncan in the directory is a John Tucker, working in a Lab, at the same address as Duncan, 1103 East Whitaker Avenue. I'm not sure who John is, as age isn't given. It could have been his brother, John Riley Tucker. Or, perhaps, another one of his sons,  misnomered.

1907

A year later, Duncan T Tucker was still in Shawnee, and still with the same company. This time, however, he had moved to 428 South Pennsylvania Avenue. His son Adolph had moved with him, and is found at the same address. Dolph now had the job title of Apprentice. There was no mention of John Tucker. Perhaps he had returned home.

1908

By 1908, Duncan had returned to San Bernardino, California. He was working as a Boiler Maker for the Santa Fe Railroad and living at 1321 Kingman Street. Dolph was not with him.

Dolph would remain in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He had fallen in love.

Adolph Barry Tucker would marry Miss Mary Bradbury on Christmas Day 1907, in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The newspaper article explained a little bit more about what Dolph and his father had been doing in Oklahoma. Dolph had been in Shawnee about 4 years, or since about 1903, the year his father had married Becca Cook. He was an Apprentice in the Boilermaker Department for Rock Island Railway, which is what the R I must have stood for in C. R.I. and P. He was known as steady and industrious, which would not have described his father in his early years. 

Mary had been orphaned at 4 and taken in by her aunt and uncle. 

1909

As for Duncan, he appears to be settling down in San Bernardino, California.

He purchased two and a half lots in the city from Tilden H Reynolds and his wife, Laura in March of 1909.

Just to sell them back to the same couple eight months later. 

Despite missing the 1900 census, Duncan was caught by the 1910. He was boarding with a Clubb family. Forty-five, born in NC, couldn't decide on his martial status, and was a Boilermaker for a Railroad Company. Yep, that's our Duncan. It appears that he had answered Divorced and then changed his mind to widowed, and the census taker scribbled a little wd over a big D .

He also appears in the City Directory for 1910 in San Bernardino, but it basically says the same thing.

1911

Duncan remained in San Bernardino during most of the next decade. He liked to travel, however. Above, in January of 1911, he took a freighter to San Diego.

He also enjoyed visiting home, to see his sons, no doubt, among other friends and family.

Duncan appears in the 1914 - 1917 City Directories of San Bernardino, living on the same street, and always working as a boilermaker.

It was a big deal, apparently, when Duncan made a trip home.

In 1917, his visits were reported both in the Albemarle, Stanly County newspaper.

And the Concord, Cabarrus County papers. 

Perhaps Duncan was getting homesick. Perhaps he had saved up a bit of money.

Perhaps it was because he was approaching 60, but Duncan seems to have wanted to return home.

And return home he did.

 The proof is found in the deeds.

1919

Found at the Stanly County Register of Deeds, Book 61 Page 26: Duncan T Tucker paid to A F and Elmettie Hinson $1050 two tracts in Big Lick Township. The first one of 50 acres bordered John Honeycutts old line. John Honeycutt was my 4th Great Grandfather, so I know the general area. There was an exception to that tract that the widow R. P. Clark held lifetime rights to her small dowry on the property. 

The second tract was 6 7/10ths of an acre in Big Lick that met the corners of the property of TF Clark, AF Hinson and GP Burris. 

1920

Duncan T Tucker sold to D. P. Hinson for $1900, the old Charles Cagle tract of 50 acres, and the 6 and 7 tenths acre tract that bordered Clark, Hinson and Burris.

1921

April 16, 1921, Duncan purchased from G.C. Furr and wife Laura, for $2000, a tract of land in Almond and Furr Townships, of 55 acres, adjoining the properties of John H. Almond, Robert Almond and others, that began at a crossroads of Kennedy Road.

1924

In February of 1924, Duncan bought a tract of land in Big Lick from E H and Essie Burris that began at a stake on the Charlotte - Albemarle Road and ran down the old Cagle line adjoining the property of Milly Ann Huneycutt of 6  and one quarter acres.

Later that same year, he would sale the 55 acre tract in Almond and Furr Townships to J L. Deese and wife Martha for $2500 acres.

That would be the end of his land transactions.

Duncan had left Stanly County a deleteriously recalcitrant young man of 29.  He had returned a successful and peaceful aging man of 59, now equipped with military self-discipline and 30 years of honing a profitable skill.  Duncan T Tucker was home.

His story was not finished. Stay tuned for Chapter Three, the last chapter of the Seduction of Duncan T Tucker.