William Tucker (bef. 1589 - bef. 1644)

Born before 6 Apr 1589 in City of London, Middlesex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Thompson) Tucker — married 1623 in Elizabeth City, Colony of Virginia

Descendants

Died before 16 Feb 1644 at about age 54 in Elizabeth City, Colony of Virginia

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Biography

William Tucker is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

William Tucker was a Jamestown colonist.

Overview

Captain William Tucker, merchant, adventurer, and ancient planter, was a leader and man of action in the early days of the Colony of Virginia. At various times, he was a Councilor, a Burgess, and Commandant of Kecoughton (Elizabeth City). Always, he was a shrewd and hard businessman who expected to profit from his investment in the Virginia Company of London.^[1]

Birth and Parentage

William Tucker, son of John Tucker and Alice Pelharm was born before 6 Apr 1589 in London, England.^[2] He was christened on 6 Apr 1589 at St. Nicholas Acons, London, England.^[3] He was a merchant and an investor in the Virginia Company; early in his career he became known as Captain William Tucker.

Travel to Jamestown

in 1610, Captain Tucker boarded the Mary and James and sailed to Jamestown Colony.^[4] He arrived in Jamestown when the struggling colony was still in the throes of the "starving time." We do not know how he spent the first years of his time there; we only know that he survived. He ultimately settled in Kecoughtan (Elizabeth City). He and his wife Mary are named as "living" on the list of the Living and Dead in Virginia in 1624.^[5][6]

Family

He married Mary Thompson about 1623 in Elizabeth City. Her parents were Robert Thompson and Elizabeth Harsnett, of Watton, Hertsfordshire, England.^[7][8]

The children of William and Mary Tucker were:^[9]

1. William Tucker Jr., b. 1618^[10]
2. Thomas Tucker, b. 1614/20^[10]
3. Elizabeth Tucker, b. 1624^[11]
4. Mary Tucker, b. 1626^[10]

After Mary's death, William married again, to Frances (maiden name possibly Smythe).^[10][12]

Muster of 1624/25

In 1624/25, the muster of Captain Tucker's household is shown on the census for Elizabeth City.^[11] Mary and Elizabeth, his wife and daughter, are named on the muster, as well as three of Mary's brothers: George, Paul, and William Thompson. An older brother, Maurice, had also come to Jamestown earlier than his siblings. Also listed on the muster are two African servants, Antoney and Isabell, and their child William. William is believed to be the first child of African ancestry born in Virginia.^[13]

Land Transactions

• William Tucker resided at Elizabeth City and his property was adjacent to William Claiborne's Kecoughtan plantation.^[14]
• 6 Dec 1620 Captain William Tucker patented 650 acres in Norfolk, along the James River.^[1][15] This property was sold by 1644 to Captain John Sibsey.
• 20 Sep 1624 Captain William Tucker, now commander of Kecoughton, acquired 150 acres within Elizabeth City County. This property was sold to Ralph Barlowe 18 March 1645. ^[16][17]
• 17 Oct 1628 Captain William Tucker patented 50 acres.
• 17 Nov 1628 Captain William Tucker sold the property he patented a month earlier to Thomas Willoughby.
• 1 Jun 1633 Captain William Tucker patented 100 acres in Elizabeth City.^[18]
• 6 Feb 1633 Captain William Tucker sold the 100 acres he patented eight months earlier in Elizabeth City to Lancelott Barnes.
• 14 Jul 1635 Captain William Tucker patented 200 acres in Norfolk. This property was sold to Richard Joanis in November of 1646.^[19]
• 9 Feb 1636 Captain William Tucker became a partner in Berkeley Hundred land purchase (8000 acres in Charles City County, Virginia).^[20]

Timeline of Events

• 1612, Captain William Tucker received a bequest of 10 pounds sterling from Henry Stevens, Citizen and Haberdasher of London.^[21]
• 1618 Governor Samuel Argall appointed Captain William Tucker commander of Point Comfort.
• 30 Jul 1619 Captain William Tucker of Kecoughtan became a member of the House of Burgesses, elected in the first general election.^[22]
• 1621 Captain William Tucker and Ralph Hamor went to London to see Parliament for Virginia's case in opposing the tobacco contract proposed by Sir Thomas Roe and others. William Tucker was involved in a lawsuit.
• 1621 Testimony concerning agreement to take sassafras direct from Virginia planters to London.^[23]
• After 1622 massacre, he was commissioned to lead numerous expeditions against the Indians in the upper Bay.^[1]
• 16 Jul 1622 Governor of Virginia commissioned Captain William Tucker to have absolute power & command over Kecoughtan.^[24][25]
• 22 May 1623 Captain William Tucker met with Opechancanough and other prominent Powhatan leaders.^[26] At this meeting, the Powhatan leaders were served a poisoned wine.^[27]
• 12 Jul 1623 Commission to Captain William Pierce, Captain Samuel Mathews, Captain Nathaniel West, and Captain William Tucker to raise men to attack the Indians.^[28]
• 23 Jul 1623 Captain William Tucker was assigned the attack upon the "Nansamums, & Wariscoyacks".^[29]
• 31 Aug 1623 Proclamation about payment of debts: No one shall dispose of any part of his tobacco until he has paid all his debts, whether the debt be to the Magazine, the Company, to Captain Tucker or to private individuals.
• 28 Oct 1623 Warrant to Captain William Tucker: To recruit thirty men for the defense of the colony from the plantation under his command.
• Nov 1623 Warrant to Captain William Tucker: Levy on tobacco throughout the Plantations to pay for the public debt. Levy on sassafras.^[30]
• 1623-24 Member of the House of Burgesses.^[31][32]
• 3 Mar 1625-1626, 22 Mar 1627-28 Member of the Council.^[31][32]
• 5 Apr 1627 Capt. Tucker served on the Privy Council of Governor George Yeardley.^[33]
• 18 Dec 1628 Captain William Tucker sailed for England, landing at Plymouth 2 Feb. ^[34]
• 12 May 1630 Captain William Tucker gave evidence about the poor condition of the ship Sun.^[35][36]
• 1632 & 1633 William Tucker, Thomas Stone, and Maurice Thompson in a syndicate given a right to market the entire Virginian tobacco crop.^[37]
• 1633 Examination of William Tucker of Redriffe, Surrey, Esq. aged 44, part owner of the Expedition.^[38]
• 1633 Made application to the king's privy council for renewal of the ancient charter of Virginia and for restraint of the Dutch from trade in Virginia.^[25][39]
• 18 Jun 1638 Depositions of William Tucker and William Harris against Ralph Wyatt over a quantity of tobacco brought back from Virginia in the Globe.
• 17 Sep 1638 Petition of the defendants John West, Samuel Mathew, William Tucker and others to Lord Coventry.
• ~1638 Captain William Tucker was in partnership in trade to an unnamed area with Maurice Thomson, George Thomson and James Stone.
• 1638-1641 Captain William Tucker may have been involved in Captain William Jackson's raiding voyage to the Spanish West Indies with William Pennoyer and Thomas Frere. ^[40]
• 12 Oct 1639 Captain William Tucker involved in auditing accounts between Cloberry and Claiborne. ^[41]
• 11 Oct 1642 Captain William Tucker approved as affiliant to the Committee of the House of Commons that are to go into Ireland.^[42]

Death

William Tucker passed away in 1644. It is likely that he was lost at sea off the coast of Ireland. ^{[citation needed]}

Will

On 12 Oct 1642, William Tucker wrote his will, leaving £1000 to his wife Frances, and the remainder of his estate in three parts to his children, William Tucker, Thomas Tucker, and Mary Tucker.^[10]

Notes

• From Ted Williams - It has been supposed, on internet family trees without sources, that William Tucker was the son of William Tucker and Ann Castle. There appears to be no evidence for these alleged parents, and the resulting medieval lineage is not recognized by professional genealogists.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary; Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 2007, p. 703.
2. ↑ Tucker, Norma.Colonial Virginians and Their Maryland Relatives, Ancestry.com [Database on-line]; page 1.
3. ↑ Brigg, William. The Register Book of the Parish of St. Nicholas Acons, London, 1539-1812 (Walker and Laycock, Leeds, 1890) Page 10
4. ↑ https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/maryjames.htm Partial Passenger List of the Mary and James] Research and compilation by Anne Stevens, packrat-pro.com.
5. ↑ http://www.jamestowne.org/1623-lists-of-living--dead.html
6. ↑ Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD, p. 43.
7. ↑ Saint-George, Henry, Sir, 1581-1644. The Visitation of London 1633, 1634, 1635; London, 1880-83.
8. ↑ The Visitation of Hertfordshire (accessed 6 Mar 2021)
9. ↑ Tucker, pp. 22-24.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4} Transcript of Will of William Tucker, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. United States: Virginia Historical Society., 1914., page 267
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Jester, Annie Lash., Hiden, Martha Woodruff. 1883. Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia 1624/1625, Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1625: FamilySearch International, Title No. 2058494., page 51.
12. ↑ Tucker, page 18
13. ↑ First Africans in Virginia (accessed 8 Mar 2021)
14. ↑ Tucker, page 15
15. ↑ Coldham, page 76.
16. ↑ Nugent, Nell Marion.Cavaliers and Pioneers; abstracts of Virginia land patents and grants, 1623-1800. Richmond, Press of the Dietz Print Co, 1934-1999. Page 5 (p. 61 of the viewer)
17. ↑ Nugent, page 159 (p. 219 of the viewer)
18. ↑ Nugent, page 16 (p. 72 on the viewer)
19. ↑ Nugent, page 27 (p. 83 of the viewer)
20. ↑ Nugent, page 53 (p. 111 of the viewer)
21. ↑ Tucker, page 7.
22. ↑ Tucker, page 9.
23. ↑ Coldham, Peter Wilson. All English Adventurers and Emigrants, 1609-1660, Examinations in Equity Cases, Ancestry.com. English Adventurers and Emigrants, 1609-1660 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Coldham, Peter Wilson. English Adventurers and Emigrants, 1609-1660. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2002., page 11.
24. ↑ Tucker, page 11
25. ↑ ^{25.0 25.1} Behrens/Tucker Ancestors (accessed 7 May 2021)
26. ↑ Tucker’s meeting with the Indian leaders (accessed 7 May 2021)
27. ↑ Mancall, Peter C. "Was the 1623 Poisoning of 200 Native Americans One of the Continent’s First War Crimes?" Smithsonian Magazine, 22 May 2023
28. ↑ Tucker, page 10
29. ↑ Tucker, page 11
30. ↑ Tucker, page 12.
31. ↑ ^{31.0 31.1} Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, Ed. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. p.93 (p. 121 of the viewer)
32. ↑ ^{32.0 32.1} Jamestowne Society: "Tucker/Tuckar/Tooker, William - A8108; died 1642; Elizabeth City; Kecoughtan: 1619, 1624 (Burgess); ​Corporation of Elizabeth City: 1624-25 (Burgess); 1623 (Councillor)." accessed 2 April 2021
33. ↑ Tucker, page 13
34. ↑ Tucker, page 13
35. ↑ Coldham, page 22
36. ↑ Tucker, page 13
37. ↑ Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol I, 1574-1660, page 151.
38. ↑ Coldham, page 43.
39. ↑ Tucker, page 14
40. ↑ Brenner, Robert. Merchants and Revolution,1550-1653. United Kingdom: Verso, 2003. (accessed 7 Mar 2021)
41. ↑ https://www.motherbedford.com/Muirhead/Muirhead403.htm The Isle of Kent Venture] (accessed 7 May 2021)
42. ↑ British History Online Journals of the House of Lords, Vol 5; Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1767-1830., page 395.

See also:

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 20 January 2019), memorial page for Capt William Tucker (Apr 1589–1643), Find A Grave: Memorial #12800115, citing Tucker Family Cemetery, Hampton, Hampton City, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by John R Tucker Sr. (contributor 46617407) .
• "Virginia Gleanings in England" Virginia Historical Magazine, Volume 22, page 267.
• Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 19 edited by Sir Leslie Stephen, Sir Sidney Lee. Page 1212
• Elizabeth City County Families Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Vol. V. Thompson-Yates [database on-line].