| Notes |
- Henry Tucker was born in Maryland in 1744, the son of Henry Tucker and Anna Thompson. He and his brother, John, moved to Monongalia County in 1774. Both Henry and John enlisted in the Revolutionary War and served as Indian spies, scouting the land and waters from the Monongahela River to the Ohio River.
On September 22, 1832, at the age of 88, Henry Tucker testified under oath that he was first stationed at Fort Coons on Booth's Creek (the west fork of the Monongahela River) under the command of Captain James Booth. He extensively traversed the Ohio River, Monongahela River, Bingammon Creek, Buffalo Creek, Ten Mile Creek, and Middle Island Creek (present-day Doddridge County). He was frequently successful in the discovery of Indian signs and apprising settlements of approaching danger. He suffered much hardship and inconvenience from fatigue and hunger. On one occasion, after being unsuccessful at procuring game, he subsisted solely on tree buds for six days. After his captain, James Booth, was killed, he re-enlisted and was at various times under the command of Joseph Gregory, James Tibbs and Thomas Pindal.
Henry was present for at least two Indian raids. When Captain James Booth was murdered, Henry helped track down the Indians that killed him. And in 1787 when a band of Indians murdered and captured members of the Dragoo and Straight families in present-day Marion County, Henry and other Indian scouts were sent out to capture the offenders.
On November 1, 1831, Henry was assigned 70 acres that were situated on Nutters Fork, in Doddridge County, at that time still Tyler County, Virginia. His land abutted the property of Benjamin Knight. He was living on Nutters Fork at the time he made the above sworn statement and gives the names of his neighbors as character references, They were Captain Nathan Davis, Ephraim Bee and Squire Sayers. Captain Nathan Davis was the founder of West Union and Ephraim Bee was a prominent Doddridge County blacksmith and politician.
Henry's will was written on September 14, 1834, and probated at the January 1835 Court term in Tyler County, (W)VA. It was probated in Tyler County because Doddridge County had not yet been formed. His place of burial is unknown, but he is most likely buried at the Kinney Family Cemetery on Nutters Fork. He was the grandfather of Susannah Tucker, the mother of Luke Jacos children, who my last two articles were about. Some of Henry Tuckers descendants who still live in Doddridge County include the Knights, Dotsons, Stinesprings and Kinneys.
SOURCE: The foregoing was written by Jennifer Wilt for her ongoing newspaper column "The REAL History of Doddridge County" and is based on her own research, principally of National Archives records available on the Fold3 website. It originally appeared as part of a copyrighted article in a July 2017 issue of The Doddridge Independent and is used here with her permission.
|
1744 - 1834 (~ 90 years)
