Captain Henry Harrison "Harry" Tucker---

Captain Henry Harrison "Harry" Tucker

The Eufaula Republican
Eufaula, Oklahoma
Friday, March 13, 1908
Page 3 Col 1

Oklahoma City, OK -- Henry H. Tucker, Sr. died near Hobart Saturday. He was prominent figure in early history in the west, having been one of the scouts under General Forsyth who were besieged and almost massacred by a band of Cheyenne Indians under Chief Roman Nose at the battle of Arickaree, on the north fork of the Republican river, in Colorado, September 17, 1868.

The scouts were on a campaign and were surprised by the Indians. They were surrounded by more than 800 of the enemy and were forced to live nine days on cactus and horse flesh. It was in this fight that Roman Nose, one of the greatest Indian Chiefs ever known was killed, it is believed by Barney Day, afterward killed in Texas (Note: actually killed at Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand County, Colorado).

Mr. Tucker was wounded in that battle. Jack Stilwell, one of the scouts managed to crawl through the line made by the Indians and walked 150 miles to Fort Wallace, Kansas, where he asked for relief. The Indians were afterward surprised and nearly all killed. Mr. Tucker served in the Civil War and held public office in Ottawa County, Kansas

Captain H. H. Tucker, an old pioneer of Ottawa county, died near Hobart, Oklahoma, last Friday, of the grip, He was 68 years old.

H. H. Tucker was captain of a company in the 143 Ohio Volunteers, and served through the Civil War. After the war he came to Ottawa county and lived here over 30 years. During the time of the Indian troubles in 1868 he became a member of a company of fifty scouts, under the command of Col. Forsyth, for nine days stood off two thousand Indians in what is known as the battle of the Arickaree, on the north fork of the Republican river, just across the Colorado line. He was wounded in that battle..

Mr. Tucker was the father of H. H. Tucker, Jr., the manager of the Uncle Sam Oil Company, a daughter, Marion, who lives in Minneapolis, and three sons, Howard A., William L., and Dudley R., who live in Oklahoma City, where they are publishers of the Daily Pointer. He was one of the pioneer men who came to the county to stay and build it up and took great interest in things he deemed for the best interest of the community. He was a man of much more than ordinary ability and his judgment was sought in many ways to the advantage of those among whom he lived. His old friends in Ottawa county and vicinity will regret to hear of his death.

Birth: Dec. 25, 1839, Mount Gilead, Morrow County, Ohio, USA
Death: Mar. 6, 1908, Roosevelt, Kiowa County, Oklahoma, USA

Parents:
Ira Allen Tucker (1806 - 1874)
Susan Pringle Tucker (1817 - 1889)

Children:
George Ingersoll Tucker (1871 - ____)*
Susan Ella Tucker Boles (1873 - ____)*
Helen Ida Tucker (1874 - 1899)*
Marian I. Tucker (1876 - ____)*
Henry Harrison Tucker (1878 - 1959)*
Charlotte Marie Tucker (1881 - 1902)*
Dudley Rogers Tucker (1883 - 1951)*
Howard Andrew Tucker (1885 - 1959)*
William Logan Tucker (1887 - 1978)*

Spouse:
Charlotte S. Ingersoll Tucker (1847 - 1939)

Burial:
Hobart Rose Cemetery, Hobart Kiowa County, Oklahoma, USA
Plot: Block 36, Lot 2, unmarked Space 2E
Created by: Old History Buff
Record added: Jul 14, 2006
Find A Grave Memorial# 1493428

Mrs. Charlotte Ingersoll - Tucker, colorful pioneer figure who, with other members of her family, has played a prominent role in the history of the west, died at 4:45 Tuesday morning at her home at Roosevelt.

Mrs. Tucker, who was 92 years old on April 11, had lived on many other frontiers before coming to Kiowa county with her husband, the late Captain Henry H. Tucker, and their children in 1901. She had been in failing health for a number of years and was in a coma for several days before her death.

Funeral services were held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday at Roosevelt with burial in the Hobart Cemetery beside the graves of her husband and daughter, Charlotte.

The Tucker family was one of the very first of the early day settlers in Kiowa county. The settled on a homestead a half mile north of the Gladson school house and built the first claim "shanty" in that area. They helped organize Gladson district, the first school in which was taught by their daughter, Charlotte, who became ill later that year and died. Mrs. Tucker also helped organize the first Sunday school and church in the Gladson district.

Born in McHenry county, Illinois, April 11, 1847, she was the last member of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland Ingersoll who with eight children journeyed westward over the old trails which lead from the city of Chicago to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in the year of 1859. At that time, western Missouri and eastern Kansas were engaged in border warfare over the problem of slavery. The Kansas Red Legs and the Missouri bushwackers headed by Quantrill and other raiders of those days were in their prime.

Abraham Lincoln and Douglas the "little giant", staged one of their famous debates in the country schoolhouse near Crystal Lake, Illinois, and Mrs. Tucker, then a child begged her father for the privilege to attend. This rare chance was denied her because "it was not a fit thing for a little girl to attend public meetings" in those days.

Later, in days of her childhood at Fort Leavenworth, she attended the public schools and David Josiah Brewer who later became chief Justice of the United States supreme court, was her teacher. Among her classmates were the Cody children, one of whom, William, later became famous as "Buffalo Bill" the plainsman and Indian scout.

During the Civil War her father entered a Kansas regiment as did two of her brothers. Her mother died while the men were on the battle lines and it was two years before the news of death reached the front.

Following the war, the family moved to the Saline and Solomon valleys of Kansas at a time when Indian raids were a frequent thing along the western edge of the frontier. An Ohio settlement was made at Salina and among those in the colony was Captain Henry H. Tucker who in later years married Charlotte Ingersoll. During one entire winter in the Solomon valley, the Ingersoll family, along with the 16 other families composing the settlements, was protected by a log stockade fort.

During all of the days of thrilling events on the old frontier, Mrs. Tucker was often threatened with danger but always said she was not afraid. Her brothers, who were scouts censured her for the chances she took as she rode across the prairies for many miles alone in pioneer days. She was an expert horsewoman in days of her youth, a schoolteacher, public orator and writer. In the early days of the Woman's Suffrage Movement, she was tutored by Susan B. Anthony and Colonel Anthony, the famous editor of pre-Civil War days.

Among the many interesting incidents in her life, Mrs. Tucker often told her friends of attending a theatre in Fort Leavenworth where John Wilkes Booth was the star actor. During the winter of 1860, Booth was with a repertoire company that played the military city.

Her husband who died in 1908, was an Indian scout and was a first lieutenant of Co. B, 143rd Illinois, in the Civil War under Colonel John P. St. John. It was after the Indian war while he was helping organize schools in Ottawa county, Kansas, that he met Charlotte Ingersoll, teacher of one of the first schools. They married in 1870. Nine children were born to them, six of them still living.

Two of the Tucker sons, Dudley R. and Howard A. Tucker, were publishers of early day newspapers in Hobart and Roosevelt. The latter is now a freelance oil news writer and has been in Kiowa county for the past two weeks covering the oil developments here. It was by him that most of the information concerning Mrs. Tucker's interesting career was furnished.

Surviving sons and daughters include H. H. Tucker Jr., of Dallas; Howard A. Tucker, William L. Tucker and Mrs. Susan E. Boles of Oklahoma City; Dudley R. Tucker of Pauls Valley and Miss Marian I. Tucker of Roosevelt, who lived with her mother.

Copyright, 2010