Norfolk Roots of some Canadian and American Tuck Families

According to Rye's Norfolk Families the name "Tuck" is of Roman origin. The four oldest names in Norfolk are said to be: Dack, Lack, Mack, and Tuck, from the Roman Dacius, Lacius, Macius, and Tucius. It has been supposed that these four were Roman soldiers given grants of land in what is today East Anglia when the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain about 400 A.D. at the collapse of the Roman Empire. Other authorities suggest that the name is of Danish origin, developed from Toki; still others find the name curious, and do not speculate on its origins.

When the Romans conquered Britain, the inhabitants of Norfolk, known as the Iceni, submitted quietly to Roman rule for some years. They then rose against their conquerors and were defeated. In spite of the revolt they were allowed some independence. A large part of the Norfolk land was given to the Romans to settle after the Iceni Revolt. In 62 A.D., they again revolted, this time under the leadership of Queen Boadicea, who, according to a Roman historian, raised an army of 120,000 Britons. Three Roman towns and 70,000 Romans are said to have been destroyed by this force. How big a part the Norfolk Iceni played in this revolt is impossible to say; but, after it was quelled, the county seems to have been held in complete subjection so long as the Romans remained in Britain.

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Our Earliest Traced Tucks

On June 3rd, 1726, at the font of St. Andrew's Church, Holt, Norfolk (left), Elias and Elizabeth Tuck had their twins named Joseph and Mary baptised. Their first born child was a boy whom they named William, thereby either starting, or continuing, a Tuck family tradition that the first born male always be named William, even if his father is not a William.

Joseph Tuck grew up, and on March 27, 1746 at All Saints' Church, Hempstead, right, married Elizabeth Betts. Their children were Mary (baptized Nov. 23, 1746 - buried at Bodham, August 15, 1797); Elizabeth (baptized March 20, 1747- ), Anne (baptized Dec. 22, 1751- ); William (baptized Dec. 30, 1753 - died 1844); Joseph (baptized December 12, 1756, buried October 22, 1792 ); Sarah (baptized January 18, 1756, buried February 1, 1756); Sarah II (baptized May 20, 1759, and who later married Thomas Riseborough ); Tamasin (baptized Oct. 11, 1761, buried April 9, 1762); Tamasin II (baptized October 23, 1763 - ); Thomas (buried November 28, 1766). Joseph's mother Elizabeth was buried at Hempstead September 26, 1751, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also buried at Hempstead on February 24, 1804.

Their son William settled in nearby Edgefield parish after marrying Martha Coe, daughter of Sarah Jones and Mark Coe, on April 15, 1771, in All Saints' Church, Thornage, a neighbouring village. They had seven children: Sarah, baptized January 5, 1772; William, baptized May 1, 1775; Elizabeth, born March 3, 1777, and baptized on March 30 the same year; Mary, born July 20, 1779, baptized 5 days later on July 25, and buried at the age of 18 at Hempstead on April 7, 1797; Mark, born December 24, 1780, and baptized on January 6, 1781; Joseph, born November 6, 1782, baptized November 27 the same year, and died at Little Barningham April 4, 1868; and Jonathan, who was born November 28, 1783, and baptized two weeks later on December 13.

As an adult Joseph Tuck settled in Little Barningham Parish where, on March 19, 1806, he married Elizabeth Thirtle, daughter of Robert Thirtle and Elizabeth (Lydia?) Platten, who had been baptized October 6, 1782 at Little Barningham. Witnesses at their marriage were Thomas and Sarah Wright. Joseph and Elizabeth had eight children, all of whom were born at Little Barningham: William, born August 6 and baptized August 10, 1806, who died in 1890 and was buried in Little Barningham churchyard; Charles, born in 1808 and died on May 26, 1877, in Canada; Benjamin, born April 11, 1811, and baptized the next day, April 12, who died in Canada September 18, 1891; Lydia, baptized May 30, 1813; John, baptized March 8, 1816, and died in Canada in 1874; and Mary and Robert (twins), who were baptized on Christmas Day, December 25, 1819. Robert died at Nelson, Ontario, December 21, 1891. In White's 1845 Directory of Norfolk Joseph Tuck is listed as "Beer Retailer" in Little Barningham. A generation or so later beer was sold from a small cottage, one of a group known as "The Dogs" (below, left) at the western end of the Little Barningham "Street", and so it may have been one of these cottages that was the home of Joseph and Elizabeth. They died within a couple of weeks of each other in 1868. Their grave stone in Little Barningham Churchyard, together with that of their grandson, Charles Tuck, who died in Norwich at the age of 28, also in 1868, is at bottom, right.

Close to 30 North American descendants of JOSEPH TUCK and ELIZABETH THIRTLE got together near Burlington, Ontario, at the end of September, 2000, to get acquainted with one another and become more familiar with their family history. Photos of the event have been posted on the TUCK JUNCTION webpages at www.MyFamily.com. website.

Little Barningham, Itteringham, and Mannington

William married first Sarah Ives Baxter of Itteringham in St. Mary's Church, Itteringham (left) in 1826. Their daughter Mary was born at Itteringham in 1827. But in 1834 William, now a widower, was married again, in Itteringham, to Hannah Barwick. Their banns were called in the parish of Little Barningham, and in that parish's banns book both of them are described as belonging to "Mannington". But there was at this time no church or village at Mannington, only a moated medieval house built in 1460 that had been in the possession of the Walpole family since 1720. In the 1830s it was occupied by tenant farmers. William Tuck may have worked for them, or for the Walpoles; in 1835 the Mannington records show him as a tenant of the Walpoles.

Little Barningham and Itteringham are the nearest villages to Mannington.

Joseph and Elizabeth are buried in the north-west corner of Little Barningham churchyard, together with their grandson, Charles Tuck, son of William and Hannah (Barwick) Tuck, who died in Norwich May 6, 1868. The inscription on their gravestone reads, "In memory of Elizabeth, the beloved wife of Joseph Tuck, who died March 18th, 1868, aged 85 years. She was a good wife and a tender mother. Also Joseph Tuck, husband of the above, who died April 4th, 1868, aged 84 years. He was a loving husband and a tender father. "

The fact that these three Tucks (the parents and a son of William Tuck) who died in 1868 have substantial gravestones suggests that the four brothers - all now in Ontario and prosperous - sent money home so that their parents might have a stone on their grave. In 1881, the year after Hannah died, William was living with his daughter Dorcas and her husband, Charles Lambert, and their daughter, Hannah Lambert, who was born in 1880, in "The Street", at Little Barningham. However, William was at Wickmere when he died March 4, 1890, at the age of 84. He was buried in Little Barningham churchyard, as was Hannah when she died, aged 64 on June 6, 1879; but they have no gravestones. No record of the death and burial of William's first wife, Sarah Ives Baxter, has yet been found.

William Tuck, 1806 - 1890 (above left), his second wife, Hannah Barwick (centre left); their son, John Tuck (centre right), 1842 - 1910, with his wife, Harriett Tuck, 1850 - 1914, the daughter of Charles Tuck, 1808 - 1877, and Mary Ann Payne; their children, John Wesley Tuck and Ethel Tuck, photographed c.1884; Charles Wesley Tuck, now grown up and shown with his wife, Edith Emma Anderson, and their children, Evelyn, Dorothy and Margaret, photographed at Waterdown, Ontario, in 1916 (right). (Photos courtesy Timothy Tuck Smith)

The Mystery of the Death of Sarah Ives (Baxter) Tuck and the Mysterious Birth and Death of William Tuck Field)

When and how did Sarah die? Did she die giving birth? In 1833 a boy named William Tuck was born, whose father's name (according to the entry in the Gresham parish marriage register when he was married in 1855) was also William Tuck. In 1841 this young William is recorded in the census of that year as living with an older couple, Barnabas and Lydia Field, in Gresham. Barnabas and Lydia's daughter, Mary Ann, was married in 1830 to Richard Forrow, whose mother was Ann Thirtle. In the 1851 census young William, now a teenager, and listed as "William Field" (not "Tuck"), is living with Richard and Mary Ann Forrow. His relationship to them is described as that of "nephew". Records of Sarah's death and burial, and of William's baptism, have not been found. But it appears probable that Sarah died in giving birth to young William in 1833, and that he was placed as an infant in the care of the parents of his cousin Richard Forrow's wife, who were now "empty nesters". That he was the son of William Tuck, born in Little Barningham in 1806, is further indicated by the fact that none of William's sons by Hannah Barwick is named William; for, if our theory is correct, he already had a first-born son, by Sarah Baxter, who had been named William. On February 17, 1855, young William married Elizabeth Hall of Aylmerton in All Saints' Church, Gresham. She was the younger of two daughters of shoemaker William Hall and his first wife, Anne Mallett, the daughter of William Mallett and Mary Peart. The older daughter was named Mary Anne, who married Robert Scott and died in childbirth at the age of 20 in 1851. Their son, Robert Hall Scott, lived at Park Wall Farm near Felbrigg Hall. The Halls lived outside the village on the main road west of The Roman Camp public house; Anne died in 1839 and William took a second wife, Sarah, by whom he had three sons. The house in which the Halls lived is still standing (right), used today as a storage shed. Not long afterwards William embarked on a career as a gamekeeper. The census of 1861 records the Tucks as living in the Keeper's Lodge (left) at Pynkney Hall in Tattersett, the next village to East Rudham, where the Scott-Chads were lords of the manor. The census taker records them as having four children: Anne 5, William 3, Richard 1 - all born in Gresham - and Mary, one month old, born in Tattersett. But according to the Tattersett parish register Mary was baptised July 28, 1860, and buried October 20, 1861, aged one year and a half. The census taker also records that a nurse, Maria Massingham, 20, of Aylmerton, was a visitor at the Keeper's Lodge the day the census was taken. Was she there because Mary was sick? (Many years later William's grandson, Layton Tuck, gave her name, Mary, to his daughter born in 1928.) Young William also died, aged 20, in 1877, in Hilborough. But the family was still in Tattersett when Elizabeth was born, in 1863. They had moved to Hanworth, however, by 1868, in which year Edward, the youngest of William and Elizabeth's children, was born. In 1870 William was appointed head gamekeeper to J. Trueman Mills of Hilborough Hall (both Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington had lived at various times at Hilborough Hall earlier in the century).

Parts of the "Keeper's House" at Hilborough (above left) are several centuries old. It was here that William and Elizabeth Tuck raised their family after 1870. The medallion that identified it as the Gamekeeper's house (above centre) was removed some time after 1981. The Tucks are buried in All Saints' churchyard (above right, shown in a photo made in February, 2002, by Margaret and Vin Platt); each stone bears an appropriate inscription: 1. William Tuck, sr. "In the midst of life endeared to all He was summoned and obeyed his master's call A loving husband, dear father and true friend With a constant thought for others till the end." 2. William Tuck, jr. "In youth's gay spring he bade the world farewell Resigned a scene of misery and strife To hail that kingdom where the righteous dwell In endless happiness and endless life." 3. Elizabeth (Hall) Tuck. "Only a step before. In the midst of life we are in death. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 4. Edward Tuck. "A light is from our household gone A voice we love is still A vacant place is in our home Which none can ever filI."

William and Elizabeth had one other daughter, Edith, also born in Cromer, in 1865. In 1889 Edith Tuck married Alfred James Coe, of Madehurst (in Sussex), a native of Halstead in Essex, who was a coachman; in the 1901 census Alfred and Edith Coe are living in Madehurst and have 5 children: William 10, Sidney 9, Edith 7, Gladys 5, and Daisy 3. Also living with them in 1901 is Edith Hall, the 15 year old daughter of Edith (Tuck) Coe's sister Elizabeth, who was married at Hilborough in 1885 to George Hall, a groom whom she had met when both were employed at Holme Hale Hall. But Edith Hall shortly afterwards went to North Elmham to help Louisa, widowed by Edward's death Feb. 11, 1901, look after their 6 children while she was busy running the George & Dragon Inn. There she met and married Bert Marsh. Anne, the eldest, was still living at home unmarried in 1891, looking after her parents. William died on Feb. 14, 1895 by a haystack while "watching the game", i.e. on the look-out for poachers. He was found at 10 p.m. the following evening, standing up, frozen stiff, with a silver watch, and 6 pounds in his pocket in "gold, silver and bronze". At the inquest, held in the Swan Inn, Hilborough, his physician, a Dr. Thomas, suggested that he might have had an "apoplectic stroke", caused by a severe head injury for which he had attended him in the past. According to the newspaper reports of the inquest no inquiry was made into the fact that his body was found standing up. Did some unknown person come upon his frozen corpse and prop it against the haystack? There is no mention of the manner of his death on his gravestone in Hilborough churchyard, but the story of his death was still remembered in Hilborough 100 years later although unknown to his grandchildren in later years.

His son Edward married Louisa Armes, daughter of William Armes (1833 - 1903) and Alice Wanford - or Wangford - (1838 - 1926) who kept a pub, The Olde White Horse, in East Rudham. Louisa bore him six children: in the top row, William (1888 - Nov. 7, 1965), the last of the first-born male William Tucks, who operated a butcher shop in Croydon, shown with his dog (left, above); Edward Layton (April 16, 1890 - Oct. 7, 1976) - named after his father and Layton Mills, the son of J. T. Mills, the Hilborough lord of the manor - who left school at 14 to work in the village of Brisley and emigrated to Canada in 1913 (shown above second from left in his First World War uniform, that of the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles) and who later took Holy Orders in Canada; Mabel Louise ("Biddy"), 1892-1951, shown above (third from left) with her husband Norman Hurst and her niece, Angela Boston; Margery Ada, 1895-1974, later Mrs. Shelley Platts (shown above right), who lived many years in Kenya and later retired to live in the Channel Islands;

bottom row, first picture: Daisy Kathleen, 1900 - 1965, was the youngest of the six Tuck children, the wife of Donald Boston of Norwich and mother of Angela, shown here (above) on the right, with her mother, Louisa, who is on the left, with two of William Tuck's three boys, Peter and John, between them; and in the second picture, Louisa's youngest son, Eric, 1897- 1978 (shown with his wife, Ellen) served the railway across Norfolk, ending as station master in Norwich c.1950; he was also a champion lawn bowler.

Edward and Louisa are listed in the 1891 census as living in the keeper's cottage at Cranwich, a hamlet on the far side of the nearby village of Mundford. That cottage is now no longer standing; but they seem to have moved from Cranwich several years later to Little Cressingham, probably to the keeper's cottage (left) on the Clermont Hall property, which J.Trueman Mills used as a shooting lodge, and where Edward was employed as the estate manager/keeper. But Edward died suddenly of diphtheria in 1901. He had taken his daughter Biddy up to London to see a specialist about some problem with her foot, and they had both caught diphtheria. Biddy recovered but Edward died. His death was reported in The Gamekeeper magazine for March, 1901, page 119, which described him as "a clever gamekeeper, a popular fellow, and a splendid specimen of manhood. Indeed, his physique was such that he might have been expected to withstand any disease. Mr. Tuck was highly respected in his own neighbourhood and there was a large attendance at his funeral, which took place at Hilborough where his father and other relations lie buried. We regard Mr. Tuck's death as a personal loss, for he had been known to us for a good many years, notwithstanding his early death at the age of 33. He leaves a young widow and six little ones and by these his loss will be keenly felt." It was keenly felt indeed, and the impact Edward's death had on his family is reflected in the 1901 British census, which was taken shortly afterwards. The family had vacated the keeper's cottage at Clermont to make way for Edward's replacement. Louisa took four of the children - Layton, Mabel (Biddy), Eric and Daisy - with her to her parents' place, which was now no longer East Rudham's The Old White Horse but Saham Toney's The Plough Boy public house (left). The eldest, 13 year old Billy, was left behind in Little Cressingham, with Louisa's 29 year old brother, William Armes. Five year old Margery was in Suffolk, at Bramford, with another uncle, gamekeeper Leonard Armes, and his wife Rosina. Eventually Louisa took her brood to North Elmham, where the police (who looked after social welfare cases) found her a job as landlady of The George and Dragon Hotel (above right) until shortly before the First World War. Louisa is probably the taller of the two women standing in the doorway of the Hotel. Margery may have remained with Leonard and Rosina because her name is not listed with the other children in the North Elmham School register.

None of Louisa's sons named their first-born sons William,

no doubt because their father had died too young to impress the tradition upon them. The George and Dragon is said to be one of the two last pubs in Norfolk in which the beer had to be brought up from the cellar by hand. Louisa had given up the hotel by 1913 when she married George Clarke, a carpenter, who lived just down the street in a house next door to the school (right); they had a son, Gordon Clarke, who lived only two days. In 1931 her son Layton brought the Canadian wife, Ruth Harris, he had married in 1926 and their 4 year old son, Robert, to visit Louisa and George. Robert got under his mother's feet while she was carrying a tubful of very hot water between the kitchen and a wash house at the foot of the garden, and he was scalded and spent the rest of the visit in bandages.Louisa died in 1936.

The Prolific Progeny of Six Immigrant Tuck Families in Canada West

In the meanwhile, William Tuck and Hannah Barwick had more children of their own: Sarah Ayton (named as was customary in such circumstances after the deceased first wife, Sarah Ives Baxter), Betsey, Joseph, Dorcas, Robert, Charles, born in 1840, John, born in 1842, Benjamin, born in 1845, and Elizabeth, born in 1849. Sarah left home at about 14 to become a house servant in the home of farmer John Spursell at Caistor St. Edmund, south of Norwich. William's daughter Mary by Sarah Baxter bore a daughter, Martha, out of wedlock in 1850; she is probably the 21 year old dairy maid Martha Tuck listed as employed by farmer James C. Ebbetts at Hanworth in the 1871 census. Mary seems to have later married a man named Laxon (or perhaps Sexton). Martha seems to have married Henry Potter of Edgefield, and was living with him and Charles in that village in 1881. Charles died in 1868, and is buried in Little Barningham churchyard next to his grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth Tuck - who also died in the same year. Dorcas married Charles Lambert and bore him eight children, the first four born in Little Barningham (Hannah, 1880, Charles, 1882, Ethel Rose, 1883, and Ernest William, 1886, and the last four in the nearby village of Plumstead, Laura, 1891, Jessie, 1896, and two others.)

Four of the younger brothers of William, the first-born son of Joseph and Elizabeth - Charles, Benjamin and John and Robert - with their wives and children - emigrated to Ontario, where they had many more children, beginning in 1836 - when 52 indigent inhabitants of Little Barningham emigrated, financed by a 200 pound grant from the government to the local Council. Benjamin, John and Charles went first in 1836, and Robert after 1852. They prospered, John owning a 236 acre farm on the Guelph township line, and Charles 140 acres near Mosborough.

Their nephew, John Tuck (son of William Tuck and Hannah Barwick) emigrated to Canada in 1864 at 22 years of age to live with his Uncle Charles Tuck in Nelson Township. From 1864 to 1872 he lived on the Charles Tuck farm and fell in love with his daughter Harriet. Harriet and John married in 1872 (see the photo of them above, and the house they lived in at Nelson, right). After Charles' death in 1877, they moved to land willed to Harriet by her father. John farmed the land until his death in 1910. Harriet died four years later, leaving the small farm to her only surviving child, Charles Wesley Tuck. She also left him the gold watch she received from her mother Mary Ann Payne Tuck.

Charles Wesley Tuck (shown above left, second from the left, on an early farm tractor) was born on August 21, l881, in Nelson Township, Ontario , Canada and in 1909 married Edith Emma Anderson of Hamilton. They had three daughters, Edith (born 1910), Dorothy (born 1913) and Margaret (born 1915). In 1919 Charles sold the farm and followed his cousin Charles Featherstone to Pasadena, California to start a new life with his wife, three daughters and adopted sister, Lilly M. Ellingham. Lilly helped care for Edith's daughters and helped around the house. Charles had to learn a new trade and became a concrete contractor in the Pasadena/Altadena area of South California. Lilly moved back to Canada in the middle 1920s and Charles's three daughters grew up and married and all three had children who are now married and living in Southern California.

Photograph made c.1895 at the farm home at Nelson, Ontario, of Robert Tuck (1819 - 1891) and his wife Christianna Hannah Pegg (1818 - 1893). The occasion was in honour of their daughter, Mary Ann (Kittie) Tuck, who shortly afterwards sailed to South Africa, where she married Herbert Charles Batchelor. Front row, left to right: Annie Thorne, wife of Charles Wesley Tuck; William E. Tuck (1847 - 1931); Mary Ann (Kittie) Tuck (1862 - 1928); Kittie Larkin Cary, wife of Robert Leviathan Tuck; Sarah Wheeler. Back row, left to right: Charles Wesley Tuck (1860 - 1935); Ada, wife of William E. Tuck; John Tuck (1848 - ); Rachel Tuck (1856 - 1911); Robert Leviathan Tuck (1844 - 1914); Jacob Wheeler. Photo courtesy Bruce Atkins, a great grandson of Robert Leviathan Tuck.

Charles (1808 - 1877) married Mary Ann Payne (1804 - 1902). They had 10 daughters and 2 sons: Martha (1832 - 1903); Elizabeth, Mrs. Alexander Thompson (1833 - 1915); Mary (1834 - 1915); Susan, Mrs. Thompson (1837 - ? ); Charlotte, Mrs. John Fothergill (1841 - 1905); Sarah, Mrs. John Hackware Featherstone (1844 - 1901); Ann, Mrs. Alexander Gerrie (1845 - ? ); William (1846 - 1932), married (1) Elizabeth Featherstone (1849 - 1882) (2) Clara Cecilia Wilkins (1862 - 1919); Emily, Mrs. William Corner (1848 - 1906); Harriet, Mrs. John Tuck (see photo) (1850 - 1914); James (1852 - 1855); Rachel (1855 - 1857).

Robert and Christianna Hannah Pegg (left) - a native of the village of Calthorpe, where she was baptized on December 25, 1817 - were married in the parish church of Our Lady and St. Margaret at Calthorpe on October 27, 1844. They had several children in England, five of whom survived. They were Benjamin, Robert, Elizabeth (grandmother of John Edward Dea), William, and John. In 1852, Robert and Hannah and their five children worked and lived at Cromer Hall on the north shores of Norfolk, a large country house built in Regency Gothic Style 1827-9. Robert was the head gardener, and the estate staff and their families ate in a communal dining room near a courtyard where the unmarried male servants lived on one side and the unmarried female servants on another. Robert's brother Benjamin's first wife was Elizabeth Matthews, whom he married in Little Barningham Parish Church in 1832. Their daughter, Martha, was born in 1833. After their immigration in 1836 they had two more children, Joseph born in 1837 and Elizabeth, born in 1838. The children were baptised at St. Luke's Church, Burlington, Ontario, by the Reverend Canon Richard Greene - whose great grand-daughter, Catherine Greene, in 1959 became the wife of the Reverend Robert Tuck, the great great grandson of Benjamin's brother William Tuck. Elizabeth appears to have died after 1838, perhaps in childbirth, and In 1848 Benjamin was remarried, to Susan Swackhammer, in Acton, Ontario. They also had 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls: Sarah, William, Robert, Mary, Caroline, John, Augusta, Elinor, Albert and Charles.

The fourth of the Tuck brothers to emigrate to Canada West, John, was like the others already married when he emigrated. His wife was Susannah Newstead, also a Norfolk girl. Theirs also was a large family - 10 children, all of them sons: Joseph, George, Benjamin, James, Abraham, Charles, Augustus, John, William and Henry.

Above, left to right: (1) Charles Tuck, 1811 - 91, who with his brothers John and Benjamin and their wives and children emigrated from Norfolk in 1836 to Canada West (as Ontario was known at that time).(2)Elizabeth Tuck, born in 1845 in Thwaite, Norfolk, the daughter of Robert Tuck (1819 - 1891) and Christianna Hannah Pegg, and grand-daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Thirtle) Tuck, stands by her husband, Edward Dea. Elizabeth emigrated from Norfolk to Canada with her family, and married Edward Dea in Ontario in 1870. (2) Elizabeth (Tuck) Dea, 20 years later, in 1890. (3) Mary Tuck and her husband, Tom Bowen, on their wedding day. They had 11 children. (4) Four male Tucks of the second, third and fourth generations in Canada: John (left) and William (right) - sons of John Tuck and Sarah Newstead - and William's son and grandson in the centre.

Changes in English laws and the mechanization of farm labor greatly affected poor farmers, or what we would call sharecroppers, including the Tuck families. They were faced with two choices, emigration or moving to large cities such as London, where they had to live in small houses with little sanitation and consequent risk of disease. Children were put to work in factories, mines, and other manual labor enterprises, often up to 12 hours a day, six days a week. They chose emigration.

According to Fr. Bell, who was serving in Holt parish in 1999, 2,500 peasants emigrated in the 1830s at their own expense. Another 1,500 received paid passage from the British government.

In 1836 Charles and John emigrated to Canada and settled in the Burlington, Ontario, area. On the emigration voyage each passenger had to take enough food with them to last the duration of the crossing. Sometimes the food supplies ran out and all had to share scant rations. After a voyage of six weeks, they landed at Toronto, with little money. They slept overnight in a warehouse on some bales of sheep wool, which turned out to be infested with sheep ticks. The next day, they took a small boat and landed at Wellington Square, now known as Burlington.

Charles and John crossed the plains on foot, the plains being the land between the lake shore and the escarpment at Highway 5 (Dundas Street). The ground was of a sandy nature, similar to that of their native Norfolk, and Charles figured it would lose its fertility quickly. He therefore moved further inland, looking for higher ground, which he found on top of the escarpment about one-half mile above the cut on Highway 5, near Waterdown Village. There he settled in a small log cabin, the family's first home, near the road.

Charles went to work for a farmer nearby and earned ten dollars a week. Mary Anne was a good manager and they saved their earnings towards buying their land and looking to the future to build a large house. She supplemented their income by washing and ironing family shirts for a gentleman and also by making and selling butter, eggs, and applesauce from their surplus apples at the Hamilton Market along with other farm produce.

One day when she went to the spring behind the cabin to get some water, she discovered a bear on the same quest. Pail in hand, she quickly withdrew to her cabin until the intruder left. Bears were common in the vicinity at that time.

The area was full of pine trees that had been cleared before the land could be worked. Consequently, much logging was done and many saw mills were scattered throughout the countryside.

Charles Tuck had not been in Canada too long when the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion broke out. The Tuck family were very devout Methodists and always attended prayer meetings one night each week. One evening during a prayer meeting, the doors opened and all eligible men were taken off to the war. Many never even had a chance to say good-bye to their wives and other loved ones. Charles was not trained in any way for soldiering, so he was made an army cook. Mrs. Tuck related how, when Charles came back from the war, she did not know the fully-bearded man until she heard his voice.

After a few years, Charles Tuck built a church and a schoolhouse. Charles gave each daughter when she married a thousand dollars in cash, plus three cows and one sheep. Charles died in 1877 and is buried in Waterdown cemetery. Charles left his only son, William, the house and 100 acres of land on Tuck Hill, now known as The Cut, overlooking Burlington. The progression from British peasant to Canadian property owner was complete.

Unfortunately, William heavily mortgaged the farm and it was lost to foreclosure. Today the house and barns are gone and there is little trace on the property of the life Charles and Mary Ann Tuck made for themselves on Tuck Hill.

The brothers sent for Robert and his family, including seven-year-old Elizabeth, to come to Canada to farm soil similar to that found in Norfolk. Robert and his family boarded a sailing vessel from London, England, bound for America. The crossing of the Atlantic lasted nine weeks. A Tuck baby on board, only a few months old, did not survive the trip and was buried at sea. The family, with five children aged four through ten, landed in New York, travelled up the Hudson River, moved through the Erie Canal in mule-pulled boats to Rochester, New York, and then sailed across Lake Ontario to Burlington.

For a while, they lived at Vinegar Hill in Waterdown, Ontario. Once they had established themselves, Robert purchased a farm about three miles north of Burlington, where from the field, one could see boats on Hamilton Harbor Bay. Their first farm home was a log cabin made from wood felled and hewn by hand. Their beds were built with ropes. Robert and Hannah had four more children after they arrived in Canada.

The farm grew prize wheat, and it was picked by hand. The wheat was sold to Hamilton merchants including the Hamilton Seed Firm. This company sent the wheat to Philadelphia where it was shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and won first prize, along with a bronze medal. The wheat also took first premium prize at Toronto and Hamilton.

A sample of the wheat was sent to the London Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London, England, in 1886, where it won a scroll designed by Thomas Riley Art Studios, London. In addition, a silver tea service was presented to Robert Tuck by the Hamilton merchants for having raised prize wheat. The scroll and the coffepot are shown in the picture (above right). These items are now in the nearby Joseph Brant museum. Robert and Hannah's tombstone in the Greenwood Cemetery in Burlington, Ontario, is shown (left).

The prosperity of the immigrant Tucks in the late 19th century is evident in the group photograph (above right), supplied by Timothy Tuck Smith. Does anyone recognise the house, and can anyone identify any of those shown? Unfortunately the names have not been preserved with the photograph.

Thus, from humble beginnings their children prospered, and their descendants, now scattered across North America, are today mostly in comfortable circumstances. They can, if they wish, board an aircraft and in a few hours be back in Norfolk, visiting the old home places their forebears left for ever, never to see again. Some of the descendants are conscious of an irony in this, and are grateful to their forebears who endured the hardships of travel and pioneer life so that they and their children might escape the class lockstep of an old world society that 150 years ago still retained traces of its feudal origins. The Norfolk Tucks were country folk, skilled in the arts of agriculture and rural life. Layton Tuck was fond of likening English society to a glass of British beer: froth at the top and dregs at the bottom, with the good rich ale in between. In the old country the Tucks possessed no land of their own, but they had skills and character, so that when they acquired land as immigrant settlers in Canada West they knew what to do with it, and prospered.

A Tuck Family gathering in Nelson near Burlington, Ontario, c.1894-5.

An identification of some of those in the photograph was made by Shelda Tuck Havens, 1903-93, the mother of Ann Denton, and is shown in the key below. (photo courtesy Timothy Tuck Smith and Ann Denton)

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Descendants of Elias Tuck

1 Elias Tuck WFT Est. 1669-1703 - 1730

. .......+Elizabeth -------- WFT Est. 1676-1704 - 1751

....... 2 William Tuck 1715 - WFT Est. 1716-1805

....... 2 Joseph Tuck 1726 - 1792 .

........... +Elizabeth Betts WFT Est. 1709-1735 - 1804

.................. 3 Elizabeth Tuck 1746/47 -

.................. 3 Anne Tuck 1751 - WFT Est. 1752-1845

.................. 3 William Tuck 1753 - WFT Est. 1786-1844

...................... +Martha Coe WFT Est. 1734-1759 - 1783

............................ 4 Sarah Tuck 1772 - WFT Est. 1773-1866

............................ 4 William Tuck 1775 - 1881

............................ 4 Elizabeth Tuck 1777 - WFT Est. 1778-1871

............................ 4 Mary Tuck 1779 - 1797

............................ 4 Mark Tuck 1780 - WFT Est. 1781-1870

............................. 4*Joseph Tuck 1782 - 1868

................................ +Elizabeth Thirtle 1782 - 1868

........................................ 5 William Tuck 1806 - 1890

........................................... +Sarah Ives Baxter -c. 1833

................................................. 6 Mary Tuck 1827 -

.......................................................+1857 George Laxon (or possibly Sexton)

.............................................................(7 George Sexton 1866 - )

............................................................. 7 Martha Tuck 1850 -

................................................................ +Henry Potter (probable) 1852 -

.................................................. 6 William Tuck 1833 - 1895

..................................................... +Elizabeth Hall 1832 - 1894

............................................................. 7 Elizabeth Tuck

................................................................ +George Hall

........................................................................ 8 Edith Hall 1886 -

.............................................................................+ - Marsh

.................................................................................9 George Marsh

......................................................................................+

............................................................ 7 Anne Field Tuck 1855 - 1891

............................................................. 7 William Tuck 1857 - 1877

............................................................ 7 Richard Tuck 1859 -

............................................................ 7 Edith Tuck 1865 -

................................................................ +Alfred James Coe

.........................................................................8 William Coe 1891 -

.........................................................................8 Sidney Coe 1892 -

.........................................................................8 Edith Coe 1894 -

.........................................................................8 Gladys Coe 1896 -

.........................................................................8 Daisy Coe 1898 -

............................................................. 7 Edward Tuck 1868 - 1901

................................................................. +Louisa Armes 1867 - 1936

........................................................................ 8 William Tuck 1889 - 1965

........................................................................... +Winifred Legg

.................................................................................. 9 Peter Tuck 1926 - 1992

...................................................................................... +Beryl ------

.........................................................................................10 Graham Tuck

...............................................................................................+Debbie

.................................................................................. 9 John Tuck 1927 -

...................................................................................... +Natalie Porter

..........................................................................................10 Carolyn Tuck

................................................................................................+Peter Turner

...........................................................................................10 Julian Tuck

.................................................................................. 9 Michael Tuck 1932 -

...................................................................................... +Shirley Regan

........................................................................ 8 Edward Layton Tuck 1890 - 1976

............................................................................ +Ruth Marguerite Louisa Harris, 1893 - 1984

.................................................................................. 9 Robert Critchlow Tuck 1927 -

...................................................................................... +Catherine Elizabeth Greene 1930 -

..........................................................................................10 Gertrude Elizabeth Tuck 1961 -

.................................................................................................+Jonathan Michael Eayrs 1951 -

....................................................................................................11 Frederick Eayrs 1985-6

....................................................................................................11 Sylvia Muriel Ruth Eayrs 1995(A) -

....................................................................................................11 Edith Geneva Eayrs 1997(A) -

..........................................................................................10 Alan Layton Tuck 1966 -

............................................................................................. ....+Catherine Ruth MacLellan 1980 -

............................................................................................. .......11 Isabel Llewella 2005 -

............................................................................................ 9 Mary Enid Tuck 1928 -

...................................................................................... +Charles Rae Corelli 1927 - 2003

..........................................................................................10 Stephen Corelli 1959 - ...+Julie Kaufman 1980 -

..........................................................................................10 Catherine Corelli 1960 -

................................................................................................+Antony d'Agostino

..................................................................................................11 Gillian d'Agostino 1988 -

..................................................................................................11 Vincent d'Agostino 1990 -

...........................................................................................10 Adam Corelli 1961 -

..................................................................................................11 Charlotte 1997 -

............................................................................................10 Gillian Corelli 1961 -

.................................................................................................+ Stephen Hubbard

................................................................................. 9 Edward Layton Harris Tuck 1930 -

...................................................................................... +Barbara Townsend 1941 -

.............................................................................................10 Susan Tuck

..................................................................................................+ Harry Crossley

......................................................................................................11 Ian Crossley

......................................................................................................11 Ann Crossley

..............................................................................................10 Graham Tuck

.................................................................................................. + Angela Murphy

...............................................................................................10 Joan Tuck

.................................................................................................+Cecil Stephenson

.................................................................................. ...................11 Cameron Tuck Stephenson, Matthew Edward Stephenson 2005

................................................................................. 9 Barbara Ann Myfanwy Tuck 1935 -

...................................................................................... +John Allison MacAndrew 1933 -

...............................................................................10 Shaun MacAndrew

......................................................................... 8 Mabel Louise (Biddy) Tuck 1892 - 1951

............................................................................ +Norman Hurst

........................................................................ 8 Margery Ada Tuck 1895 - 1973

............................................................................ +Shelley Platts, - 1957

.................................................................................. 9 Shelley Anthony Edward Platts 1928 - 1989

.................................................................................. 9 Nigel Arden Platts 1929 -

.................................................................................. 9 Pauline Bridget Platts 1933 -

...................................................................................... +Jeffrey Gruchy, - 1989

........................................................................ 8 Bertram Eric Tuck 1897 - 1978

............................................................................ +Ellen Blakeney - 1980

...................................................................................9. Eric Harry Tuck 1922 - 1984

....................................................................................... +

............................................................................................10. Nigel Tuck 1956 -

..................................................................................................+ Barbara

.....................................................................................................11. Rebecca Louise Tuck 1985 -

.....................................................................................................11.Benjamin Eric Tuck 1989 -

........................................................................ 8 Daisy Kathleen Tuck 1900 - 1965

............................................................................ +Donald Boston 1901 - 1974

................................................................................. 9 Angela Boston 1936 -

...................................................................................... +Tom Ringer 1930 - 1992

............................................................................................10 Antony Ringer

..................................................................................................+

.............................................................................................10 James Ringer

..................................................................................................+ Susannah Savory

..............................................................................................10 Louise Ringer

..................................................................................................+

........................................ *2nd Wife of William Tuck. 1806 - 1890:

............................................ +Hannah Barwick 1816 - 1881

.................................................. 6 Sara Ayton Tuck 1836 -

.................................................. 6 Charles Tuck 1840 - 1868

...................................................... +Rebecca ?

.................................................. 6 [14] John Tuck 1842 - 1910

.................................................. 6 Dorcas Ann Tuck 1855 - 1902

..................................................... +Charles Lambert 1856 - 1911

.................................................. .......7 Hannah Lambert 1880 -

................................................. .......7 Charles Lambert 1882 -

...................................................... 7 Ethel Rose Lambert 1883 -

..........................................................7 Ernest William Lambert 1886 -

............................................................ +Agnes ?

..........................................................7 Laura Lambert 1891 -

......................................................... 7 Jessie Lambert 1896 -

.................................................. 6 Joseph Tuck

.................................................. 6 Robert Tuck

...................................................... +Rebecca ?

.................................................. 6 [14] John Tuck 1842 - 1910

...................................................... +[13] Harriet Tuck 1850 - 1914

............................................................. 7 [15] Charles Wesley Tuck 1881 - 1951

................................................................. +[16] Edith Emma Anderson

........................................................................ 8 [17] Edith Evelyn Tuck,1910 - 1999

........................................................................ 8 [18] Dorothy Irene Tuck 1913 -

............................................................................ +[19] Harold Ernest Smith

.................................................................................. 9 [1] Beverly Ann Smith 1934 -

...................................................................................... +[2] Doug Albright

.................................................................................. 9 [3] Thomas Boyd Smith,1945 -

...................................................................................... +[4] Lindsay Trotter

.................................................................................. *2nd Wife of [3] Thomas Boyd Smith:

...................................................................................... +[5] Nina Johanson

.................................................................................. 9 [6] Timothy Tuck Smith,1945 -

...................................................................................... +[7] Martina Christina Ornigg

........................................................................ *2nd Husband of [18] Dorothy Irene Tuck:

............................................................................ +[20] H. Wayne Jones

.................................................................................. 9 [1] Beverly Ann Smith 1934 -

...................................................................................... +[2] Doug Albright

.................................................................................. 9 [3] Thomas Boyd Smith 1945 -

...................................................................................... +[4] Lindsay Trotter

.................................................................................. *2nd Wife of [3] Thomas Boyd Smith:

...................................................................................... +[5] Nina Johanson

.................................................................................. 9 [6] Timothy Tuck Smith 1945 -

...................................................................................... +[7] Martina Christina Ornigg

........................................................................ 8 [21] Margaret Isabel Tuck 1914 - 1999

............................................................. 7 [22] Hannah Ethel Tuck 1883 - 1900

............................................................. 7 [23] Lilly M. (Elllingham/Smith) Tuck 1889 -

.................................................. 6 Benjamin Tuck 1845 -

.................................................. 6 Elizabeth Tuck 1849 -

........................................ 5 Charles Tuck 1808 - 1877

............................................ +Mary Ann Payne 1809 - 1902

.................................................. 6 Martha Tuck 1832 - 1903

.................................................. 6 Elizabeth Tuck 1833 - 1915

...................................................... +Alexander Thompson 1829 - 1910

............................................................. 7 Charlotte E Thompson 1859 - 1935

............................................................. 7 Mary L Thompson 1867 - 1950

.................................................. 6 Mary Tuck 1834 - 1915

...................................................... +Abner Everitt 1833 - 1909

............................................................. 7 Charles Tuck Everitt 1865 - 1938

................................................................. +Mary Prudham 1873 - 1966

........................................................................ 8 Mabel Gertrude Everitt

............................................................................ +Henry Harmes

........................................................................ 8 Edgar Elgin Everitt

............................................................................ +Margaret Jean Maggaugh

........................................................................ 8 Evelyn Marion Everitt

............................................................................ +Gilore Weeks

........................................................................ 8 Muriel May Everitt 1907 -

............................................................................ +Colin Adam Alton 1904 -

.................................................................................. 9 Bruce Alton

.................................................................................. 9 Robert Alton

.................................................................................. 9 Anne Alton

.................................................................................. 9 Douglas Alton

.................................................................................. 9 H. Allan Alton 1949 -

...................................................................................... +Karen Edna Walker

............................................................. 7 Girl Everitt

................................................................. +James Attridge

............................................................. 7 Rachel Louisa Everitt 1858 - 1938

................................................................. +John Henry Garbutt

........................................................................ 8 Emily Alice Garbutt 1881 - 1957

........................................................................ 8 Mary Lucinda Garbutt 1886 - 1886

........................................................................ 8 Annie Lena Garbutt 1887 -

.................................................. 6 Susan Tuck 1837 -

...................................................... +James Thompson

.................................................. 6 Charlotte Tuck 1841 - 1905

...................................................... +John Fothergill - 1893

............................................................. 7 Christopher Fothergill

............................................................. 7 Alice Lillian Fothergill

................................................................. +William Dewar

............................................................. 7 Fanny Marie Fothergill

................................................................. +George Martin

.................................................. 6 Sarah Tuck 1844 - 1901

...................................................... +John Hackware Featherstone 1849 - 1921

............................................................. 7 Hattie Belle Featherstone 1881 - 1887

............................................................. 7 Charlotte Beatrice Featherstone 1885 - 1886

.................................................. 6 Ann Tuck 1845 -

...................................................... +Alexander (Sandy) Gerrie

.................................................. 6 William Tuck 1846 - 1932

...................................................... +Elizabeth Featherstone 1849 - 1882

.................................................. *2nd Wife of William Tuck:

...................................................... +Clara Cecilia Wilkins 1862 - 1919

............................................................. 7 Gertrude Lillian Tuck 1884 - 1981

................................................................. +Thoms A Collins

........................................................................ 8 Lillian Collins

............................................................................ +William Bauld

........................................................................ 8 Everett Collins

............................................................................ +Clara ?

........................................................................ 8 Raymond Collins

............................................................................ +Audrey ?

............................................................. 7 Charles Milton Tuck 1886 - 1932

................................................................. +Eva Moffatt 1893 - 1976

........................................................................ 8 Marion Tuck 1912 -

............................................................................ +Gerald Mainprize

.................................................................................. 9 Nancy Jean Mainprize 1947 -

...................................................................................... +Robert Blackborow

............................................................. 7 Elmetta Florella Tuck 1888 - 1968

................................................................. +Ernest Oscar Hines 1886 - 1958

........................................................................ 8 William Oscar Hines 1909 - 1997

............................................................................ +Grace Ann Robinson 1910 - 1992

.................................................................................. 9 Raymond William Hines 1932 -

...................................................................................... +Edna Isobel Joynt 1924 -

.................................................................................. 9 Paul Anthony Hines 1937 -

...................................................................................... +Marlene Elizabeth Hall 1939 -

.................................................................................. 9 Douglas Michael Hines 1940 -

...................................................................................... +Christina Eggers 1943 -

.................................................................................. *2nd Wife of Douglas Michael Hines:

...................................................................................... +Jo-Anne Hayes Hansen 1949 -

.................................................................................. 9 Maurice Andrew Hines 1945 -

...................................................................................... +Vivian Plante

.................................................................................. *2nd Wife of Maurice Andrew Hines:

...................................................................................... +Sarah Chamberlain Vadakojis 1953 -

.................................................................................. 9 Daniel Edward Hines 1947 -

............................................................. 7 William Sexton Tuck 1889 -

................................................................. +Dena Winstrom

............................................................. 7 Mary Matilda Tuck 1890 -

................................................................. +Jack Nairn

........................................................................ 8 Clara Nairn 1911 -

............................................................................ +Tom Panting 1907 -

.................................................................................. 9 John David Panting

............................................................. 7 Olive May Tuck 1892 -

................................................................. +Archie J Goodale

........................................................................ 8 Garfield Goodale

............................................................................ +Esther ?

.................................................................................. 9 Martin Goodale

............................................................. 7 Roy Wilkins Tuck 1893 -

................................................................. +Lilla ?

............................................................. *2nd Wife of Roy Wilkins Tuck:

................................................................. +Viola Wilkinson

............................................................. 7 Emily Garner Tuck 1895 - 1895

............................................................. 7 George Wellington Tuck 1896 -

................................................................. +Sadie Belle Richards

........................................................................ 8 [8] George Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [9] Girl 1 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [10] Child 3 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [11] Child 4 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [12] Child 5 Tuck

............................................................. *2nd Wife of George Wellington Tuck:

................................................................. +Hazel ?

........................................................................ 8 [8] George Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [9] Girl 1 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [10] Child 3 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [11] Child 4 Tuck

........................................................................ 8 [12] Child 5 Tuck

............................................................. 7 Russell Shaver Tuck 1897 -

................................................................. +Gladys Priest

............................................................. *2nd Wife of Russell Shaver Tuck:

................................................................. +Jessie ?

............................................................. 7 Anna Mabel Tuck 1898 - 1938

................................................................. +Leonard Smith

........................................................................ 8 Norma Smith

............................................................................ +Al Dynes

........................................................................ *2nd Husband of Norma Smith:

............................................................................ +Jack Beldham

........................................................................ 8 Harvey Smith

............................................................................ +Audrey ?

............................................................. 7 Clara Elizabeth Tuck 1900 - 1903

............................................................. 7 Alice Alena Tuck 1901 - 1987

................................................................. +William Fraleigh 1894 - 1965

........................................................................ 8 William Fraleigh

........................................................................ 8 Beverly Fraleigh

............................................................................ +James Laidlaw

........................................................................ 8 Doreen Fraleigh

............................................................................ +Warren Ashcroft

............................................................. 7 Walter Thompson Tuck 1903 - 1903

............................................................. 7 Frank Alexander Tuck 1904 - 1920

............................................................. 7 Bruce Collins Tuck 1909 -

................................................................. +Rita ?

.................................................. 6 Cecilia Tuck 1847 -

...................................................... +? Wilkins

.................................................. 6 Emily Tuck 1848 - 1906

...................................................... +William Corner 1844 - 1917

............................................................. 7 Mary Ann Corner 1884 - 1887

............................................................. 7 Martha E Corner 1886 - 1887

.................................................. 6 [13] Harriet Tuck 1850 - 1914

...................................................... +[14] John Tuck 1842 - 1910

............................................................. 7 [15] Charles Wesley Tuck 1881 - 1951

................................................................. +[16] Edith Emma Anderson

........................................................................ 8 [17] Edith Evelyn Tuck 1910 - 1999