Lesson Learned: Dates and why we should carefully cite those

Diaries of William Lanning Tucker (1839 - 1929)

I received another notice this weekend from FamilySearch.org that a date had been changed on my G-G-Grandfather William Lanning Tucker. Sigh.

With my Tucker family draft monograph in hand, I went to my FamilySearch Family Tree to see what exactly had been changed.  Another researcher in this family line had changed his birth year from 1839 to 1840. My monograph had his birth date as 19 September 1839. But where exactly did I get that? I have a number of citations, including his granddaughter’s “Black Diaries” and “Information taken from 1830 family bible pages,” but that was more of a general citation for William’s parents, Ezra and Caroline (Lanning) Tucker. I did not have a citation attached to William’s birth date per se.

We have been told that a citation should accompany every date. What a pain! But excellent advice since it saves time later when verifying where the date came from.

So last night I spent time going back through what my Great Grandmother, Jessie (Tucker) Agard had written from the Tucker Family Bible, where she had noted her father’s birth date as 19 September 1839 and then just to make sure I retrieved William Lanning Tucker’s diaries from the archival box.

William Lanning Tucker kept diaries from 1919 through his death in 1929. I picked three years and went to 19 September. On that date for each of the three years I randomly chose, he wrote that it was his birthday and how old he was. That brought the year of his birth back to 1839.

The confusing issue is the 1900 census that states the day and year of birth is clearly 1840.  I changed the date back to 1839 on FamilySearch, stated my sources and also wrote in that the U.S. Census for 1900 states the year 1840.

Is one year’s difference really that important? To me, no, not for that family tree. My monograph will have what I believe is his correct date of birth, and in the footnote I have already mentioned the census discrepancy.

Unfortunately, this is the same family line that was mistakenly merged with New Hampshire people. Hopefully that won’t happen again, but now I know how to reverse the information back.

This time was not wasted. It is good to have someone challenge your information. It makes you go back and double check where your information came from. In the midst of the thrill of the hunt, you (or I particularly) can make mistakes. Typos happen as you sleep, and even when you are awake. This situation also prompted me to pull out William’s diaries again. They are small books, and he doesn’t have much relevant genealogy information, but I realize I need to scan through them all for the hidden gems or births and deaths and other family activities.

Amos L. Tucker and the Battle of Petersburg

Our trip to the National Archives this week provided me with the answer I needed regarding the circumstances and date of death of ancestor Amos L. Tucker.

The widow’s pension papers had documentation that stated:  Amos L. Tucker was a private in Company C, 179^th regiment, New York Volunteers. It was stated that: “ The adj general reports Amos L. Tucker enrolled September 3, 1864; mustered in September 5, 1864, and “Missing in Action April 2, 1865.”

A declaration was made by Davis C. Marshall of Hector, New York, a lieutenant of the 179^th New York Volunteers that he was present at the action at Petersburg April 2, 1865, and that he was called to identify the casualties and in so doing recognized the body of Amos L. Tucker.

A copy from the marriage record of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mecklenburg, New York states that the marriage of Amos L. Tucker of Enfield and Martha J. Vangosbeck of Mecklenburg, NY took place on February 17, 1864. The witnesses of this document were Alexander Agard and Noah Agard.

Admitted on October 2, 1866, Martha was to receive a pension of $8.00 per month, commencing on the date of death, April 2, 1865. Martha died 21 July 1877.

In 1893, Amos’s mother, Caroline (Lanning) Tucker applied for his pension. She died the next year, before approval.

Surname Saturday - Searching Tucker Cousins

When the 1830 family bible of my great-great-grandfather, William Lanning Tucker (b: 1839; d: 1859), came into my possession I was thrilled. That source provided names and birthdates of the ten children of Ezra D. and Caroline Lanning Tucker.

Ezra D. Tucker was born 25 August 1817 in New Jersey He died in 1898 at the age of 81. Ezra married Caroline Lanning on 21 February 1837 in Enfield, New York. Caroline was born 7 July 1817 and died 31 December 1894.  Living in their household was Caroline’s father, William Lanning. 

With this information in hand, I traced and “filled in the dash” of most of the children in that family line.  Although I have names, dates, and spouse information I do not have any photos of this family.  I would love to connect with any cousins who may have photos of this large family.

I was also fortune to acquire William Lanning Tucker’s diaries – a few he kept in the early 1920s when he was in his 80s.  Although sparsely written there are some precious entries, one in which he described the events surrounding the birth of my mother in 1924.  From his diary I learned how long my grandmother was in the hospital following the birth, and that she and the new baby were sent home in an ambulance!