Mary Frances Tucker

Mary Frances Tucker (née, Tyler; May 16, 1837 – 1902) was an American poet. Not a prolific writer, her best work was inspired by a moral sentiment.[1] About the year 1854, two of Tucker's poems appeared in The National Era which soon became popular, and which afterwards, periodically, went the rounds of the press. The one more often printed, perhaps, was "Cometh A Blessing Down".[2] Other notable poems include "Goin Up And Coming Down" (1856) and "Sonnet" (1856).[3][4][5]

Mary Frances Tucker
"A Woman of the Century"
"A Woman of the Century"
BornMary Frances Tyler
May 16, 1837
York, Washtenaw County, Michigan, U.S.
DiedJanuary 14, 1902 (aged 64)
Neillsville, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeNeillsville City Cemetery
Occupationpoet
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Notable works
  • "Going Up and Coming Down"
  • "Cometh a Blessing Down"
SpouseEdward L. Tucker
Children

Early life

Mary Frances Tyler was born in the town of York, Washtenaw County, Michigan, May 16, 1837. In 1849, when she was twelve years old, her family removed to Fulton, New York, where she was reared and carefully educated. She was then a slight, winsome, vivacious girl, with curling golden hair and large expressive gray eyes which, during conversation, fairly glowed and talked in unison with her lips. Her command of language was wonderful, and the right words seemed to come at the right time without hesitation or bidding.[1]

Career

She began composing poetry at an early age, and by the time she was 17, she produced two poems that subsequently became familiar to all readers of literature of that era, "Going Up and Coming Down" and "Cometh a Blessing Down". These poems received favorable comments from George Pope Morris, who copied them into the Home Journal. They were widely reproduced by the press, and generally admired for years afterwards.[1][6][7]

On January 6, 1856, she married the physician, Dr. Edward L. Tucker,[8][9] of Fulton. They removed to Michigan, where they lived until 1863, when Dr. Tucker recruited a cavalry company for a Michigan regiment, and went with them as first lieutenant into active service during the civil war. He died in camp in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was buried with the honors of war.[7][1]

Soon after his death, Tucker and her two daughters and son, Frank Tyler Tucker, removed to Omro, Wisconsin. The older daughter, Ada, died in 1880 in Omro. The younger daughter, Grace, became a teacher in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The son, Frank, was for several years the principal of Omro High School. He went on to become a lawyer and political orator in the Northwest.[9][1]

As a journalist, she achieved considerable distinction, but it is through her poems that she was best known to the literary world. She contributed to the Magazine of Poetry, the Home Journal, the Gazette,[10] and other prominent periodicals.[7]

Personal life

After the death of Ada, Tucker became an invalid, writing only occasionally for publication, and living in semi-retirement.

Mary Frances Tucker died in 1902.

Selected works

Books

Poetry
  • "Cometh a Blessing Down"
  • "Goin Up And Coming Down" (1856)
  • "Sonnet" (1856)

References
  1. "MARY FRANCES TUCKER, by Jamer G. Clark". The Magazine of Poetry. Vol. 4 (Public domain ed.). Charles Wells Moulton. 1892. p. 12. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Hopkins, Alphonso Alva (1879). "MARY F. TUCKER". Waifs, and Their Authors. D. Lothrop. p. 99. Retrieved 16 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. "Results for 'Mary Frances Tyler Tucker' > 'Mary Frances Tyler Tucker' [WorldCat.org]". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  4. "VARIETY. (From the National Era.) GOING UP AND COMING DOWN. BY MARY FRANCES TYLER TUCKER". Western Reserve Chronicle. 23 April 1856. p. 4. Retrieved 28 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. "For the National Era. SONNET. BY MARY FRANCES TYLER TUCKER". The National Era. 27 March 1856. p. 1. Retrieved 28 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. Schaff, Philip; Gilman, Arthur (1885). A Library of Religious Poetry: A Collection of the Best Poems of All Ages and Tongues, with Biographical and Literary Notes (Public domain ed.). Funk & Wagnalls Company. p. 389. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "TUCKER, Mrs. Mary Frances". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Charles Wells Moulton. pp. 724–25. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. "HYMENEAL". Waverley Magazine. M.A. Dow. 12: 141. 1856. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. "HON. FRANK TYLER TUCKER". Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley Counties of Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of Many of the Early Settled Families (Public domain ed.). Brookhaven Press. 1895. p. 1088. ISBN 978-1-4035-0112-7. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. Gordon, Armistead Churchill (1923). Virginian Writers of Fugitive Verse (Public domain ed.). J. T. White & Company. p. 90. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  11. Johns Hopkins University Peabody Institute Library (1892). "Tucker, Mrs. Mary Frances Tyler". Catalogue of the Library of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore ... (Public domain ed.). I. Friedenwald. p. 4530. Retrieved 28 December 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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