I finally have a copy of a picture of my great great grandfather, Marshall Daniel Majors. He was born in 1845 in Marion County, Georgia and died in 1932 in Alabama and is buried in Ripley, Tennessee. This is a copy of the original picture that is in the possession of my father.
This is the family of William Tucker and Annie Elizabeth Watkins and their spouses.
She was born in October of 1852 in Rutherford County, Tennessee near Murfreesboro, TN. Her parents were Jospeh Magruder Watkins and Margaret Linster. Her father came from Montgomery County, Maryland and settled in Tennessee. He first married Lavinia Penn and had five children with her. She died and then he married Margaret Linster. Margaret had Annie, Harry, Lee, and another daughter.They were supposed to be a musical family and a cousin was known to speak several languages and sing opera. A distant relative sang opera in New York and the household was known to have a piano.
Annie was well educated and came from a very old southern family. She was described as tall and elegant. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of her that I know of. She went to a girl’s school in Murfreesboro and after graduation became a teacher. She got a job to teach in Ripley, TN along with another of her friends. THey lived in a boarding house where a young Virginian man named William Tucker lived. They ate at the same table together as boarders and began to talk and get to know each other. They fell in love and were married in 1873 when she was 20 years old. They lived on a friend’s property as her husband became more prosperous. He eventually bought and built Tucker Hill for his wife whom he loved dearly. She had seven children. Her brothers and her mother Margaret Linster, joined Annie in Ripley. After the last child, (John Randolph) she became ill. I do not know the nature of the illness. The only picture I have seen of her is from a distance where you cannot see her face and she is holding a cane. She was unable to care for her large family. Her daughters helped her care for the younger children. She was still in charge of her children. According to my grandmother, she wanted her sons to be gentlemen and wanted them to attend college. My great grandfather Joe Magruder Tucker was sent to college at Bethel. Her children were well educated and groomed to be leaders of their community. Her son Joe ended up being mayor of the town of Ripley. I believe that a lot of the success of the Tuckers is due to her. After meeting her, for example, her husband’s life improved greatly. After her daughters got married she lived with them. In her old age, she lived with Daisy Tucker in St. Louis, Missouri where she died in 1917. She was buried in Ripley, Tennessee.
I would have really loved to get to know her. She seems well read and interesting contrasting every stereotype of the stiff woman of the Victorian age who can’t even read newspapers. (I think Ida Majors might have been raised in this way as she was described as “sheltered”) I know she named her son Aubre after a character in a Romance novel! I would love to see a picture of her (she was described as being elegant and graceful) and would like to know what illness she has that kept her in bed for so long. After I have babies my pelvic bones split making it difficult to walk. I wonder if she had the same problem. The cane is a big clue. Right now I am focusing on her grandmother’s, Catherine Magruder, family.
This is the only picture of her that I know of. She is standing in front of her home, Tucker Hill.
These are pictures of my grandparents right around the time they got married.
CHARLES HENRY LEE 1920- 2005
FRANCES TUCKER
NANCY JOHNSON AND JIM ETHERIDGE
This is either a picture of Jospeh Magruder Tucker Sr. or Joseph Magruder Tucker Jr from Ripley, TN.
