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1850-1922
GUSN-287722
Series III, Papers of Mary Geraldine (Mollie) Armstrong Tucker (1841-1922), 1850-1922, is divided into two sections, correspondence and literary productions. The correspondence is extensive, covering Mollie Tucker's life span from her years as a student at St. Joseph's Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland (1852-1856) through her adulthood until her death. Letters written to her husband Captain Richard Holbrook Tucker are interfiled with her husband's letters in Series II, while this series includes letters to friends, and most significantly, a wealth of correspondence to her five children. This series also includes Mollie's 1889 published song "At the Tryst."
manuscripts (document genre)
correspondence
sheet music
Family papers (18 folders)
MS033
Tucker family papers
MS033.003
Gift
Gift of Jane Standen Tucker, 1998.
Wiscasset (Lincoln county, Maine)
Gardiner (Kennebec county, Maine)
Chicago (Cook county, Illinois)
Tucker, Mary Geraldine, 1841-1922
manuscripts (document genre)
correspondence
sheet music
Tucker, Mary Geraldine, 1841-1922
Tucker, Richard Holbrook, 1816-1895
Tucker, Mary Mellus, 1858-1899
Tucker, R. H. (Richard Hawley), 1859-1952
Tucker, William Armstrong, 1864-1926
Tucker, Jane Armstrong, 1866-1964
Series
Known as "Mollie," Mary Geraldine (Armstrong) Tucker (1841-1922) was the daughter of Joseph Armstrong and Mary Louisa (Carr) Armstrong. Mollie had grown up in Gardiner, Maine, where her parents ran a grand hotel. After her father's mental breakdown and subsequent death in 1850, she moved with her mother and sister to Chicago, where her mother ran a boarding house. During most of this time, Mollie boarded at St. Joseph's School in Emmitsburg, Maryland (1852-1856). Mollie was only sixteen when she married forty-one-year-old Captain Richard Tucker in 1857. The Tuckers had six children during their marriage, five of whom survived to adulthood: Mary Mellus Tucker (1858-1899), Richard Hawley Tucker, III (1859-1952), Martha Armstrong Tucker (1861-1893), Matilda Wood Tucker (1862-1863), William Armstrong Tucker (1864-1926), and Jane Armstrong Tucker (1866-1964). While her husband spent a fair amount of time away from Wiscasset managing various business ventures, Mollie was more closely confined to the home and the duties of housekeeping and childrearing. In the 1880s and 1890s, when the family's financial situation was especially strained, Mollie attempted to use her home as a source of income. She tried selling her homemade preserves, piccalilli, and apple pie filling. In the early 1890s Mollie and several of her adult children opened Castle Tucker to summer boarders, hoping to take advantage of Maine's growing tourist population. Like her husband's efforts, Mollie's also did little more than keep the family afloat.
This series is divided into two subseries:
Subseries A. Correspondence
Subseries B. Literary Productions
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