Beverly Dandridge Tucker

Beverley Dandridge Tucker (1846-1930), was born on November 9, 1846 in  Richmond, Virginia and died January 17, 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia.  He is buried in the Zion Episcopal Churchyard, Charles Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Biographical Notes

CSA: Otey Battery 13th Virginia Atillery, Army of Northern Virginia.

Tucker became a minister of the Episcopal Church and eventually Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia which geographically encompasses Colonial Williamsburg. In 1905 Tucker delivered a sermon on the Continuity of the Life of the Church in a service inaugurating the restoration of the interior of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg to its colonial form and appearance.

Among the accolades Beverley Dandridge Tucker received was an honorary degree from William and Mary and a plaque in Bruton Parish that reads: "To the Glory of God and in memory of Beverley Dandridge Tucker, a bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia 1906-1930, this North Gallery formerly the slaves' or servants' gallery has been restored by Letitia Pate Evans in recognition of [Bishop Tucker's] lifelong work among the negro people."

Family

He is descended from a long line of American ancestors of English descent, the first American progenitor of which was one George Tucker of County Kent, England, who emigrated to Bermuda about the year 1619. George Tucker's descendant, lawyer and judge St. George Tucker, moved from Bermuda to Virginia in about 1770.[1] It is he for whom the St. George Tucker House in Colonial Williamsburg is named. This St. George Tucker was Beverley Dandridge's great grandfather.  

• From "Time" Magazine: Monday, Dec. 21, 1942

Beverly Dandridge Tucker married Maria Washington, daughter of Mount Vernon's last private owner and great-grandniece of George Washington. He begat 13 children and was the last Confederate soldier to sit in the Episcopal House of Bishops. Two sons have followed him there. Henry St. George Tucker and Bishop Beverley Dandridge Tucker Jr. of Ohio. Two other sons are U.S. rectors and two more missionaries in China.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverley_D._Tucker

Beverley Dandridge Tucker (November 9, 1846 – January 17, 1930) was the second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, and four of his sons also distinguished themselves within the Episcopal Church.

Early and family life

Born in Richmond, Virginia on November 9, 1846, Beverley Dandridge Tucker was one of eight children of Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (then a journalist and printer) and his second wife Jane Shelton Ellis (1820-1901). The Tuckers (and Dandridges) were among the First Families of Virginia, owned plantations and enslaved people, and were proud of their descent from English ancestors. George Tucker of County Kent, England, emigrated to Bermuda about the year 1619, and his descendant, lawyer and judge St. George Tucker (Tucker's great-grandfather), moved from Bermuda to Virginia in about 1770.

Tucker's father served as U.S. Consul in Liverpool, England, an important trading point for Virginia cotton, from 1857 until joining the Confederate cause in 1861 upon Virginia's secession from the Union. He then represented the Confederacy in the same locale. Young Beverley thus received his early education in English and Swiss schools, and also studied at the University of Toronto. During the American Civil War, Beverly Tucker returned to Virginia and enlisted in the Confederate States Army, becoming a private in the Otey battery and witnessing the final eighteen months of the Confederacy.

After the Confederacy was defeated, Tucker taught school for five years in Winchester, Virginia. He also took classes at the University of Toronto and taught school before entering the Virginia Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia in 1871, where he found his life's work and graduated in 1873. He received honorary degrees from Roanoke College in 1897 and from the College of William and Mary.

Tucker married Anna Maria Washington (1851-1927). They had 13 children including Episcopal minister and hymn composer, F. Bland Tucker; Beverley Dandridge Tucker the 6th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio and a Rhodes scholar; and Henry St. George Tucker, the 19th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and medical missionary Dr. Augustine Washington Tucker.

Career

Tucker became a minister of the Episcopal Church and bishop John Johns in 1873 assigned him to historic Lunenburg parish in Richmond County, Virginia, and continued as its rector until 1882. Rev. Tucker became a staunch Democrat and chaplain of the Pickett-Buchanan camp of Confederate Veterans. Rev. Tucker then accepted a position as rector of historic St. Paul's Church in Norfolk, Virginia, where he served until consecration as co-adjutor of the new diocese of Southern Virginia. In 1905 Rev. Tucker delivered a sermon on the Continuity of the Life of the Church in a service inaugurating the restoration of the interior of Bruton Parish Church in nearby Williamsburg to its colonial form and appearance. Tucker served on the Board of Visitors of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, as well as at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church beginning in 1892 as well as on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Virginia Theological Seminary.

In 1892, the Diocese of Virginia split, as had been contemplated for more than a decade, and Norfolk and Williamsburg were made part of the new Diocese of Southern Virginia, with Alfred Magill Randolph as its first bishop. To ensure continuity, Randolph asked for a co-adjutor in 1906, and Tucker was selected and consecrated by Randolph and several other bishops, including fellow former Confederate George William Peterkin, bishop of the Diocese of West Virginia. Tucker succeed as the diocesan bishop in 1918, upon Randolph's death. He then made Arthur C. Thomson, who had been consecrated as suffragan the previous year as Randolph's health deteriorated, as his co-adjutor. Tucker excelled at social interactions with wealthy potential donors, including Coca-Cola heiress and philanthropist Letitia Pate Whitehead Evans and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who helped establish Colonial Williamsburg.

Tucker also published several books, including Confederate Verses, Sketch of St. Paul's Church, Scattered Essays and Poems, and My Three Loves (1910).

Death and legacy

Tucker died in 1930 and was buried with his wife among her relatives in the churchyard of Zion Episcopal Church in Charles Town, West Virginia. A plaque in Bruton Parish recognizes Tucker's lifelong work among African-Americans.

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Sources 

1. Stella Pickett Hardy, "Colonial Families of the Southern States of America: A History and Genealogy of Colonial Families Who Settled in the Colonies prior to the Revolution," Baltimore, MD: Southern Book Co., 1958. 
2. 1900 Federal Census, Norfolk Ward 2, Norfolk City, VA. 
3. Nathaniel Beverley Tucker Papers, 1830-1903, at the College of William & Mary

Links

• http://www.palmspringsbum.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I315..., Findagrave, Wikipedia

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Birth: Nov. 9, 1846 Richmond City Virginia, USA Death: Jan. 17, 1930 Norfolk City Virginia, USA

CSA: Otey Battery 13th Virginia Atillery, Army of Northern Virginia Episcopal Bishop of Southern Virginia Son of Nathaniel Beverly Tucker and Jane Shelton Ellis. Married Anna Maria Washington, July 22, 1873 in Richmond, Virginia

From "Time" Magazine: Monday, Dec. 21, 1942

Beverly Dandridge Tucker married Maria Washington, daughter of Mount Vernon's last private owner and great-grandniece of George Washington. He begat 13 children and was the last Confederate soldier to sit in the Episcopal House of Bishops. Two sons have followed him there. Henry St. George Tucker and Bishop Beverley Dandridge Tucker Jr. of Ohio. Two other sons are U.S. rectors and two more missionaries in China.