Posted by Mark Tooker on September 15, 19101 at 22:58:24:
It was a great suprise to me reading the famous
Diary of Samuel Pepys, in the most famous entries,
covering the 1666 Great Fire of London, to find
that a "Mr. Tooker" is mentioned. It seems that
he provided a lighter (a small boat or barge) to
help evacuate Pepys' possessions from London to
safety. My uncle took the wind out of my sails
a little bit when I told him this, because he has
known this for a long time. Perhaps this is "old
news" in the Tooker Genealogy circles?
Here is an angle that you may find interesting
- I apologize if this is running over familiar ground -
Pepys was a high-level bureaucrat in the Royal Navy,
and it is possible therefore that Mr. Tooker's
lighter was either a Naval vessel or perhaps
that of a Naval contractor. One of Pepys' closest
associates in the Navy was Sir George Carteret,
whose son Phillip Carteret is said to have recruited
a Charles Tooker in 1664 "...to help
settle a new colony to be established in New Jersey
which had recently been seized from the Dutch."
(http://ww1.comteck.com/~tdtw98a/tucker.htm).
Perhaps the connection between Tuckers/Tookers and
the Carterets goes back to a family of Tookers
living in or near London, who operated boats on
the Thames and had a connection to the Navy.
I know this is a long line of speculation, but
if there was a connection between the New Jersey
Tookers and a family of Tookers connected to the
Navy on the Thames, this could very possibly
lead to the family of George Tucker of Milton-next-
Gravesend, Kent (only about 20 miles downstream
from London).
I would like to hear your comments and speculations!