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Note: Photographed in Easton, PA. According to Henrietta Wilhelmina Tucker's obituary, he fought under Napoleon Bonaparte and took part in the retreat of the Grand Army from the Kremlin in Moscow in 1812. Family lore says that it was because of his forced military experience that he came to America so that his children would never have to know that difficulty. Assuming his service in Napoleon's army is true, he was one of less than 10,000 who survived the march into Russia of the half million men who marched against the tsar. (Source: "Essay on Leadership" by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.) His entry in the county death registry says he lived in Illinois for 14 years (in 1879 indicating he arrived around 1865) but note that his son's death entry only a year later says he lived in Illinois for 12 years (which would be 1868). Either they didn't come together or one of the entries is incorrect. William’s entry is likely correct based upon his children’s census indications of the states in which they were born. According to the History of St. Johns Church, Watseka, Illinois (the land for which was donated by the Tuckers), soon after the end of the Civil War in 1865, the first German Lutheran settlers came to Ash Grove Township. Those who settled in this part of the township were mostly from the German province of Ostfriesland. If this is where the Tuckers were from, it would also be consistent with the above story about serving under Napolean. In 1806 East Frisia (now called Oostfreesland) was annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland and later became part of the French Empire. Most of East Frisia was renamed the Département Ems-Oriental, while a small strip of land, the Rheiderland, became part of the Dutch Département Ems-Occidental. The French Emperor Napoléon I undertook the greatest reform of Frisian society in history: He introduced mayors, where the local administration was still in the hands of autonomous groups of elders (like the Diekgreven, Kerkenolderlings etc.), introduced the Code Civil and reformed the ancient Frisian naming system by newly introducing family names in 1811. In the following years the East Frisians registered their family names, often depending on their father's name, area or (if unfree) master. After the Napoleonic Wars East Frisia was occupied first by Prussian and Russian soldiers since 1813, and re-annexed by Prussia. However, in 1815, Prussia had to cede East Frisia to the Kingdom of Hanover, which itself was annexed by Prussia in 1866. [Note there may be other children but his son is the only known descendant.]
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