Age: [40]
Forlorn Hope, First and Fourth Reliefs
b. abt 1806-07 in Culpepper, VA
m1. 08 Jan 1828 to Delia Compton
m2. abt 1840 to Mary Coleman
m3. 1856 to Elizabeth Newman
m4. 1875 to Mary Thompson
d. 02 May 1888 in Goleta, Santa Barbara Co., CA (82)
Overland emigrant of 1846; member of the Smith Company, with which the Graves family had traveled. Tucker served with the Donner rescue efforts for 39 days and earned $117.00.
A granddaughter described Tucker as “six feet three inches tall, very strong, and heavy weight,” a man of great determination and always friendly and kind. Louis Keseberg said that Tucker was the only member of the Fourth Relief who showed him any compassion.
Like many other 1846ers, Tucker settled in the upper Napa Valley, across the road from M. D. Ritchie, but in 1872 lost his extensive holdings when the contract he had entered into in 1848 was declared invalid. He moved to Santa Barbara County and started over. When he died in 1888, Tucker had outlived three of his four wives, by whom was the father of ten children.
Reason mined in the Mother Lode but was not successful and turned his attention to farming. About 1851 he built a home near this spot that became a social center. In 1853 he sold about an acre of his land on which was built the first church in Napa Valley.
In 1872, Reason lost everything but his livestock in a land ownership case in the wake of the turmoil created by the verification of Mexican land grants. He moved to San Francisco, then to Goleta where at age 66 he once began anew.
For more information about the Tucker family, see Barbara Neelands, “Reason P. Tucker: The Quiet Pioneer.” Napa County Historical Society Gleanings 4:2 (1989).
First wife, and their four children:
Delilah Compton
b: ABT 1808 in Culpeper County, VA
d. ABT 1836 in Ohio
Mary Ann, b. OCT 1830 in Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA
George Washington, b. 12/15/1831 in Zanesville, Muskingum Co, OH
John Wesley, b. 1/26/1833, Zanesville, Muskingum Co, OH
Stephen F., b. 5/16/1834 in Zanesville, Muskingum Co, OH
Second wife, and their four children:
Mary Ann Coleman
b. 1824 in Pennsylvania; d. 1893
Born in Illinois City, Rock Island Co, IL:
Reason Dease, b. 12/21/1840
Alcinda, b. 8/10/1842
Burd, b. 7/25/1844
William B., b. JUL 1846
Third wife, and their daughter, Arnetta:
Elizabeth Newman
b. 1826 in Maine
d. ABT 1875 in Calistoga, Napa Co, CA
Arnetta Elizabeth Tucker (Arnetta may also be Rneta)
b. 11/8/1863 in Calistoga, Napa County, CA
d. 11/13/1946 in Los Angeles County, CA
Burial: Pioneer Cemetery, Napa County, CA
Arnetta married Achilles W. Hill and they had eight children all born in CA:
children:
Jesse R., b. 2/10/1883
Lena E., b. 7/19/1884 in Lakeport, Lake Co
Myrtle R., b. 6/121888
George Washington, b. 9/22/1891
Carl Delano, b. 3/22/1894
Raymond A., b. 12/21/1895
Stanley A., b. 9/14/1897
Melvin Louis, b. 11/8/1903
Sources:
New Light on the Donner Party, Kristin Johnson
Ordeal By Hunger, George Stewart
The marker reads:
Reason P. Tucker
Born in Virginia in 1806, Reason moved west in successive leaps and arrived in California in 1846 escaping by one day the Sierra snow that trapped the Donner Party. “Captain” Tucker led the first and participated in, later rescue efforts. Reason mined in the Mother Lode but was not successful and turned his attention to farming. About 1851 he built a home near this spot that became a social center. In 1853 he sold about an acre of his land on which was built the first church in Napa Valley. In 1872, Reason lost everything but his livestock in a land ownership case in the wake of the turmoil created by the verification of Mexican land grants. He moved to San Francisco, then to Goleta where at age 66 he once began anew. He died at age 82 and is buried in Goleta Cemetery.
Plaque Dedicated By
Sam Brannan Chapter #1004
E Clampus Vitus
March 16, 1996
