Bayard Tuckerman

Background

Bayard Tuckerman was the son of Lucius and Elizabeth Wolcott (Gibbs) Tuckerman. He was born on July 2, 1855 in New York City. Through his father, an iron manufacturer, son of the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, he was descended from John Tuckerman who came to Massachusetts Bay about 1649; his mother, daughter of the elder George Gibbs and sister of the younger George and of Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, was a granddaughter of Oliver Wolcott, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Education

Having studied with private tutors, Bayard Tuckerman spent two years at the Pension Roulet at Neuchetel, Switzerland, before entering Harvard College, where he graduated with the class of 1878.

Career

Returning to Paris the year of his graduation, he soon undertook a serious study of English literature, producing after four years A History of English Prose Fiction from Sir Thomas Malory to George Eliot, published in New York in 1882. While this volume has long since been superseded, it was much esteemed by the author's contemporaries.

His Life of General Lafayette (2 vols. , 1889), a thorough, careful, and interesting biography, written in a clear and unpretentious style, was the first account of Lafayette based upon an adequate, modern critical apparatus. The same year was marked by his publication of The Diary of Philip Hone, 1828-1851 in two volumes; this was a satisfactory collection of excerpts from Hone's voluminous diary, but otherwise the editing was slight, for Tuckerman's edition contains almost no notes.

In 1893 he published, in the Makers of America Series, a biography, Peter Stuyvesant, which was useful and well-written, but hardly an important contribution to American historiography.

His William Jay and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of Slavery (1894) was a significant addition to the literature of the anti-slavery movement, for it was based upon voluminous manuscript materials that have never been utilized by any other historian.

His Life of General Philip Schuyler, 1733-1804 (1903), although still standard in its field, is not marked by any great biographical skill, but it was based upon valuable manuscript materials which have since been scattered and probably lost.

Although Tuckerman later compiled two small genealogies-Notes on the Tuckerman Family of Massachusetts (privately printed, 1914) and A Sketch of the Cotton Smith Family of Sharon, Connecticut (privately printed, 1915)-his book on Schuyler was his last important literary production.

Increasing ill health prevented the completion of a history of chivalry, upon which he had spent several years of research. From 1898 to 1907 Tuckerman lectured on English literature at Princeton University, but while he enjoyed academic life his first choice was for the quiet and severe life of the country, and a private income made him independent and permitted him to indulge his inclinations.

He died on October 20, 1923 in Ipswich.

Achievements

• Bayard Tuckerman has been listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Life of General Philip Schuyler, 1733-1804

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • A History of English Prose Fiction

    (This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a...)

  • Life of General Lafayette

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • William Jay, and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of Slavery

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The Diary Of Philip Hone, 1828-1851 V1 (1889)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The Diary Of Philip Hone, 1828-1851 V2 (1889)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Membership

Among the clubs and societies to which Mr. Tuckerman belonged were the Century, Sons of the Revolution and Society of Colonial Wars.

Connections

He married Annie Osgood Smith in 1882; they had four children, among whom was Bayard Tuckerman, Jr. , a noted jockey.

Father:

Lucius Tuckerman

(1818–1890)

Mother:

Elizabeth Wolcott Gibbs Tuckerman

(1819–1906)

Spouse:

Annie Cotton Smith Tuckerman*

(1862–1951)

child:

Bayard Tuckerman, Jr.

child:

May Appleton Tuckerman Kinnicutt*

(1886–1947)

References

• The Gibbs family of Rhode Island: And some related families