Background
He was born in Boston to Edward Francis Tuckerman and Sophia May. His siblings were Edward Tuckerman, the botanist and Amherst professor, Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, the poet, and Sophia May (Tuckerman) Eckley.
He was born in Boston to Edward Francis Tuckerman and Sophia May. His siblings were Edward Tuckerman, the botanist and Amherst professor, Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, the poet, and Sophia May (Tuckerman) Eckley.
He attended Chauncy Hall School in Boston. He studied with Charles Zeuner, and was then for several years organist at Saint Paul"s Church, Boston.
Samuel married Mary Olivia Edwards Perry on October 15, 1845. They had a daughter, Mary Perry, born November 11, 1846. During this time he published The Episcopal Harp (1844) and The National Lyre (1848), the latter with Silas A. Bancroft and Henry K. Oliver.
He went to England in 1849, and the degree of Music.
Doctor was conferred on him by the archbishop of Canterbury in 1853. In the preceding year he had received a diploma from the Academy of Saint Cecilia in Rome.
After returning to the United States he lectured on sacred music, and gave performances of church music of the period from the 4th to the 19th centuries. He went again to England in 1856, and a third time in 1868, returning in 1879.
He died in Newport, Rhode Island and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.