Elbert County GaArchives News.....Old Dan Tucker Lived in Elbert May 1908
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Alisa Dunn ardunn91@gmail.com September 11, 2023, 3:57 pm

The Elberton Star May 1908
Was a preacher and one of the first settlers in our county.

"Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Went down the river in a frying pan,
Combed his head with a wagon wheel,
And died with the toothache in his heel!"

If there was a man, woman or child within the bounds of The Star's circulation who 
has not heard of Old Dan Tucker, he or she has missed the catchiest tune ever 
sawed from a crazy fiddle by an old grandfather, or a winter's evening, in his 
accustomed corner by the fire.

Many there are, who will tell you Old Dan Tucker is a myth; that he never shot the 
dangerous rapids of the mighty rushing "Salwanner"--as Mr. Willet calls it--in a 
frying pan; that he did not comb his floating locks of half-read hair with an ox-
cart wheel, and couldn't possibly have died from the effects of a toothache in the 
heel. But then, there are those who even doubt the existence of Santa Claus!

Rev. Daniel Tucker was born the fourteenth of February, 1740; was one of the first 
settlers of this country, having come to our bank of the Savannah near Cherokee, 
when a young man. Dying in 1818--lies buried on top of a hill overlooking the 
river at the old McCalla ferry place: from where the washing roar of the river is 
as soothing to the tired nerves as the imagined roar to Heaven is to the soul of a 
weary saint.

Whether this is the "Old Dan Tucker," sung of by bards of old, cannot be said. It 
can be said, however, that there was an "Old Dan Tucker," and the doubting 
Thomases, who are prone to deny the existence of many things affording pleasure to 
the fancy of children, have convincing proof in the monument of soap-stone 
containing the inscription:

"Sakred to the Memory of the Rev. Danuel Tucker. Born Feb. 14, 1740. Dp. his life 
April 7, 1818. Age 78"

And Atlanta cannot lay claim to the distinction of having his remains buried 
within her limits!

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/elbert/newspapers/olddantu2946gnw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 2.4 Kb