Henry Holcombe Tucker, D.D., LL.D
Namesake of the Tucker Baptist Association
Minutes of the meeting to form “a new association…in Mitchell County and its
borders”, at Pelham on November 29, 1893.
“The committee on Name recommended that the association be called the Tucker Association in honor to the memory of the lamented Dr. H.H. Tucker. The report of the committee was unanimously adopted.”
Dr. Tucker was born on May 10th, 1819, in Warren County, Georgia, near a place on the Georgia Railroad called “Camak”. He lived in Philadelphia, with occasional
interruptions, until he was eighteen or nineteen years old.
He died in Atlanta, Georgia on September 9th, 1889.
Dr. Tucker’s ancestors came originally from Virginia. His paternal grandfather,
Isaiah Tucker was born in Amherst County, Virginia around 1761. Moving to Georgia in early life, he settled in Warren County, where he married Sarah Gibson. Germaine Tucker, his eldest son and Henry’s father, was born in 1794 and died at twenty-seven, leaving two small children, one of whom soon died.
His maternal grandfather, the Rev. Henry Holcombe, D.D., also of Virginia was a respected Baptist Leader.
His father, Germaine Tucker, was the son of a wealthy planter and did not live long enough to distinguish himself. His mother, Frances Henrietta Holcombe Tucker, became a Mrs. Hoff after Germaine’s death. She spent many years in Philadelphia, but died in Atlanta on April 14th, 1877.
Dr. Tucker was converted in 1835 at the age of sixteen. He was Baptized in the Delaware River by Dr. William T. Brantley, Sr. Transferring from the University of Pennsylvania to Columbian College, Washington, D.C., he graduated with an A.B. in 1838. From 1839-1842 he was engaged in mercantile business in Charleston, S.C. 1842-1846 he studied Law. 1846-1848, he practiced law in Forsyth in Monroe, Georgia.
While in Forsyth, he married Mary Catherine West, who lived less than a year afterwards. A heartbroken mourner, he turned to the Bible for comfort.
During this time, he became convinced that he should enter the ministry. He sold his new law books, was licensed by Dr. John L. Dagg, President of Mercer University.
Much pressure was brought to bear on him, at this time, to become an educator. He reluctantly yielded and became a teacher of young women for two or three years at Southern Female College in Lagrange, Georgia.
He was ordained in Lagrange in 1851. The ministers composing the presbytery were: C.D. Mallary, James O. Screven, William A. Callaway and B.T. Smith.
Tucker accepted the pastorate of the Alexandria (Virginia) Baptist Church January 1st, 1854. The following year he declined the presidency of Wake Forest College.
While in Alexandria, Henry married Sarah O. Stevens, an excellent and accomplished wife.
1856 – 1862, Tucker taught at Mercer University.
1866 – 1867, He edited the Christian Index.
1867 – 1871, He was president of Mercer. During this time the school moved from Penfield to Macon, with his promotion of the move.
1871, he began 14 months visit to Europe. Here he assisted in the formation of the Rome Baptist Church and baptized a man in the Tiber River, maybe the first time since the Apostles.
1874 – 1878, he was Chancellor of the University of Georgia.
1879, he became Editor of The Christian Index.
Popular as an eloquent preacher, Tucker was in demand all along the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to Georgia. He was in much demand as a lecturer and teacher, even in his senior years.
1889, Henry Holcombe Tucker died in Atlanta, Georgia.
