Tooker History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The name Tooker finds its origins with the ancient Anglo-Saxons of England. It was given to one who worked as a fuller, whose job it was to scour and thicken raw cloth by beating it and trampling it in water having derived from the Old English word tucian, which originally meant to torment and later gained the meaning to tuck or to full. 1 Occasionally, the name Tooker was a nickname surname given to a courageous person.
Early Origins of the Tooker family
The surname Tooker was first found in Devon. "Tucker is a very characteristic west of England name. Its great home is in Devonshire, and it is especially numerous in the Barnstaple district. It is also found in numbers in Somerset, and occurs too, but much less frequently, in Cornwall, Dorset, Hants, and Wilts. Tucker was the west of England name for a fuller. " 2
As to agree with aforementioned, another source notes: "Tucker is still a great West country surname, being very strongly represented in Devon, Wiltshire, and Dorset. " 3
The earliest record found for the family was Roger le Tukere, who was listed in the Hundredorum, Rolls for Dorset in 1273. 3
Early History of the Tooker family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tooker research. Another 122 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1557, 1558, 1565, 1590, 1592, 1601, 1614, 1621, 1623, 1625, 1654, 1664, 1676 and 1741 are included under the topic Early Tooker History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Tooker Spelling Variations
The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore, spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Tooker has been recorded under many different variations, including Tucker, Tooker, Toker, Tokker and others.
Early Notables of the Tooker family
Notables of the family at this time include
- William Tucker or Tooker (1558?-1621), English divine, born at Exeter in 1557 or 1558, the third son of William Tooker of that town. In 1590 he became rector of Clovelly in Devonshire, but resigned th...
- Giles Tooker (c 1565-1623), was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1614 and Edward Tooker (c. 1592-1664), was an English lawyer, landowner and politician...
- Sir Giles Tooker, 1st Baronet (c. 1625-1676) of Maddington in the County of Wiltshire held a title created for him on 1 July 1664. He died without issue and the title became extinct
Migration of the Tooker family to Ireland
Some of the Tooker family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 35 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Tooker migration to the United States +
For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Tooker or a variant listed above:
Tooker Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
- Henry Tooker, who arrived in Virginia in 1737 4
Tooker Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
- J. M. Tooker, aged 40, who settled in America, in 1892
- Emily M. Tooker, aged 22, who landed in America, in 1893
- Gabriel M. Tooker, aged 40, who landed in America, in 1895
Tooker Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
- Margaret Tooker, aged 18, who immigrated to the United States, in 1905
- Gertrude H. Tooker, who landed in America, in 1905
- Frank Tooker, aged 30, who immigrated to America, in 1906
- Gertrude Tooker, who immigrated to the United States, in 1907
- Anne Crawley Tooker, aged 40, who landed in America from London, England, in 1908
- ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Tooker migration to New Zealand +
Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:
Tooker Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
- Mr. Laurence Tooker, (b. 1831), aged 29, British farm labourer travelling from London aboard the ship "Gananoque" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 9th May 1860 5
Contemporary Notables of the name Tooker (post 1700) +
- Gary L. Tooker, American CEO of Motorola (1993 to 1995)
- George Clair Tooker Jr. (1920-2011), American figurative painter, one of nine recipients of the National Medal of Arts in 2007
- Edward Whalley- Tooker (1863-1940), English cricketer
- Rhiannon Rosalynd Tooker (b. 1990), Australian female volleyball player, member of the Australia women's national volleyball team in 2015
- Tooker Gomberg (1955-2004), Canadian politician and environmental activist
Citations +
- Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
- Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
- Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
- Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
- New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 17th October 2018). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html