Charles K. Tuckerman Explained

Charles Keating Tuckerman
Office:	United States Ambassador to Greece
President:	Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant
Term Start:	March 11, 1868
Term End:	November 4, 1871
Predecessor:	Created
Successor:	John M. Francis
Birth Date:	11 March 1827
Birth Place:	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Place:	Florence, Italy
Spouse:	Mary Fleming
Parents:	Henry Harris Tuckerman Ruth Lyman Keating
Children:	Arthur Lyman Tuckerman
Education:	Boston Latin School
Relations:	Charles K. Tuckerman (brother) Edward Tuckerman (cousin) Samuel P. Tuckerman (cousin) Frederick Tuckerman (cousin)

Charles Keating Tuckerman (March 11, 1827 – February 26, 1896) was an American diplomat, author and the first American minister resident to Greece.

Early life and family

Charles Keating Tuckerman was born on March 11, 1827, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was educated at Boston Latin School.

His first cousins included Edward Tuckerman, the botanist, Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, the composer, and Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, the poet.^[1]

Career

After spending his 20s working overseas, he returned to the United States in 1856, settling in New York City, where he directed the New York Institution for the Blind.

President Andrew Johnson asked Tuckerman in 1867 to be the American minister resident to Greece, because of Tuckerman's experience overseas. The Senate refused initially to confirm Tuckerman's nomination, but he was officially appointed on March 11, 1868, and presented his credentials on June 16, 1868.^[2] Tuckerman was the first American diplomat ever posted to Greece. While there, he helped improve trading relations between Greece and the United States. His resignation in 1871 was delayed for six months by President Ulysses S. Grant, who wanted to keep Tuckerman on the job and presented recall on November 4, 1871.^[2] Tuckerman returned to the United States after his Greek posting.

Writings

Tuckerman wrote three books:

• The Greeks of To-day (published in 1872 by G.P. Putnam & Sons)^[3]
• Miscellaneous Poems (published in 1880 by Moxon, Saunders and Co.)^[4]
• Personal Recollections of Notable People at Home and Abroad (published in 1895 in two volumes by Dodd Mead)^[5]

Personal life

In 1858, Tuckerman married Mary Fleming. Together they had:

• Arthur Lyman Tuckerman (1861–1892),^[6] an architect who wrote three books: A Short History of Architecture (1887),^[7] Design (1891),^[8] and Selections of Works of Architecture and Sculpture Belonging Chiefly to the Period of the Renaissance in Italy (1891).^[9]

Tuckerman died in Florence, Italy, on February 26, 1896.^[10]

External links

• Google Books version of the 1910 National Cyclopaedia of American Biography
• "Political characteristics of the modern Greeks," an article written by Charles Tuckerman for Harper's Magazine in 1872.
• Design by Arthur Lyman Tuckerman, digitized by Internet Archive

Notes and References

1. Book: Tuckerman, Frederick Goddard; ed. by N. Scott Momaday . The Complete Poems of Frederick Goddard Tuckerman . Oxford University Press . New York . 1965 . xvii.
2. Web site: Charles Keating Tuckerman - People - Department History - Office of the Historian. history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State. 13 September 2016.
3. Book: Tuckerman. Charles K. The Greeks of to-day.. G.P. Putnam & Sons. English. 1 January 1872. 513556.
4. Book: Tuckerman. Charles K. Miscellaneous poems. Moxon, Saunders and Co.. English. 1 January 1880. 35073039.
5. Book: Tuckerman. Charles K. Personal recollections of notable people at home and abroad.. Dodd Mead. English. 1 January 1895. 676741.
6. Web site: Tuckerman. Arthur Lyman. Design. New York, W. T. Comstock. 13 September 2016. 1 January 1891.
7. Book: Tuckerman. Arthur Lyman. A short history of architecture. C. Scribner's Sons. English. 1 January 1887. 2511707.
8. Book: Tuckerman. Arthur Lyman. Design. W.T. Comstock. English. 1 January 1891. 1024062.
9. Book: Tuckerman. Arthur Lyman. Selections of works of architecture and sculpture belonging chiefly to the period of the Renaissance in Italy. W.T. Comstock. English. 1 January 1891. 63014277.
10. News: Charles Keating Tuckerman Dead.. 13 September 2016. The New York Times. February 28, 1896.