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Daisy Eleanor Tuckey

















'She found the wide open prairies a big change and was very afraid of the howling coyotes,' writes Pat Psooy, a Canadian Swindon Advertiser reader.

A far cry from Park Ground Farm in Wootton Bassett, part of the extensive Meux Estate sold in 1906, where Pat's grandmother, Daisy Eleanor Tuckey spent most of her childhood.

Reading Remember When articles about Robert Ernest Plummer Tuckey who set sail for Australia in 1877 and the Rev. Henry Edward Tuckey who took his bride to New Zealand in 1859 set Pat wondering if these adventurous Tuckeys might be connected to her own Canadian explorers.

The prosperous Tuckey family arrived in Swindon from Gloucestershire in the mid 17th century and figured prominently in local affairs. Through carefully negotiated marriages and shrewd property deals the family held considerable influence in the small market town.

Robert Thomas John Bailey Tuckey, Daisy's father, born in 1856 at Shaw House in the former parish of Lydiard Millicent, boasted the names of several of his wealthy forebears. However, by the end of the 19th century Tuckey family fortunes were on the slide.

Born at Cotmarsh Farm, Broad Town on February 15, 1883, the eldest daughter of Robert and his wife Emma, a life of leisure was not an option for young Daisy.

One of her jobs was in a cheese factory, which saw her travelling to cheese markets in London and by 1901 she was working as a domestic servant for sisters Maria and Louisa Douglas in St. Giles, Oxford.

But it was Daisy's cousin Clayton Freeman who proved to be the catalyst for her great big adventure.

The son of Daisy's father's sister Sarah, Clayton had worked briefly in the GWR Works and decided a job 'inside' was not for him. When an elder brother returned to take his place on the family farm, Clayton left for a new life in Canada.

He was obviously taken by the Canadian lifestyle, encouraging not only Daisy but three other cousins to join him there as well.

Daisy arrived at Moose Jaw, a former Cree fur trader's camp, in Saskatchewan in 1911, the first stopping off point for all five Tuckey immigrants.

Perhaps she had second thoughts about settling in this vast country, but a trip back to England in 1913 left her feeling closed in, says Pat, and she never returned.

Daisy married William Brander in 1916. The couple settled in a farming community south of Moose Jaw where they had four children, Phyllis (Pat's mother), Jane, Archibald and James.

Today the travelling Tuckey's are still on the move. 'One of Daisy's grandsons works in Oman,' says Pat, 'and three of her great grandsons have lived in Mexico, Australia and Korea.'

Pat's Canadian branch of the Tuckey family is connected to both Rev. Henry Edward and road building Robert Ernest Plummer Tuckey through a common 18th century ancestor, Richard Tuckey and his wife Joanna Phelps of Lower Shaw Farm.



Images - a picture postcard view of Moose Jaw taken around the time Daisy emigrated in 1911
Lower Shaw Farm where Daisy's wealthy family lived in the 18th century

If you enjoyed this you might like to read 

 Tuckey Family History Research 

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