Old Dan Tucker

Do you remember the folk song, Old Dan Tucker? Did you know he was a real man? Although Dan Emmett is credited with writing the song in 1893 for a traveling show, some people in Randolph County, North Carolina, believe the song has been around much longer. For generations they have heard that Dan Tucker lived most of his life in their area.

Dan Tucker was born in London in 1714. When he was six years old, his parents came to the American colonies and settled in Bath, North Carolina.

A building still remaining in Bath

Old Dan Tucker began early in life
To play the banjo and the fife.
He'd play the boys and girls to sleep,
Then into his own bunk he'd creep.

At twenty-six, he met and married Margaret DeVane, an attractive lady of French descent who lived in Bath. He and his new wife decided to move west. They settled in what would later become the Spero community, just north of today's Asheboro, North Carolina.

Old Dan Tucker would come to town
Swingin' the ladies all around,
First to the right and then to the left,
And then to the one he loved best.

Dan build them a log cabin in a wooded area near a clear spring. The nearest neighbor lived over three miles away, and the nearest store was about a hundred miles.

Old Dan Tucker climbed a tree,
His closest neighbor for to see.
The limb did break, and Dan did fall;
Never got to see his neighbor at all.

Dan planted a garden, hunted, fished, and trapped. About once a year he would take his furs into Johnstonville, a hundred miles away and get supplies.

I came to town the other night
To hear the noise and see the sights.
The watchman was runnin' all around
Cryin' "Old Dan Tucker's comin' to town."


Old Dan Tucker came to town
Ridin' a goat and leadin' a hound.
The hound gave a bark; the goat gave a jump.
And Old Dan Tucker was left straddlin' a stump.

Old Dan Tucker went to the mill
To get some meal to put in his swill.
The miller swore by the blade of his knife
He'd never seen such a man in his life.

Over the years others came to the area, and cabins began to dot the rolling countryside. Dan's neighbors liked him. He had the reputation of being honest, thrifty, caring, and holding a good sense of humor.

Old Dan Tucker never did fall out   

With any of his neighbors all about.
You could really call the man genteel,
Fo he always gave the fairest deal.

When Margaret died before Dan, he lived alone. Over the years, he became more eccentric. His neighbors began to joke about him and sung exaggerated songs to be funny.

Get out of the way, Old Dan Tucker.
You came too late to get your supper.
Get out of the way, Old Dan Tucker.
You came too late to get your supper.

When Dan was a hundred years old, he stepped on a sharp rock while plowing his field barefooted. It embedded in the flesh, so he sat down and cut it out with his pocketknife and continued plowing. His foot became infected, and he died from lockjaw.

Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with a toothache in his heel.

At the wake, his neighbors remembered Dan with food, stories, and songs. He would have enjoyed it immensely. 

History is still not clear on what is fact and what is fiction about Old Dan Tucker. But people in the community, which took in the land that used to be Dan's, say that on crisp winter days and on moonlight summer nights they can hear someone whistling through the forests. Could it be the legend, Old Dan Tucker?

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