yesterday's tennessee

MALINDA CAROLINE IVEY TUCKER

Brenda Kirk Fiddler

Malinda C. Tucker at Her Spinning Wheel

Busy in 1930 at her spinning wheel on the front porch in the Poplar Springs community, Henderson County, Tennessee, Malinda C. Tucker was engaged in a craft at which she was experienced. When her father, John Jasper Ivey, a Confederate soldier who fought in Middle Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama — part of the time with "that devil Forrest" — returned home to Bath Springs, Decatur County, in 1865, he had just one gift for his three small daughters: a pair of scissors. Since five-year-old "Lindy" could already cut the best patterns, he gave her the scissors and instructed her to make bonnets for Lizzie, Alice and Ora.

In 1879 Malinda married a neighbor boy, Alexander Lafayette Tucker, grandson of the community blacksmith. When his father, James Jackson Tucker, had attempted to enlist, following his brother Solomon into war, James stated that he was a miller and had 62 sheep. He was immediately sent home "to make bread and Reb suits for the soldier boys."

Eight children kept Lindy busy carding, spinning and weaving and quilting while her husband toiled in the cotton and corn fields. Her tiny stitching pieced together countless pieces cut from homespun clothing to store brought fabrics into beautifully designed bed covers including the Irish Chain. Until becoming totally blind for the last two years of her life, she continued her craft. She died in 1951 at the age of 91 years.

Additional photographs from the collection of Brenda Kirk Fiddler