MAJ. JOHN F. RUCKER.
Maj. John F. Rucker, one of the most prominent and influential business men of Sturgeon, was born in Amherst county, Virginia, September 19th, 1838. He is the son of John D. and Lucy J. (nee Tinsley) Rucker. Maj. Rucker came to Sturgeon in 1858, where he remained until the war. He joined Company C. which was raised in that place. He was afterwards made a lieutenant in a St. Louis regiment commanded by Col. Kelly. He entered the service in 1861, at Jefferson City. He was at Boonville and Lexington, went South with the army and participated in the battles of Carthage and Wilson Creek. He was also in the battle of Drywood, and a number of other skirmishes and battles of less note. Came home after the surrender of Lexington, and was captured by the enemy and imprisoned at Macon City. He was released on parole, but was soon afterwards re-arrested on a charge of treason and conspiracy, having been indicted by the United States Court. He was taken to St. Louis and put in jail. Giving bail he was released from prison. He attended several terms of the United States Court but his case was not called up. A compromise was at last agreed upon by which Maj. Rucker, was banished to Montana during the war. While in Montana he was elected chief clerk of the legislature and also a member of the territorial constitutional convention. At the close of the war Maj. Rucker returned to Virginia, and after a short stay in the Old Dominion, he returned to Sturgeon, where he has lived ever since.
He was married, August 28th, 1867, to Miss Julia, daughter of Col. William Early Rucker, of Audrain County, Missouri. Four sons were born of this marriage. Their names are Booker H., Guy Lockridge, Early D., and Ray. The first wife dying, March 30th, 1879, he was married, May 18th, 1880, to Miss Frankie D., daughter of Carter Dingle, of Mexico, Audrain county, Missouri. Maj. and Mrs. Rucker are both members of the Methodist Church South. He has been superintendent of the Sunday school for fourteen years. Has always been a Democrat in politics. Has held the office of chairman of the Congressional Central Committee for five or six years past. In 1875 he was elected to the convention to form a new State constitution representing the Ninth Senatorial District. It was a free race and there were a number of candidates, including Col. Switzler, who was also elected. The Major is, practically speaking, a self-made man. He is a public-spirited citizen in the truest sense of the term, and has been an earnest laborer in the cause of immigration. He suggested the main points in the immigration bill. He is a director of the Sturgeon bank and has been for several years. He and Mr. Sherwood W. Turner own a controlling interest in the business. He is the leading man in the firm of Rucker & Turner, a store that is doing a large business. They also have an extensive trade in railroad ties.