Donated by Mary Kwas
Gaines Tucker and his wife, Estelle “Essie” Dill West Tucker, used this handmade fireplace poker at their home in the Dean community near Metalton (Carroll County). After Gaines Tucker lost his job during the Great Depression, the Tuckers moved to the Ozarks from North Carolina in the early 1930s. They bought an old cabin on ten acres in Carroll County, where Gaines farmed and Essie ran a second-hand clothing shop out of their home to help make ends meet. Gaines died in 1940 and Essie stayed on in the cabin until her death in 1951.
Closeup of handle and poker end.