Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-11-20
Cohee and Tuckahoe.

SALEh, VA
To he Editor of The DisDGtch:
VIII the DISPATCH please inform me as
to the origin and exact meaning OF the
terms "Cohee and Tuckahoe," which
are proyjucialsms that have been in use
in Virginia probably for hundred years,
as people older than myself have told me?
AS have understood it, the term Tuck
ahoe has been applied to persons living In
Eastern Virginia. including Tidewater,
Middle. and Piedmont, and the term Gomez
TO those living west of the Blue Ridge.
But tcsy were they respectively called
Cohees and Tuckahoes? / do not find
Colse in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary,
but do find T'sckdhOe with the following
definition: "A curious vegetable of the
southern States, on the Atlantic. growing
under the surface of the ground like
the truffie of Europe, sometimes called
Indian bread or Indian loaf. This seems
to throw soma light on the subject OF
INQUIRY, but it is not entirely satisfactory,
as it fails to show WHY Eastern Vlrginians
were called Tuckahoes. Can you refer me
to any authority on the suDiectl And can
you tell ne If this vegetable called Iucka-
hoe is now found in Vrginia!
AS TO Cohee ID seems probable that per-
sons liyiny west OF tha Blue Ridge we're so
called because 1t was mixsd population,
composed in part of Scotch-lrlsh and Ger
mans, as the term Hoosie' is applied TO citi-
zens OF Indiana, perhaps not for the same
reason, though for q similar one. +. j.
Tuckahoe is the name of one of the
streams IN Henrico and also of the seat of
one of the Randolph families. 1t is also
the name of places in New York, New Jer-
sew. and North Carolina. Indeed, Mr..
Charles B. Hayden says that it is oorrup-
ton of the Indian word Tucahowe, which
means 1.-The place where deer are shy"
nd was originally used to designate To-
,ality.
Mr.. Charles Campbell was not only
historian, but good deal of an antigua
rian. His authority is therefore as relia-
BILE as any we know. In his History of
Virginia, page 494, he says that East
ern Virginians were called "Tuckahoes
from the stream in Henrico county, but
we prefer another foundation of that
title.
II has been suggested. however, that this
creek, though so uncomfortable, was about
the westward limit of colonial settlement
AT the time that the appellation of Tucka-
hoes was first introduced.
In his History of Virginia, page rs, Mr..
Campbell says:
"Of the spontaneous productions of the
soil the principal article of sustenanoe was
the tlickahoe root. The tockaw-
houghe, as it is called by Smith. was In the
summer O chief article of TODD among the
natives. IL grows in marshes like flag,
and resembles somewhat the potato in size
and flavor. Raw 1t is no better than poi
son; so that the Indians roasted it and ate
. ,ntx ad will
is another root found in Virginia called
tuckahoe and COMPOUNDED with the one
described above and enormously supposed
by many to grow without stem or leaf. 1t
appears TO be of the convolvolus species
and is entirely unlike the root eaten by the
Jamestown settlers"
The early settlers there certainly had
great struggle for subsistence, and but for
sturgeon and tuckahoe-root might have
all starved. Sturgeon served for both meat
and bread. But as the main reliance was
upon the root as "the staff of life." it is
most probable that the colonists were
called "Tuckahoes from it. The in
.habitants of one of our western States
have been dubbed Corncrackers for q
similar reason.
There is more interesting learning in re-
gard to the tuckahoe than we had sup
posed. Purchas makes mention of its two
kinds. II was not confined TO Virginia,
but was found as far north as New jersey
and as far west as Arkansas, and was
widely spread in the southern States.
There is very probably some of II still in
the Old Dominion, though it is now scarce
and hard TO find.
In November, 1870, Mr.. O. b. Hayden
wrote to Mr. Ruffin's Farmers Register
that the most curious kind of il was 80
rare that he could not obtain enough fresh
specimens 20 enable him to determine its
species satisfactorily. He says II is entire
~ subterraneous, and is destitute OF root,
stem. leaves. and other appendage" TO con-
meet il with the air or the earth. Its form
is eliptical, and its diameter varies from
/ TO 4 inches. He placed it IN the
mushroom family; genus. t.ber; species,
probably 7. aIbidam. The editor Of the
Register said he had seen some specimens
as large as mans head. Mr.. Hayden at
tsined prominent position ct the bar In
Sm,thfeld. bat was once an assistant OF
Professor William b. Rogers. In his geo.
logical survey Of Virginia, and always re-
tanned his scientific tastes.
Professor John Torrey could not. either
with the microscope or by analysis.
discover any starch IN tuckahoe. but
found that II consisted almost en-
tirely OF pectia. which Is fruit jelly.
II IS used IN the South as nutritious diet
IN diseases OF the bowels instead Of arrow
root. II IL found In roundish masses. from
the size OF 9 pallets egg to that Of cocoa
nut, OF even larger. It's rough. brownish
nssAAse vhsn dsv resembles that Of Lost