When did "Chuck" start being used ?

I'm thinking of starting a timeline that begins at about the time of the Georgia Goldrush - say 1832.

One of my chief protagonists would be named Charles - but would Americans of that era call him "Chuck"?

"Chuck" still isn't common in England now, so it's hard for me to judge - and I've not been able to find anything useful on the net.

Can anyone on the west side of the Atlantic advise me on this one please?
 
Why not try consulting the Oxford English Dictionary? It probably is the best source.

That's a good suggestion - thanks - but what it gives me isn't very precise:

Mainly North American: now usually taken as a pet form of Charles. It was originally a nickname, from an English term of endearment (as in Shakespeare's phrase 'dearest chuck'), probably from Middle English chukken 'to cluck'.

All the mentions of people called Chuck seem to be 20th century.

But I believe that, for example, John Adams had a son called Charles. Would his friends have called him Charlie or Chuck?
 
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