http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/
By Tom Tufts
Has anyone ever
heard of Londonderry or Windham immigrants from Ireland in 1737 being
shipwrecked off Nova Scotia or Maine?
Sometimes it’s
really not clear what records to believe. I have been researching Tufts
families for a few years and come across a lot of great stories and records but
often the stories are conflicting or unclear. I always tell people to seek out
the actual records and cherish those as accurate, but are they really? We have
all seen errors in census and written histories.
John Tuffts or Tufts was clearly in Windham by
1748 when he married and then bought a farm in 1752 from John Morison (whose
wife was Ann (Tufts) Morison-his second cousin). He married (first) Catherine
Moore had a family in Windham and a second family with Mary Campbell in Belfast
Maine. His history from then is quite clear as he was a miller, selectman and
led the families that removed to settle what is now Belfast Maine. They were
all clearly of Scots-Irish descent and their stories are in several town
histories.
The Tufts historians
have differed over John’s ancestry. The latest was Herbert Adams who worked for
50 years on Tufts history and his result was recently published by the Tufts
Kinsmen Association as Tufts Kinsmen. He
shows that this John came from Medford as most of our Tufts descended from
Peter Tufts who came from England around 1638.
He even mentions the bible of Peter Tufts was handed down through John’s
family.
Recently a
genealogist sent me a note questioning this connection. She has a transcript of
a story handed down through a branch of this family that he was actually from
Ireland (Scots-Irish) and shipwrecked as a boy when coming to this country and
orphaned. This reminded me I had seen a similar story in; Tufts Family History 1963 by Jay Franklin Tufts. That story is from
a third branch of John’s family and very similar to the transcript.
The genealogist also
sent a news article from the Boston Evening Post in 1737 which details the
wreck of the Catherine off sable
Island near Nova Scotia. It was from Portrush Ireland and headed for Boston
with many families and said to be the “most richly laden that ever crossed the
ocean”. Many perished but some were rescued and brought to “Piscataqua”
(Portsmouth) and “thence to Londonderry”
So my quandary is who
to believe. The shipwreck stories can’t be denied. While there are differences,
there are too many similarities, and the story comes from 2 different branches
of John’s descendents. The bible story, if accurate, would prove he was related
to Peter Tufts but where’s the bible? There are other details in Tufts Kinsmen which relate him as well,
including estate benefits from relatives wills. The other note in Kinsmen that is interesting is under
another John who was said to be Irish, not from Peter, who settled in West
Brookfield MA. There he states a John Tufts did try to come from Ireland but
perished in the wreck of the Catherine!
He quotes the ships manifest and has the notation (NEJ) which is not in the
bibliography.
I really wonder why
this story isn’t written about in more local or family histories. If anyone has
heard of a similar shipwreck story please share. It was quite dramatic as
nearly half perished. John’s mother threw him her purse to him as she slipped
below the waves and this haunted him for years. Three others who perished were
“Messr.s Archibald, Charles Mcneal (Macneal?) and Mrs. Margaret Snell”. They
could have been coming to join others of their family already in Nutfield. John’s survival was said to be with a brother
and sister. What happened to them? Would some family have taken them in? The
mystery remains to be discovered.
Perhaps this is a problem DNA testing might help solve.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Theresa (Tangled Trees)
Funny story, one cold stormy January day, we were notified that the land we offered to purchase in Boothbay Harbor was sold to another party, so my husband Peter Tufts decided to drive up that afternoon to look at another lot in Belfast. He drove up from Haverhill Massachusetts, but when he got to Belfast Maine, the realtor's office was closed from the approaching snow storm. Peter looked around to find the lot himself, and when he stopped at an intersection and looked up....he saw { PETER TUFTS ROAD } on a sign right above him. He couldn't believe his eyes.
ReplyDeleteWe bought a year-round home 9 years later in Newbury (MA) - later to find out that my husband's 6x great grandfather Reverend John Tufts headed the Parish here after graduating from Harvard (Class of 1708) & built the Reverend John Tufts Home here in 1714. (Rev. John was Peter the Immigrant's grandson).
Great story, Thanks for sharing it. I missed that sign when I visited Belfast. I would like to know more about Rev. John Tufts home too. I visit Newburyport occasionally.
ReplyDelete