Who is John Tufts (again!)

Why does it always seem to be a John Tufts that gets confusing for researchers? I am still unsure of the ancestry of John Tuffts/Tufts of Ireland in 1723 who shipwrecked on Sable Island in 1737. I am hopeful more people in the McMillan line have tested DNA and compare with our other Tufts lines or contact me if they have tested. There should be some other Ulster Scot family names in these lines as well.

Now I am stuck on Reverend Joshua Tufts’ son John Tufts of Halifax, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and his son George. Maybe someone can look at it and straighten them out or has new records to be discovered to prove these guys. John Tufts born in Litchfield, New Hampshire in 1743 went to Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia with the family, was a ship’s Captain and had a family in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. His full story is told in Chapter 5.

John Tufts story is debated among researchers but I think he grew up in Halifax and was either at sea in 1767 when his parents died or charged with the care of his younger siblings there. At some point he married and the family moved to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick. The only marriage record found for him is from Boston, MA (John TUFFS to Mary Ready). Some records and genealogies state he died in Westbrook, Maine and there is a record of a John Tufts there, but It seems unlikely.

 The question about George Tufts is that some researchers have placed him as a son of John (1743) and some as a son of his son John born in 1775 who also married a Mary (Daley?) (Some online trees have Mary Ready and Mary Daley confused as few records can be found of either.) I use Tufts Kinsmen by Herbert Adams and Tufts Kinsmen Association as my first reference and quote them here with credit to their great work.  I have found the following records on line for George:

1827 marriage record, New Brunswick

1851 Census of Canada

            1865 US Census Acton MA

            1870 US Census Acton, MA

            1873 Death Record Acton, MA

There are some other miscellaneous records for his family but none show the details of which John and Mary were his parents. Perhaps someone with a DNA result on ancestry can find some family members that match these:

GEORGE TUFTS, (1800-1873) New Brunswick, died in Acton, MA, (Massachusetts vital records)Married RUTH DOLLIVER (1803-1883) They had 1) John, 2) George, 3) William, 4) Catherine, 5) Sarah M., 6) Sarah A., 7) Henrietta. 8) Mary L, 9) Caroline M., 10) Robert J., 11) Amelia A., 12) Adeline D. Tufts. The first 2 or 3 children were born in Saint Stephens NB then the family records are in Calais Maine.

             John Tufts 1828 married Amelia Katteau in Boston and had Erena, Georgianna (2), remarried Mary Barney. (Erena married and had a daughter Florence?)

            George Tufts (1830) Married Julia Coombs of Rochester NH?

            William Tufts (1831) no info

Catherine Tufts (1832) married John Burns and had a family in Calais, Maine and moved to Massachusetts.

Sarah Ann Tufts (1835) married Gilbert Thornton Webber and had 4 children, passing in Chelsea, MA

Henrietta Tufts (1839) married Martin (Van) Buren Moore moved to MA and had a family. She remarried Bishop(?).

Caroline Matilda Tufts (1841) married George Clark moved to MA and had 5 children

Robert Joseph Tufts (1843) Married first Lucy Jane Hinckley and had 1) Ruth, 2) John T, 3) Mary, 4) Rollins D. (?) He enlisted in the Navy in June 1861 and is listed at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia in 1862. Some trees on line list his service in the Civil War but I believe these are for a Robert Tufts of Hingham. Lucy is with the Hinckley family in the 1880 census in Norfolk, MA (including 3-year-old John Thomas Tufts) and she died in 1882 in Ashland (findagrave link). It’s unclear whether they divorced. He remarried Sarah (Latham) James in Ontario and passed in Vancouver, Canada if Kinsmen is correct.

So, If anyone has any information on these John Tufts families, please pass it along. I am writing the full chapter of Joshua's later children and will include everything I have as of now. Contact