Saturday, January 11, 2014

Zachariah Tufts Revolutionary soldier in Morgan’s sharpshooters

Zachariah Tufts
Revolutionary soldier in Morgan’s sharpshooters

Zachariah Tufts was one of many Tufts who served in the Revolutionary War. He was from the Medford, Massachusetts Tufts family descending from Peter Tufts, the immigrant of 1638. Zachariah had a full record of service. He served around Boston in the beginning of the war then signed on with Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen, a very historical and effective unit.
*(image credits below)


Zachariah was born 15 December, 1759 in Medford, Massachusetts. His father, William, was a gallant soldier at Louisburg, Nova Scotia in 1745 http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/tufts-military-history-part-one-before.html . Zachariah’s brother, William, was killed during the Revolution in 1777.

At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Zachariah was just fifteen years old and living in Woburn, MA with his mother Katherine (Tufts) Wyman and her second husband Nathaniel Wyman. Zachariah’s enlistment record from Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Vol. 16 shows his duty with the Massachusetts regiments:
  • Tufts, Zachariah, Woburn, List of men belonging to Capt. John Wood's co. who took the oath in Middlesex Co. May 27, 1775, required by Congress to be taken by the Mass. army; also, Capt. Wood's (5th) co., Col. Samuel Gerrish's regt.; order for advance pay, signed by said Tufts and others, dated Cambridge, June 1, 1775; also, Private, Capt. Wood's co., Lieut. Col. Loammi Baldwin's (late Col. Gerrish's) 38th (also given 37th) regt.; muster roll dated Aug. 1, 1775; enlisted May 5, 1775; service, 88 days; also, abstract for wages from Aug. 1, 1775, dated Camp at Medford, Sept. 1, 1775; also, pay abstract for Sept., 1775; receipt for amount of abstract dated Chelsea, Oct. 31, 1775, and signed by Capt. Wood; also, company return [probably Oct., 1775]; also, receipt for money in lieu of bounty coat dated Medford, Dec. 28, 1775.

His pension record states his 1776 service:
  • In the year 1776 did duty as a private in Capt. Hale's Co. in Col. John Starks regiment N.H. 

The pension record also states his service from 1776 to 1780:

  • The years 1777, 1778 & 1779 did duty as a private in Capt. Hale’s company in Col. Morgan's Regiment of riflemen. 

These pension records are from Cheshire County, New Hampshire where he was living in 1818.   

The other record in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors… is from later in the war: (a five-year veteran of many battles at this time, he signed on for another three years.)
  • Tufts, Zachariah, Descriptive list of men raised in Middlesex Co., agreeable to resolve of Dec. 2, 1780, as returned by Joseph Hosmer, Superintendent for said county; age, 21 yrs.; stature, 5 ft. 9 in.; complexion, light; hair, light; eyes, blue; occupation, laborer (also given farmer); engaged for town of Woburn; engaged April 1, 1781; term, 3 years.


So, young Zachariah joined up with the local regiments after the first battles of the Revolution at Lexington and Concord. He probably mustered out with the rest of the family on the alarm of Revere and then signed on in the next month with a formal regiment. Colonel Gerrish’s Regiment was formed June 1, 1775 and was at the Battle of Bunker Hill and the siege of Boston.  He would have been shoulder to shoulder with many Tufts cousins there. I like to say the British would have been hard pressed not to have a Tufts in their sights when firing at the Massachusetts militia. It appears he remained there when other units set off for Quebec in the winter of 1775 since he was awarded the bounty coat in Medford in December. He would join the other units soon enough.
In 1776, Zachariah served with Colonel John Stark’s New Hampshire regiment. Stark’s Regiment of the New Hampshire Line was initially the 1st NH but in 1776 it was renamed the 5th NH. In the spring of 1776, they were sent to northern New York in relief of the ill-fated Quebec invasion. They were in action at Trois-Ri·vières Quebec and were in the retreat from Canada and Lake Champlain conflict. The 5th NH was successful in slowing the British invasion which culminated in the battle of Fort Ticonderoga and Battle of Valcour Island. These key battles prevented the British from splitting the colonies early in the Revolution. An excellent historical novel that covers this campaign is Kenneth Roberts’ Rabble in Arms. Following these two battles, the 5th NH was transferred to the Continental Army and fought at the battle of Trenton.

In 1777, Zachariah signed on with Daniel Morgan’s Light Infantry Regiment from Virginia and served with them until 1779. They were very effective in the war because of their rifled long barreled guns which they used to target British officers and cause confusion in the British lines. They were certainly a hardened unit. They had experience in the Indian wars and in 1775, to reinforce Boston; they had marched 600 miles from Virginia to Boston in just 21 days. Afterwards, they were in Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated expedition to capture Quebec by way of the Maine woods. They piloted boats up the Kennebec then tried to haul them over the height of land and descend through the swamps into Canada. While Morgan’s troops fared better than others, many men were lost to starvation and many turned back. Their attack on the city was a horrible defeat and Morgan himself was captured and exchanged later.
In June 1777 Morgan’s Rangers were the 11th Virginia Regiment. They were assigned by General George Washington to harass and pursue the British around New Jersey and in August they went to the Saratoga, New York area where they were actively in the fight at Bemis Heights and Freeman’s Farm. At Bemis Heights history records an order to directly shoot a British general which was executed by Timothy Murphy of Morgan’s regiment. Zachariah is later on the roll with Murphy at the fort at Schoharie, New York. The final surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga signaled another end to the British attempt to split the colonies. (Francis Tufts was a hero at Saratoga and promoted in the field. Zachariah’s brother, William, was killed at the Battle of Bennington during this campaign. Their stories will be told in another story later.)
Following Saratoga, Morgan’s men and Zachariah returned to General Washington’s army and were in action in New Jersey again. Exactly which Virginia unit Zachariah was in for certain years is unclear. Parts of the Virginia units were under Morgan and one pension of Zachariah’s states 15th Virginia Regiment. Some were at the Battle of Monmouth and many of the 15th were later captured at Charlestown, South Carolina in 1780.
We do know that Morgan’s regiment were in pursuit of General Clinton’s British Army where they chased the British to the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 but the Rangers were not engaged. The next day Morgan’s regiment followed their retreat toward Sandy Hook NJ. Colonel Morgan himself chose four men to scout the British, and Zachariah was one of them. According to What Manner of Men: Forgotten Heroes of The American Revolution by Fred J. Cook (Morrow and Co. 1959), these four followed them virtually to the water’s edge and captured a British officer’s coach. “The men returned to camp riding in style.”
In 1780 Zachariah served in a New York regiment.
He was enrolled in Bogart's company of Harper's regiment, from May to November, 1780. Previous to and subsequent to that enrollment he served under both Richtmyer and Hager as ranger.
Source: "Military records of Schoharie County veterans of four wars" by George H. Warner.Albany, N.Y. :: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1891. Transcribed by K. Torp


Also: A Roster of the Men Stationed at the Middle Fort in Schoharie on October 17, 1780
Colonel John Harper's Regiment of New York State Levies
Privates:
Ellerson, David
Murphy, Timothy
Leek, William
Tufts, Zachariah
Loyd, William
Wilbur, John

More detail of the actions at Schoharie County, New York can be found online and in local histories. It appears from brief review of the history of Schoharie County that this area was a key portage from the Mohawk River travel route between the Hudson River Valley and the Great Lakes and often targeted by the British army invading from the north. The American defenders of Fort Schoharie were outnumbered greatly but held on. At one point the British offered a flag of truce for surrender but the former members of Morgan’s Rangers shot at the approaching British to prevent the surrender. The rebels knew they would suffer severely if ever captured because of their sharpshooting tactics.


During his service at Fort Schoharie, Zachariah was wounded on October 17, 1780. Details of this service can be found in Revolutionary Rangers: Daniel Morgan's Riflemen and Their Role on the Northern Frontier, 1778-1783 by Richard B. La Crosse. It is also detailed in 1780-1980 The Bicentennial Book of The Schoharie and Mohawk Valley Raids available on line at
The extent of Zachariah’s wounds is not detailed. It does say he was wounded when his scouting party was retreating to the fort.
Now, a party of Indians were seen approaching the barn of John Becker near the fort and a small party from the fort was sent to attack them. After several shots were fired Sergeant Cooper received a ball in the leg and some of his comrades picked him up and began a retreat back to the fort when Cooper received another ball through the body and after returning to the fort Cooper died from his wounds. Zachariah Tufts was wounded on entering the fort and Samuel Reynolds received a ball in the forehead while entering the fort and fell dead at Jeremiah Loucks feet who also had just entered the fort.

 Presumably, Zachariah recovered enough to travel home and, as stated before, he enlisted again in 1780 from Woburn for three years. I have found no further detail of service from 1780 until the end of the war but they may exist or he could have been recovering at home on the rolls in Woburn. Regardless, he was married in 1783 and started a family.

Zachariah is also mentioned in “An Historical Address, in Keene, N.H., on July 4, 1876”. That oration given by William Orne White on July 4, 1876 at the country’s centennial celebration pays tribute to the soldiers and patriots of Cheshire County. “Zach Tufts, Known by some persons as Morgan Tufts, because he was one of Morgan’s Rifleman, is well remembered still; a man, one blow from whose brawny fist, was long a terror to any interloper who dared to play any mischievous pranks when the removal of a building was going on.” The good Reverend White goes on to pay tribute to other local soldiers. 




Family of Zachariah Tufts

Zachariah was the son of William from John, James, Jonathan, and Peter Tufts the immigrant. His mother was also a Tufts: Katherine Tufts the daughter of William from James, Jonathan and Peter. She and William were first cousins. Named for her mother Katherine (Wyman), she married Nathaniel Wyman in 1772 after William’s death.
Zachariah married Molly Washburn in 1783 and moved to Keene, New Hampshire where he left a very large legacy. Many of his 12 children had large families as well and many more soldiers are among them I have tried to detail them in a readable fashion below. There are bound to be some mistakes. I have found a few just preparing this detail. Much of this information comes from the Tufts best reference Tufts Kinsmen 2010 and Vol. II, (2012).  Much of it also comes from available resources on line such as ancestry.com. Please forward any additions to me or corrections or leave them in the comments section. I am sure many of the gaps are living people and haven’t pursued their families for privacy reasons. Family descendants of this hero may still be in existence in the area today. I am looking for any local descendents to help me find Zachariah’s grave. It should be marked and recognized as all veterans should be.


ZACHARIAH TUFTS
Born: 15, Dec. 1759 in Medford, MA
Died: 12, Mar. 1828 in Keene, N. H.
Married: 2, Oct.  1783 in Keene, N. H. to:
MOLLY WASHBURN, or Polly, daughter of Simeon and Jemima (Gary) Washburn
Born: 29, Apr. 1765 in Attleborough, MA
Died: 23,  Aug. 1836 in Keene, N. H.
had 1) Sarah, 2) Lucinda, 3) William, 4) George, 5) Daniel, 6) Zachariah, 7) Joshua, 8) James, 9) John, 10) Mary, 11) Abigail, 12) Caleb.
Sarah was born in 1783 and married Eleazer Coffin in 1809 and may have lived in Chester, Vermont, where Eleazer was born in 1766. I am looking for any information on this family to complete the lineage.
  • Lucinda was born in 1785 and married Daniel Smith of Keene in 1800. They lived and passed in West Fairlee, Vermont. They had Nathan, Harriett, and Monroe F. They left Smith and Badger families. Harriett married Elisha Badger.) Their graves can be found on findagrave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=104639252
  • William was born in 1787 in Keene. He may have removed to Grand Rapids, Michigan and married. There are some William Tufts there in the Greenwood cemetery.  I would love to complete this lineage if anyone has information to share.
  • George, (possibly George S) was born December 29, 1788 married Martha (Patty) Linkfield in 1810 in Winchester New Hampshire and had Benjamin, Elizabeth, George (Jr.) Sarah, Martha, Albert L Tufts. She died around 1820 and he married Lydia Putnam in 1826 and had Amos Putnam Tufts. His record is unclear possibly because of errors in records. His census record of 1850 in Winchester states he was born in Connecticut. The New Hampshire vital statistics from Winchester clearly have his birth and death records and his marriage to Patty Linkfield.  Tufts Kinsmen and some ancestry.com trees say she passed on Christmas 1820 but I have found no record of her death. The record in History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties shows that George, left with six children under the age of ten, then married Lydia Putnam, (and then had Amos P. Tufts) after Martha’s death. Also, the birth record of George’s son Benjamin and other children states their mother was Lydia Putnam. At close inspection the record is dated 1906 as are all of the records from Winchester. Research may show they were all transcribed in 1906 but I have not been to Winchester historical society yet to confirm this. Benjamin was born in 1811, soon after George’s marriage to Martha and the initial could be read as Benjamin L or S. Benjamin died in 1832 at age 21 and his death record also states his mother was Lydia Putnam. While census records can be wrong, researchers can also be wrong, so this George may be from another descendant but this is not likely. George died in 1860 in Winchester. (Tufts Kinsmen has the notation “Capt.” But no explanation of any military service.)


George and Martha’s children:
  • Benjamin Linkfield Tufts was born in 1811 in Winchester and died in 1832, single. I have found no other information about what stole this young man from his family at age 21.
  • Elizabeth Linkfield Tufts was born 12 November 1812. She married William Henry Lawrence and had 12 children in Winchester and Warwick, Massachusetts. She died in 1858 in Warwick.
  • George Tufts Jr. was born 22 November 1814 and died there in 1856, single. No description of his death is listed.
  • Sarah born in 1817 died as an infant (1818)
  • Martha, (1818) also died young, (1819).
  • Amos P, born January 11, 1823 in Winchester, New Hampshire married Eunice Hutchins in 1846 and had five children. He later married a second wife, Olive T. Smith and had two children. Amos owned a steam sawmill in the village of Ashuelot near Winchester in 1884-1885, possibly on the Northfield Road. (Gazetteer of Cheshire County). This house may still be in Ashuelot, just over the covered bridge off Route 119 on the old Hinsdale Road. There is also a cemetery there called the Tufts Cemetery. North of Route 119 here is located Tufts Mountain, Tufts Pond and Tufts Brook.
Amos and Eunice’ Children:
  • Amos L, died at age 1
  • Charles E. Tufts was born February 29 1850 and died in 1930 in Tampa, Florida. He was a farmer there according to his passport application which included a small picture. He married Catherine Jane Smythe according to Kinsmen. No further information of this family have been found but Kinsmen states they had no children.
  •  
  • Walter Eugene Tufts was born 23 November 1853 in Winchester and died there in 1893. He married Elva Emeline Putnam in 1886 and had no children.
  • Ella Augusta Tufts was born 1 October 1855 and died in 1933 in Worcester, Massachusetts. She married George Franklin Howard in 1880 in Winchester and had at least one son Charles Roswell Howard.
  • Adelie Carrie Tufts was born in 1862 and died in 1936 unmarried.
  • Amos and Eunice may have had another child who died as an infant.
  • Amos and Olive’s children:
  • Horace Smith Tufts was born 6 May 1872 in Winchester, NH and died in 1948 there. He married Cora M. (Fuller) Butterfield in 1913 in Keene, NH. They had James A Tufts and Russell F:
  • James Amos Tufts was born in 1915 in Winchester and died in 1996 in Winter Park, Florida. He married Mary Teresa Fish and had a daughter Christine. He served in World War II as an aircraft mechanic.
  • Russell Fuller Tufts was born in 1918 and was living in Syracuse, New York in 1998. He and his wife Stephanie had Alexander F and Merriam L.
  • George Archie Tufts was born in 1874 and died in 1876. (Kinsmen


Zachariah’s children continued:
  • Daniel was born in 1791 and married Eunice Watkins in Chester, Vermont in 1810. They had eight children in Vermont. It appears he was a Wheelwright and is listed in the census as living at the Chester Town farm in 1870. (His death is probably October, 10 1877 as indicated by the record below and by Kinsmen but that record might make some think it is his son Daniel’s. Many ancestry.com trees list the younger Daniel’s death date as July, 10 1877.)
Daniel and Eunice’s children:

  • Sarah Tufts 1814-1866. She died single.
  • Holly Daniel Tufts (Daniel) was born in 1817. His death record has not been seen by me. Kinsmen states the date as his father’s, possibly due to the error above, and some family trees agree or list it as July 10, 1877 and possibly as Washington, DC. . He married Mary Ann Benton in 1839 and had:
    • Sabra Maria Tufts was born in 1840 in Vermont and married John Langdon Britton a carpenter and civil war soldier of Chesterfield, NH. They had 5 Britton children in Surry, NH. (Nearly 60 years old he served in the 2nd NH infantry as a musician and was later discharged disabled in 1862 from Virginia and served from 1863 to 1865 in the Veteran Reserve Corps.)
    • Celuda (or Celinda) Jane Tufts was born in 1842 in Andover, VT (no record) and married George Wilcox of Surry and had 3 Wilcox children. They both died in Surry.
    • Owen Benton Tufts was born in 1843 in Andover, VT and died in 1903 in Ilion, NY. He married Lavina Fairfield and had 4 children near Ilion, NY. He served in the 16th Vermont Infantry and was a merchant after the war in NY. (More is available on this hero and his family.)
    • Sidney Daniel Tufts was born in 1845 in Andover, VT. He married Jerusha Emma Snow of Meriden, CT in 1866. They had two children George S. and Arthur S. who both died as infants. He passed in Meriden in 1891, she died in 1924 there.
    •  Another daughter, Rhoda Ann Tufts, is listed in Kinsmen stating she was born in Andover VT in September 1849 and died in January 1850. Perhaps a small stone in a cemetery somewhere is the only record of this.
  • John Tufts was born June 1, 1819 in Chester and died there in 1891. He married Mary Ann Richardson of Landgrove, VT in 1850 and had 7 children there.
    • Amy Rosanna Tufts was born in 1851 in Landgrove, VT she married Oscar Slate and had at least 4 Slate children near there or possibly Bernardstown, MA. She remarried Evander Starkey after Oscar’s death and lived in Northfield, MA (more info needed).  
    • Abigail (Abby) Udora Tufts was born in 1852 in Landgrove, VT and married George F. Davis in 1868 in Chester, VT and had 6 Davis children there, later removing to Charlestown, NH where she passed in 1942.
    • Clara Ellen Tufts was born August 30, 1854 in Landgrove, VT. She is listed in many census records including Londonderry, VT in 1910 with a Goddard family, and 1920 as a patient in hospital in Waterbury, VT, single, age 61. Her death record eludes me as it has other researchers.
    • Jerome Wesley Tufts was born in 1856 in Chester, VT. He married first, Cora E Perry and had 13 children. She died in 1903 and in 1909 he married Phoebe Ruth Brockway and had 2 more children. Jerome and Cora’s children:
      • Ernest N. Tufts was born in 1879 in Springfield, VT. He was a blacksmith. He married Ina Olney and had Leslie Arthur Tufts and Helen Elizabeth Tufts. Their families have not been followed down to living persons, but their families may be in Vermont today. After Ina died in 1920 he married Nellie Susan Whitcomb.Eva Mabel Tufts was born in 1881 and married Fred Pollard in 1900 in Weathersfield, VT. (Her marriage record states Eva E.) They appear to have had three children in Springfield and she may have remarried Joseph Wynott in 1936.
      • Bertha E. Tufts was born in 1883 and married Eben Rumrill. No family record has been seen by me. She may have divorced and remarried Alexander MacDonald in Concord, NH later.
      • Bert Elmer Tufts (twin of Bertha) was born in 1883 and married Ida Blodgett of North Walpole, NH in 1908. He died in 1972 in Los Angeles, CA. No record of a family was found.
      • Cora Rest Tufts was born in 1886 and married Hiram Burton Peters and had a family in Springfield, VT. She remarried to William Blake and had 2 more children and died in Springfield in 1959.
      • Jerome Wesley Tufts Jr. was born in 1888 in Springfield, VT. He married Ruth Damon first, then Myrtie Gertrude Gouch and may have had 2 daughters Elsie G Tufts and Charlotte Gertrude Tufts
      • George Consul Tufts was born January 27, 1890. He married Helen Blunt in 1915. No record of a family has been found.
      • Herbert R. Tufts was born Aug 8, 1891 and died in Concord, NH in 1913. His death certificate states he died of Acute Nephritis (2 weeks) and that he was a teamster by trade.
      • Luella May Tufts was born in 1894 in Vermont and married George Augustus Shaw in 1910 in Concord, NH. He died in 1914 in Salisbury, NH (death record states suicide by drowning). In 1918 she married Harold Leroy Mahoney. They appear to have had one daughter Haroldine in Concord in 1924. A quick search revealed she passed away in California in 2004 and was a Navy veteran.
      • Harold W. Tufts was born in 1895 in Vermont in 1895 and married Shirley May Cummings in 1920 there. They moved to Hudson NH and in the 1940 census he is a “poultryman” with his own farm and a daughter Pauline born about 1921. Harold’s death is recorded in 1965 in California. Further records of this family elude me.
      • Edith S. Tufts was born in 1897 in Vermont. She married William S Dennett in Concord, NH in 1914. They may have had at least one daughter and lived in Leominster, MA and Springfield, VT.
      • Mildred R. Tufts was born in 1898 in Vermont and married George Leslie Thomas and may have had one son Donald then married Alfred Bengsch and died in California in 1982. More information about this family would be appreciated to fill in the gaps.
      • Milton J. Tufts was born in 1902 in Vermont. He married Anna Scalpen and after living in different places settled in Litchfield, NH and had a large family. He was in the poultry business. (Perhaps with his brother in nearby Hudson). Milton and Anna’s family is only determined by the new 1940 census. They appear to be:
        • Milton Tufts Jr. 1924-1945 US Navy killed in action in WW II
        • Walter L. Tufts 1927-
        • Harry J. Tufts 1929-
        • Lorraine Tufts 1932-
        • Beverley Tufts 1935-
        • Lucille Tufts 1937-
Jerome and Phoebe’s (Brockway’s) children: (continued)
      • Eunice Laura Tufts was born in 1916 in Vermont. In 1936 she married Herman Maynard in Vermont. They appear to have had a family in Burlington, VT.
      • Warren Neil Tufts was born in 1918 in Vermont. I believe he    married Laura Blow and had Louisa and Mary Tufts in Vermont and died in Maryland in 1966.
John Tufts children (continued)
  • Warren Britain Tufts was born in 1860 in Vermont and married Ella Eliza Stoddard in 1881 in Brattleboro, VT. Before he died in 1894 they had:
    • Mary E Tufts was born in 1883 and died in 1884.
    • Charles W Tufts was born in1884 in Vermont. No further records found.
    • Ada E Tufts was born in 1886 and married Walter Ray in Northfield, Massachusetts. Her mother Ella was living with them in 1920.
    • Florence E. Tufts appears to have only lived 7years from 1888 to 1895.
  • Elmer E Tufts was born in 1862 and died in 1913 in Manchester, NH. The death record states he previously lived in Uxbridge, MA and was divorced.
Daniel Tufts children: (continued)
  • Charles P Tufts was born in 1824 in Vermont. He married Mary Cook in 1851 and had a family in Wallingford, VT. He served in the Civil War in the 5th Vermont Infantry but unfortunately only served a few months as he died of disease in December 1861. Their children:
    • Ellen Jane (Jennie) Tufts was born in 1852 in Vermont. She married Steven Cowan of Canada in 1872 in Newport, NH. More information needed. (Kinsmen states she married George Franklin Lovejoy of Hinsdale, NH but I did not find any record of that.)
    • Alice (Mary) Tufts was born on Vermont in 1852 and Kinsmen states she married William Hager but in the 1880 census she is living with her widowed mother in Wallingford, VT with 2 siblings and a son Willie Hager.
    • Martin Tufts was born in 1856 in Wallingford and died there in 1866. His death record states lung fever or whooping cough.
    • Belle (Arabella Julia) Tufts was born in 1858 in Vermont. She married Walter William Benson in 1882 and died in 1944 in Rutland, VT. No evidence of a family was found.
    • Frank Tufts was born in 1860 in Vermont and died in 1873 aged 13.
    • Edward J Tufts was born in 1863 in Vermont and married Anna S. Holden in 1886. Anna may have passed away because in 1900 Edward is listed in the Shelton, CT census with a daughter Edna and mother in law Louise Holden. Kinsmen states she died in Wallingford in 1895.
  • Henry Tufts was born in 1826 in Vermont and married Clarissa Lyman in 1852 in Boston, MA. He died in Boston in 1853 and was recorded as a piano maker but Kinsmen states Wheelwright. He may have served in the Mexican War, (Kinsmen) and there are several other military records which could be his but that will be researched later. His family:
    •  George Julian Tufts was said to have been born at Mount Desert Island in Maine in 1853. He married Isabella Lincoln Parker of Boston in Medford, MA in 1876. In the 1880 and 1900 census they are in Boston with the children below and he is listed as a lawyer.
      • John Lawrence Tufts was born in 1877 in Boston. In 1901 he married Ida Ayers in Boston. I haven’t been able to track him beyond the marriage record.
      • William Lyman Tufts was born in 1879 in Boston No other information was found for him.
      • Clarissa E Tufts was born in 1881 in Medford, MA. Records show she married John Burroughs of Connecticut in 1906. They appear to have had a daughter Henrietta and a son John and daughter Edith but this is not confirmed.
      • Henrietta was born in 1889 and married Roy Wilson in 1910. They had at least one son Allen Wilson according to census records.
    • Henrietta Tufts was born in 1855 and married James Hutchins of Maine in 1874. They appear to have had a son Charles. More information needed.
  • Sophia Tufts was born in 1828 in Vermont. She married first Joseph E. Lyon in 1847 in Lowell Massachusetts then Frank C. Smith in 1863. No family records have been found for them.
  • Maria Tufts was born in 1832 in Vermont. She may have married Frank Ball according to Kinsmen but I have not found a record of it.
  • Louisa Ann Tufts was born in 1835 in Vermont. She married her first cousin George Tufts in 1852 in Chester, VT (the son of her father Daniel’s brother James). That must have been a large wedding party. They may have daughters Georgianna and Kate but the records were not found. A Georgianna and Kate appear in the 1870 census in Dublin, NH with Frank Ball, no spouse and a younger son (Ball). This could be the husband of Louisa above or some other arrangement not discovered yet. George’s children are listed below with his family and second wife Sophia Bishop.
Zachariah’s children: (continued)
  • Zachariah Tufts (II) was born in 1793 in Keene, NH. No other records were found for him. Perhaps he died young.
  • Joshua Tufts was born in 1795 in Keene, NH. No records of a family were found. There was a Joshua in Charlestown NH in 1850 and 1860 but no confirmation this is him.
  • James Tufts was born in 1797 in Keene NH. He married Catherine Watkins in 1820 (of Albany, NY?).  They had the children below settling in Keene where he passed in 1857;
    • Abbie T Tufts was born in 1823 in Keene, NH and married Samuel Richardson in 1846 in Northfield, MA. They had 8 Richardson children in Keene.
    • William Tufts was born in 1824 in Keene and died in 1890 single
    • George Tufts was born in 1829 in Keene and married Louisa Ann Tufts (above). They may have had children but I have not seen actual records of this. Subsequently he married Sophia (Bishop) Fairfield in 1865 in Peterborough, NH and had:
    • Charles H Tufts was born in 1867 in Stoddard, NH. He married Sarah Josephine Backus in 1892 in Cambridge, MA. No family was found for them
    • Eunice Jane Tufts was born in 1834 in Keene, NH. She married George William Eastman in 1852 in Vermont and had 10 Eastman children in Keene or nearby Swanzey, NH.
    • Sarah Tufts was born in 1836 in Keene and married first in 1857 to Romeo Bowen with whom she may have had 2 children Adah Sophia (1858), and Abby or Anna (1861) (not confirmed). They were divorced in 1863. She married for the second time in 1864 to Benjamin Ruffle, (or Ruffley-a soldier). This information from the marriage record states he was the son of William Ruffle and Abigail Tufts Ruffle. Sarah and Benjamin were divorced in 1866 and she remarried in Keene to William Thomas. No details of family from these marriages was found or their death records. Please forward corrections or additions.
  • John Tufts was born in 1800 in Keene and died in 1848. No record of a family or spouse was found.
  • Mary Tufts was born in 1802 in Keene NH. Her records elude me (again) but she may have married a William Kelsey of Landaff, NH then William Eastman of Vermont with no children resulting from either marriage.
  • Abigail Tufts was born in 1804 in Keene. Her records are difficult to determine as her cousin Abigail was born in 1803 in Marlborough, NH to her uncle Ebenezer, (Zachariah’s brother below). To top that difficulty for later researchers, the girls were married a day apart April 9 and 10, 1822. Kinsmen states that Zachariah’s daughter was the Abigail that married Joseph Harwood of Hillsboro, NH and had 8 children in Keene then married William Ruffle of Liverpool, England in 1842 and had 4 additional children in Keene. Kinsmen makes the note that the first children were born Harwoods but raised as Ruffle family. One of these sons must be Benjamin who married Sarah Tufts, the daughter of George (above).
  • Caleb Tufts was Zachariah’s twelfth and last child. He was born in 1806 and died in 1873 in Westhampton, Massachusetts. He married Beriah Alvord of Massachusetts; (just about the strangest name this author has come across-Hepzibath Fosdick being the other). They raised a family in Norwich and Westhampton, and he remarried with no issue.  Their children:
    • George Hayward Tufts was born in 1839 in Norwich, MA. He married Julia Augusta Wright of Northampton, MA and had George A, Emma A, Mary A, Julia F, and Charles H. George Hayward appears to have served the Union in the 27th Massachusetts Infantry.
    • Catherine Beriah Tufts was born in 1833 in Westhampton, MA and married Cyrus Dwight Alvord in 1852 in Northampton and had at least 2 children in Williamsburg, MA. She may have married William Brown in 1877 after Cyrus death in 1861. (war?)
    • William Henry Tufts was born in 1838 in Westhampton, MA and married Emeline J Baxter in 1859 in Windsor, MA. They had Ellen, Isabel, and Frank. History records his military service in the Civil War and burial in Wisconsin. (Once again there are too many William Tufts to nail down his service without more research.)
    • Caleb Franklin Tufts was born in 1841 in Westhampton, MA and married Clara Rebecca Chapin in 1866 there. Kinsmen states he served in the 31st Massachusetts infantry in the war and that he and his wife are buried in Otis, MA.
    • Otis Fisher Tufts was born in 1844 in Westhampton, MA and married Sarah Rutter. No family is recorded but they may have settled in Ohio after he served in the war.
    • Elbridge Cushing Tufts was born in 1851 in Westhampton, MA and may have died in Connecticut unmarried. (More research needed.)


Zachariah’s brother, Ebenezer, lived in New Hampshire also. He lived in Marlborough in 1810 and Roxbury, NH in 1820. He was born in 1761 in Medford and died in 1830 in Roxbury NH. His first wife, Hanna Livingston,  was from Billerica, Massachusetts. Their children;
  •  Hannah was born in 1781 in Billerica MA and married John Pierce in Medford MA passing away in Concord VT.
  • Catherine was born in Billerica in 1783 living only a month.
  • William Tufts was born in 1785 in Pepperell, MA and married Anna Cutter in 1812. He died in 1814 but they had 2 daughters in Cambridge, MA.
  • Ebenezer Tufts was born in 1787 and died in 1809 in Boston, single
  • Betsey Tufts was born in 1790 in Lunenburg, MA and married Moses Greenfield
  • Eliakim Tufts was born in Keene, NH in 1794 and died in 1860 in Charlestown, MA, single.
  • Lydia Tufts was born in 1795 in Marlborough, NH and married Rufus Chapin and raised a family in Milford, MA.
  • Catherine Tufts was born in 1796 in Townsend, MA and married Reuben Clark of Dedham, MA. No family noted.
  • Phebe Tufts was born in 1799 in Marlborough, NH and married William Sayles of Wrentham, MA and had 6 children passing in Detroit, MI.
Ebenezer remarried Elizabeth Travis and had:
  • Abigail Tufts was born in Marlborough, NH in 1803 and married Joel Fairbanks of Dedham, MA. They had 7 Fairbanks children in Pepperell and New Boston, NH where they both passed.
  • Eliakim Tufts was born in 1806 and may have died young.














*There are many sources for images of the soldiers of the day. One good web site I found was the blog  http://flintlockandtomahawk.blogspot.com/ It has images from many sources but attributes this one to Gary S. Zaboly. Gary Stephen Zaboly is a highly regarded expert on the 18th-century Rangers. He is a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians, and a member of the New York Historical Society. Gary has written many articles for military magazines, and has illustrated and co-written several titles, including Blood of Noble Men, and Roger's St Francis Raid. His artwork appears in permanent exhibitions at The Alamo, Texas, and at the Lake George Historical Association. (From the Osprey Publishing website, this offers two books of his.) This image is labeled as a Continental soldier turned Ranger. While it is difficult to be sure what array of uniform Zachariah did wear, period dress of the soldiers would include these types of clothing like leggings, a green or brown coat,  hat and whatever accoutrements could be tied upon the body.  



7 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I wonder if you have any records of a Maria TUFTS, born in either New York or Halifax, Nova Scotia in about 1813?
    Thank you

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    1. I hope to finish my story on the Nova Scotia Tufts at some point. There were a couple of our family groups that lived there. I'll look for Maria and get back to you soon.

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  2. Does this family have anything to do with the Tufts University?

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    1. Sorry I never answered this question from 2017. Please see my post Tufts Ancestry for a little bit on Charles Tufts' ancestors. Thanks to Jonathan for filling in. I hope to add a story about Charles at some point either here or at the Tufts Kinsmen Association site. (see link on right side)

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  3. Yes.
    Charles Tufts donated 20 acres to the Universalist Church in 1852 which was the start of Tufts University.
    Charles is the third great grandson of Peter Tufts, immigrant from England.
    Many, if not all, of the Tufts of the Tufts Kinsmen are descendants of Peter Tufts.

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  4. My grandmother Eunice laura Tufts married Hermon Maynard and had two children, my father , Henry Philip Maynard March 21 1937 passed January 22 2010. MARRIED Nancy Noble and had 6 children. Phil, Paul,Patrick,Peter, Paula, Perry. My aunt, Merrilyne Ruth Palmer, October 12, 1940 passed January 20, 2012. Married A Keith Palmer and has two children Lyn And Laurie.

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