Long before the college that bears the name, the Tufts family earned its living from the clay, water and roads of the Mystic valley: ferrying, brickmaking, tanning, milling, fishing, distilling, printing and, later, pharmacy. Each entry below names the family member, the trade, the place and the dates, quoting the printed page. Doubtful identifications are marked Unverified. See also the Mystic River and Homesteads.
The Charlestown–Malden Ferry
“He kept the Ferry between Charlestown and Malden with his brother-in-law, Bridges, in 1646-7”
Edward C. Booth, “The Tufts Family in Somerville,” Historic Leaves (Somerville Historical Society), vol. 1 (1902–03), part 1, p. 21. Perseus
The ferry crossed the Mystic. Booth adds that Peter was the largest landholder in Malden when he died in 1700. See Peter Tufts the Immigrant.
⚑ Unverified
The ferry’s exact landing places and the length of his tenure. Booth found no earlier record of him than 1646–47.
Brick-yard Pasture, Medford
“At a later date, say 1750, bricks were made on land directly north of Dr. Tufts's house. … This land, called Brick-yard Pasture, was owned by Rev. Matthew Byles, of Boston, and sold by him to Dr. Simon Tufts, March 26, 1761.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 355. Text (Perseus)
Dr. Tufts’s house stood at Medford Square (see Homesteads).
⚑ Unverified
Brooks records the purchase of the land, not that Dr. Tufts made bricks himself. By 1761 the elder Dr. Simon had died (1747), so the buyer was presumably the younger Dr. Simon (1726–1786). Not confirmed by deed.
Stephen Hall’s brickyards
“In 1785, Stephen Hall willed ‘the brick-yards now in the occupation of Thomas Bradshaw, and Samuel Tufts, jun.’”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 355. Text (Perseus)
⚑ Unverified
Which Samuel Tufts this was. Candidates on this site include Samuel Tufts (15-3) and Samuel Tufts 2d (41-2); neither is confirmed.
Brickmaking and the first mills at Farmington Falls, Maine
“the bricks were manufactured by the builder, a professional brickmaker among other accomplishments, from clay taken from the banks of the Sandy River a few hundred yards west of the site.”
National Register nomination, Tufts House, Farmington (NRIS 79000130, 1979), section 8, p. 3. NPS NPGallery
The same nomination says he “built and owned the first mills at Farmington Falls.” His profile, from the family record, dates the first mill to 1788. See Tufts House, Farmington.
⚑ Unverified
The kind of mills (grist or saw) and the exact year. The sources differ slightly.
The Fountain Yards
“Messrs. William Tufts, Thomas Bradshaw, Hutchinson Tufts, Benjamin Tufts, and Sylvanus Blanchard were the manufacturers in that locality. These yards have been discontinued within our day.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 356. Text (Perseus)
The Medford Historical Society places the Fountain Yards along Fulton Street from Forest Street to the Malden line. Medford Historical Society
⚑ Unverified
Which William Tufts this was (for example Lieut. William Tufts, 13-6 or William Tufts Jr., 40-2). Brooks gives no dates for the individual makers.
The “Sodom” Brickyards
“As the familiar and improper sobriquet of Sodom was early given to that part of Medford which lies south of the river, the brick-yards, opened by the brothers Isaac, Jonathan, and Ebenezer Tufts, obtained the local name. After these gentlemen came Seth Tufts, who, with his son Seth, carried on the business till recently. These yards were situated near Middlesex Canal and the river, about south-south-east from Rock Hill.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 356. Text (Perseus)
The street location is from the Medford Historical Society. Medford bricks were carried by lighter down the Mystic to Boston.
⚑ Unverified
Whether these brothers are the Revolutionary soldiers Isaac (36-10), Jonathan (36-8) and Ebenezer (36-7) of the same family number. The names and family grouping fit, but Brooks does not give their dates.
James Tufts and Son, potters
“Mr. James Tufts and Son carried on for many years the pottery business.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 353. Text (Perseus)
⚑ Unverified
Which James Tufts this was, and the site of the pottery. Brooks gives neither.
Tan-yard and leather works
“The first tan-yard in Medford was on the corner lot south-east of Whitmore's Bridge. … It was last owned by Mr. Nathan Tufts and Mr. Jonathan Brooks, in company. When they sold it, Mr. Tufts moved to Charlestown, and became the most extensive manufacturer of leather in the State.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 353. Text (Perseus)
“Nathan, the youngest son of Nathan, Sr., was also a resident of Charlestown after his boyhood, and was an extensive butcher and tanner there.”
Edward C. Booth, “The Tufts Family in Somerville,” Historic Leaves (Somerville Historical Society), vol. 1 (1902–03), part 2, p. 21. Perseus
Booth adds that he owned “the large farms around the Powder House and Walnut hill” (p. 21). See the Powder House.
⚑ Unverified
That Brooks’s tanner and Booth’s butcher and tanner are the same Nathan Tufts. The match is likely but not confirmed. His dates and the site of the Charlestown works are not yet found.
Sandy Bank tide mill, 1746
“Articles of agreement were concluded, Feb. 20, 1746, between Richard Sprague, cooper, Samuel Page, yeoman, Simon Tufts, Esq., physician, … all of Medford, and owners of land”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 394. Text (Perseus)
Brooks says Dr. Tufts and others bound themselves “never to obstruct the free flow of water to the mill” (p. 394).
Saw and grist mills on the Medford Turnpike
“‘the owners of the saw and grist mills on the turnpike,’ William Tufts, Edward Tufts and Gershom Cutter”
Tide Mill Institute, “Medford, Massachusetts: Tufts-Cutter Mill,” compiled extracts. PDF
⚑ Unverified
This is a compilation; its original printed source and page are not yet confirmed. The compilation says Gershom Cutter bought “the Tufts mill” in 1845, but it names William and Edward Tufts as owners in the 1848 agreement. Which William and Edward these were is not known.
Mystic River fishing rights
“Among the earliest fishermen were John Cutter, Jonathan Tufts, and Benjamin Teel. In 1803, Cutter paid sixty-five dollars, Tufts thirteen dollars, and Teel thirteen dollars, for the right of fishing. … Isaac Tufts fished from the Bridge to Rock Hill”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 385. Text (Perseus)
Brooks adds that “Charles, Simon, and Seth Tufts are there” in the records (p. 385).
⚑ Unverified
Which Jonathan, Isaac, Charles, Simon and Seth Tufts these were.
Medford distilling
“The business has been carried on by Messrs. Andrew Hall, Benjamin Hall, John Bishop, Nathaniel Hall, Fitch Tufts, Joseph Swan, Hall and Manning, and Joseph Hall.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 391. Text (Perseus)
⚑ Unverified
Fitch Tufts’s dates and the location of his distillery.
Edmund Tufts, Printer
“Edmund was intimately connected with the early history of this town, and his sign on the old house, ‘Edmund Tufts, Printer,’ is still remembered. For some years he did the printing for the new town of Somerville and its inhabitants, and we find his name on most of the early town reports. He issued a Somerville Directory in 1851, a pamphlet of thirty-two pages.”
Edward C. Booth, “The Tufts Family in Somerville,” Historic Leaves (Somerville Historical Society), vol. 1 (1902–03), part 2, p. 24. Perseus
The 1851 directory was reprinted in the same volume of Historic Leaves (p. 25). See Homesteads.
⚑ Unverified
His birth and death dates and the years of the press. Somerville was set off in 1842, which suggests the start date; that is an inference.
James W. Tufts, apothecary and soda-fountain maker
“Leonard, who lived in Charlestown, was the father of James W. Tufts, who was at one time an apothecary in Somerville avenue, near the Bleachery. Mr. Tufts has since become well-known as a manufacturer of soda-water apparatus.”
Edward C. Booth, “The Tufts Family in Somerville,” Historic Leaves (Somerville Historical Society), vol. 1 (1902–03), part 2, p. 24. Perseus
He was apprenticed at fifteen to Samuel Kidder and Company, druggists of Charlestown, and opened his own pharmacy in Somerville in 1856. He later had stores in Medford, Boston, Winchester and Woburn, then sold the stores to make his Arctic Soda Apparatus. In 1891 his firm merged into the American Soda Fountain Company, which he headed. He also built the Bunker Hill Terraces tenements in Charlestown (1890) and later founded Pinehurst, N.C. (NCpedia) From 1875 his firm also made silver-plated wares. (Smithsonian) Booth places him in the line of John Tufts (b. 1755) of the Peter and Oliver Tufts House.
⚑ Unverified
NCpedia gives his apprenticeship at fifteen; another account says sixteen.
Albert C. Tufts, druggist
His record is on the 19th Century page, drawn from Sacramento city directories.
⚑ Unverified
His tie to the Massachusetts families is not established.
Tufts Express & Van Co., Chicago
On the far West Side of Chicago, a schoolboy who would not stay in school built a moving business from the family horse and a sawed-off lunch car. The Chicago Daily Tribune told his story in 1908:
“Today, at 20 years old, William Tufts is a west side business man, head of the establishment, with his father and brother working for him.”
Hollis W. Field, “Plays Hookey and Succeeds,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 23, 1908, Sunday magazine. Internet Archive
“That was the real beginning of the Tufts express and van business … There are ten horses and eleven wagons in the Tufts establishment now”
Same article
The article dates the start to “about 1902,” on “the eastern edge of Austin,” and says he had just bought three auto trucks for $3,000 apiece. The 1911 Lakeside directory lists a Tufts at “4341 W Madison” among Chicago expressmen (Lakeside Annual Directory, 1911). The trade journal Distribution & Warehousing lists “Tufts Express, 4341 West Madison. Estd. 1900.” (Dec. 1920, Internet Archive) In January 1925 it announced that the firm “will soon enter the furniture warehousing business” in a six-story fireproof building on West Madison Street. Its listing that month reads “Tufts Express & Van Co., 4341 W. Madison. O. J. Tufts, Mgr.” (Internet Archive)
From 1926 the Tribune’s classified pages carry its ads at the new address. One reads “TUFT’S FIREPROOF & VAN Co., 4444 W. MADISON-ST.” (Apr. 12, 1929, Internet Archive) Another, “Can be seen at Tufts Storage, 4444 W. Madison. Open evenings and Sunday”, comes from the 1932 furniture-sale ads (Feb. 5, 1932, Internet Archive). The ads continue into 1933.
⚑ Unverified
Whether this Chicago family descends from the Massachusetts Tufts lines on this site. The parents of William Tufts are not named in any source found. Who O. J. Tufts was, and the full given name of the 1911 directory entry (printed indistinctly as “Oin B”), are also not confirmed. Note: Pending further work.
Trades Searched, Not Yet Found
⚑ Unverified
Shipbuilding. Medford’s shipyards (1803–1873) were run by Magoun, Turner, Lapham, Stetson, Sprague and James, Waterman and Ewell, Curtis, Foster and others. No Tufts shipyard owner has been found yet in Brooks or the Old Ship Street district history. A Tufts may have worked as a carpenter or owned shares in a ship; this is unchecked. Silversmithing. No colonial Tufts silversmith has been found. The only Tufts silver found so far is James W. Tufts’s silver plate (from 1875). Taverns. None is yet documented for a Tufts.