Harvard College in Cambridge educated three generations of Medford Tufts physicians and a string of ministers and schoolmasters. This page gathers every Tufts tie to Harvard found so far in the printed records: degrees, offices and honors. Class years come from Sibley’s Harvard Graduates (through the class of 1771) and the Quinquennial Catalogue of 1915.
Tufts association: Tufts graduates of Harvard College from 1701, among them Medford’s first physician, Dr. Simon Tufts (class of 1724), his son Dr. Simon Tufts (1744) and Dr. Cotton Tufts (1749), who received an honorary M.D. in 1785. (Brooks, pp. 302–306; Quinquennial Catalogue (1915), classes of 1724, 1744, 1749)
Tufts Graduates and Students
| Name | Class | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Tufts | 1701 | The Quinquennial Catalogue (1915) lists a Thomas Tufts, A.M., under 1700; the Sibley index gives A.B. 1701. Identity and family not yet established. | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. V, pp. 122–124 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Jonathan Tufts | attended, left 1707 | Recorded in Sibley as a non-graduate (ex-1707). Identity not established. | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. V, pp. 403 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Rev. John Tufts | 1708 | Minister at Newbury, called by Brooks the “townsman and relative” of the elder Dr. Simon (Brooks, p. 303). No profile yet. | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. V, pp. 457–461 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Dr. Simon Tufts (1700–1747) | 1724 | Medford’s first physician; A.M. as well (obituary: “degrees … 1724 and 1727”). | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. VII, pp. 444–446 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Thomas Tufts Jr. | 1732 | Born in Medford in 1712; the first master in Medford’s first schoolhouse (Medford Historical Register, vol. II, pp. 11, 13. Perseus). | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. IX, pp. 228–229 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Joshua Tufts | 1736 | Listed by Brooks among Medford’s Harvard graduates (p. 301). Identity not established. | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. X, pp. 82–84 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Dr. Simon Tufts (1727–1786) | 1744 | Brooks: born Jan. 16, 1727, “graduated at Harvard College in 1744” (p. 305). | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. XI, pp. 478–481 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Dr. Cotton Tufts (1732–1815) | 1749 | A.B. 1749, A.M.; honorary M.D. 1785 (Quinquennial Catalogue, class of 1749). | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. XII, pp. 493–500 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Simon Tufts (son of Dr. Simon) | 1767 | Probably the Simon Tufts, A.M., eldest son of Dr. Simon and Lucy (Dudley) Tufts, who died in 1802 at the Cape of Good Hope (Medford vital records). Whether he is the Loyalist Simon Tufts (1750–1801) on this site is Unverified. | Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. XVI, pp. 540–542 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s Index of Graduates; sketch text not seen) |
| Cotton Tufts Jr. (1757–1833) | 1777 | Son of Dr. Cotton Tufts; the Adams Papers editors give “Harvard 1777” (Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, Abigail Smith to Cotton Tufts, 2 April 1764, note 6). | Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636–1915 (1915), class of 1777. Internet Archive |
| Abijah Tufts | 1790 | Identity not established. | Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636–1915 (1915), class of 1790. Internet Archive |
| Hall Tufts | 1794 | Listed by Brooks among Medford’s Harvard graduates. Identity not established. | Brooks, p. 301 (Medford graduates list) |
| Joseph Tufts | 1807 | Identity not established. | Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636–1915 (1915), class of 1807. Internet Archive |
⚑ Unverified
Sibley sketch texts (vols. V–XVI) have not been read for this page; only their volume and page locations are cited, from the Pollock index. Each identity marked “not established” still needs a family placement. The Quinquennial Catalogue lists a Thomas Tufts under 1700, while the Sibley index gives 1701.
Three Doctors, Two Simons
“He was born Jan. 16, 1727, and graduated at Harvard College in 1744.”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 305. Text (Perseus)
“Dr. Cotton Tufts, born 1732, brother of the above, graduated at Harvard College 1749; studied medicine with his brother; settled in Weymouth”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), p. 306. Text (Perseus)
The elder Simon trained his eldest son. The son, in turn, trained his younger brother Cotton and, later, John Brooks, the future governor (Brooks, pp. 305–307). The Countway Library’s description of Cotton’s papers gives his degrees as “A.B., 1749, honorary M.D., 1785, Harvard College.” ArchiveGrid record.
⚑ Unverified
Cotton Tufts’s birth year. Brooks (p. 306) and the Adams Papers editors give 1732; Historic Leaves, vol. 3, p. 18, gives May 3, 1734.
Offices, Honors and Gifts
- Honorary M.D., 1785: Dr. Cotton Tufts (Quinquennial Catalogue, class of 1749).
- Harvard and the Medical Society: Brooks writes that among the members of the Massachusetts Medical Society “Dr. Tufts’s name stands the second, in the order of time, on the college catalogue” (p. 306), meaning the younger Dr. Simon.
- Gifts: No gift or bequest to Harvard by a colonial Tufts has yet been found.
- Not Harvard: No Harvard degree has been found for Rev. Francis Tufts (1744–1833), the Freewill Baptist minister, in the Sibley index or the 1915 catalogue. The only Francis Tufts there is an LL.B. of 1851. Tufts College in Medford (1852) is a separate institution.
⚑ Unverified
Harvard University Archives records (faculty records, quarter-bill and steward’s books) have not been searched. Offices held at Harvard by any Tufts are unconfirmed.