Biography
Dr. Cotton Tufts was born in Medford, the son of Dr. Simon Tufts. He practiced medicine in Weymouth until his death in 1815. A family history records his ties to the Adams family: John Adams noted dining with him in 1796. The same history credits him with service as a state senator and as a delegate to the convention that adopted the Constitution. These points come from a 20th-century secondary source and are quoted as written.
Service Record
Town: Medford; Weymouth · Dates: 1732 – 1815
“Dr. Cotton Tufts besides practicing medicine in Weymouth was a State Senator for many years; also a delegate to the convention which adopted the constitution of the United States; Always an ardent Federalist.”
Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History 1633–1963 (secondary source), p. 35 · page scan
No entry for Cotton Tufts appears among the Tufts entries in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, vol. XVI (1907), pp. 131–140.
Family Connection
“Dr. Tufts was Dr. Cotton Tufts, born in Medford, the son of Dr. Simon Tufts, first Physician of Medford, and probably also of Massachusetts. Dr. Cotton Tufts started his medical practice in Weymouth and remained there until his death in 1815. His first wife was Lucy Quincy; he later married Susanna Warner.”
Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History 1633–1963 (secondary source), p. 37 (printed page number per archive.org page map; not legible on the scan) · page scan
“July 17, 1796, yesterday Dr. Tufts and family, also Mr. Otis, (presumably a friend of both families) dined with me.”
Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History 1633–1963 (secondary source), p. 37, quoting John Adams's diary · page scan
Relatives with profiles on this site: father Dr. Simon Tufts (1700–1747); brother Dr. Simon Tufts (1727–1786); nephew Turell Tufts; nephew Simon Tufts (1750–1801); second wife Susanna Warner Tufts.
Spouse(s)
- Lucy Quincy (1729–1785), first wife.
- Susanna Warner of Gloucester, second wife. Married at Gloucester, October 22, 1789 (Vital Records of Gloucester, vol. II; Vital Records of Weymouth, vol. II).
Both names from Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History, p. 37 (see Family Connection); Find a Grave memorial 68293670 names Lucy (Quincy) Tufts. His first wife Lucy died Oct. 30, 1785 (Vital Records of Weymouth, vol. II, deaths). First marriage date: Note: Pending further work. The second marriage is dated above.
“COTTON Tufts m.---- Smith , sister-in-law of President John Adams”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 546. Page scan · Text (Perseus)
⚑ Unverified
Brooks’s “m.---- Smith” conflicts with the Lucy Quincy of the other sources. Lucy Quincy was a cousin of Abigail (Smith) Adams; Brooks appears to have confused the Smith connection. Brooks is reported here, not followed.
From Tufts Kinsmen
Vol. I
Dr. Cotton Tufts, family no. 11-4: born 30 May 1732 in Medford; died 8 Dec. 1815 in Weymouth. The book covers him at length on pp. 110–112. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 110–112, family no. 11-4)
His father, Dr. Simon Tufts (11-1), is described as an ardent Whig who treated the wounded after Lexington and Concord and at Bunker Hill. See Dr. Simon Tufts. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 110, family no. 11-1)
Identity match: clean. Medford birth, Weymouth death in 1815, and his father Dr. Simon Tufts agree with Tufts Family History, pp. 35, 37. Vol. I supplies the birth date that was missing. Note: Pending further work.
Authoritative IDs / Index Numbers
| Source | ID / status |
|---|---|
| Perseus person index (auth=) | auth=tufts,cotton. This is a name-level key shared by every Cotton Tufts in Perseus, not a personal ID. Use it with the passages cited on this page. |
| Find a Grave memorial | 68293670 (dates and family checked) |
| Brooks, History of Medford (1855) register no. | No. 23-55, p. 546 |
| Mass. Soldiers and Sailors | vol. XVI, p. 131–140 |
| DAR ancestor no. | Note: Pending further work. |
| Adams Papers document IDs | 188 letters in the Adams Papers digital edition (see Collections) |
| FamilySearch ID | Note: Pending further work. |
| Geni profile | Note: Pending further work. |
| WikiTree ID | Note: Pending further work. |
| Town / vital records | Brooks’s register (above) is drawn from Medford town and church records; printed VR volume and page not yet checked |
Only IDs confirmed against dates and family are given as matches. “Not yet checked” means the source has not been searched; “Checked, not found” means it was searched without a match.
⚑ Unverified
State senate and ratifying-convention service come only from the secondary Tufts Family History. The same page lists “Cotton, Jr. (Esq), (1791-1872)” with dates identical to “Quincy (1791-1872)”, an apparent error in the source (p. 35).
Learned Societies
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1780
“Be it therefore Enacted … that the Honble Samuel Adams Esqr., Honble John Adams Esqr., … Honble John Hancock Esqr., … Cotton Tufts Esqr., … be, and they hereby are formed into, constituted & made a body politic and corporate, by the name of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences”
Act of incorporation, passed May 3, 1780, as copied into the Academy’s Minutes, vol. 1, pp. 1–2. American Academy archives transcription; charter and list of the 62 charter members
He was one of 62 incorporators named in the act. The Academy’s own charter page lists him among its charter members.
⚑ Unverified
The date. The copied minutes say the act passed May 3, 1780; the Academy’s charter page says it was granted May 4, 1780.
Massachusetts Medical Society: an incorporator, 1781
“Tufts was also an incorporator of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781 and served as its fourth president (1787–1795).”
Harvard Library, Contagion: “Cotton Tufts Papers”; also ArchiveGrid record for B MS c30
The Society was incorporated on November 1, 1781, with thirty-one incorporators (Cash, as below, text at nn. 45–46).
⚑ Unverified
The 1781 act itself, with its list of names, has not been seen. Cotton Tufts’s place among the incorporators rests on the Countway Library’s description.
President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1787–1795
“Cotton Tufts, Weymouth, 1787-1795”
Massachusetts Medical Society, Past Presidents of the Massachusetts Medical Society
On the Society’s list he follows Edward Augustus Holyoke (1786–1787), William Kneeland (1784–1786) and Holyoke’s first term (1782–1784), which makes him the fourth president.
The 1765 plan for a medical society
“The prime mover in the attempt to found a colonywide medical society in 1765 was Dr. Cotton Tufts of Weymouth, later a major force in the early years of the Massachusetts Medical Society.”
Philip Cash, “The Professionalization of Boston Medicine, 1760–1803,” Medicine in Colonial Massachusetts (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1980), n. 33. Online text
Cash calls the 1765 effort “the abortive attempt” (same article, text at n. 33). A 1959 note in the New England Journal of Medicine also says that Cotton planned the first state medical society in 1765 and that the plan fell through (“From the Curator’s Notebook: Cotton Tufts to Cotton Tufts, 1776,” New England Journal of Medicine 260 (March 26, 1959). DOI; abstract only seen). His older brother, Dr. Simon Tufts (1727–1786), was called to the plan’s first meeting (see his profile).
⚑ Unverified
No minutes or letters of the 1765 meeting have been seen. Cotton’s letters about it are probably among his Countway papers, which have not been read.
Pictures
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Find a Grave
Find a Grave memorial 68293670. As given there (secondary; not checked against original records): Born 30 May 1732, Medford; died 8 Dec 1815, Weymouth. Buried North Weymouth Cemetery. Parents Dr. Simon Tufts and Abigail (Smith) Tufts; wife Lucy (Quincy) Tufts (1729–1785); son Cotton Tufts Jr. (1757–1833).
Letters
In the Newspapers
In November 1771 The Boston Gazette (p. 4) advertised a black mare stolen or strayed “from the Pasture of Cotton Tufts, Esq; in Weymouth.”
See Collections.
Harvard: Class of 1749; honorary M.D. 1785
Brooks, p. 306: “graduated at Harvard College 1749.” Quinquennial Catalogue (1915): A.M.; M.D. (Hon.) 1785. (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)) See Harvard College.
His Letters
The Adams Papers hold 188 letters by or to Dr. Cotton Tufts, 21 of them touching on smallpox inoculation, fevers, dysentery or measles. Examples: to John Adams, July 5, 1776: “Yesterday People in Boston were openly inoculated for the Small Pox” (MHS). His Countway papers hold letters with his brother Dr. Simon. See Letters of the Tufts Doctors.
Links and Resources
Every source, record, map, survey, marker and artifact tied to this person, gathered in one place. Page numbers are given where a book is cited.
Maps, Surveys and Artifacts
- The Tufts Coat of Arms: the Norton tankard — Bolton’s American Armory (1927) records the Norton arms on a tankard given by Elizabeth Quincy to her daughter Lucy Tufts, his first wife.
- Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History 1633–1963 (secondary source), p. 35 · page scan
- Jay Franklin Tufts, Tufts Family History 1633–1963 (secondary source), p. 37 (printed page number per archive.org page map; not legible on the scan) · page scan
- — Dr. Cotton Tufts, by Benjamin Greenleaf (1804). Oil on canvas, 1804, by Benjamin Greenleaf (1769–1821). The source record identifies the sitter as Cotton Tufts and gives Dr. Cotton Tufts himself as th
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — …Greenleaf (1804). Oil on canvas, 1804, by Benjamin Greenleaf (1769–1821). The source record identifies the sitter as Cotton Tufts and gives Dr. Cotton Tufts himself as the first owner.Image: Benjamin Greenleaf. Public domain.
- — …on canvas, 1804, by Benjamin Greenleaf (1769–1821). The source record identifies the sitter as Cotton Tufts and gives Dr. Cotton Tufts himself as the first owner.Image: Benjamin Greenleaf. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — Abigail Adams (Benjamin Blyth, 1766). Pastel portrait of Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth, 1766, Massachusetts Historical Society.Image: Benjamin Blyth (Massachusetts Historical Society). Public domain.
- — …Adams (Benjamin Blyth, 1766). Pastel portrait of Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth, 1766, Massachusetts Historical Society.Image: Benjamin Blyth (Massachusetts Historical Society). Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — John Adams (John Singleton Copley, 1783). Portrait of John Adams by John Singleton Copley, 1783, Harvard Art Museums.Image: John Singleton Copley (Harvard Art Museums). Public domain.
- — …Wikimedia CommonsJohn Adams (John Singleton Copley, 1783). Portrait of John Adams by John Singleton Copley, 1783, Harvard Art Museums.Image: John Singleton Copley (Harvard Art Museums). Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — …The building’s date is not given in the source. Tufts association: Dr. Cotton Tufts was a deacon of the First Church, Weymouth, for more than forty years (Weymouth Tufts/Smith/Adams finding aid).Image: Magicpiano. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- — Dr. Cotton Tufts, Find a Grave memorial photo. Photograph from his memorial (North Weymouth Cemetery), added 23 May 2011. Photo: aladdinsane85, Find a Grave Dr. Cotton Tufts, Find a Grave memorial pho
- — Dr. Cotton Tufts, Find a Grave memorial photo. Photograph from his memorial (North Weymouth Cemetery), added 23 May 2011.Photo: aladdinsane85, Find a Grave
- the Adams correspondence — See the Adams correspondence .
- Collections — See Collections .
- Letters of the Tufts Doctors — …smallpox inoculation, fevers, dysentery or measles. Examples: to John Adams, July 5, 1776: “Yesterday People in Boston were openly inoculated for the Small Pox” (MHS). His Countway papers hold letters with his brother Dr. Simon.
Graves and Memorials
- Find a Grave memorial · 68293670
Markers, Plaques and Places
- Harvard College — …College 1749.” Quinquennial Catalogue (1915): A.M.; M.D. (Hon.) 1785. (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))
Digitized Books and Journals
- Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 546. · Page scan
- Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 546. · Text (Perseus)
- Index of Graduates — Brooks, p. 306: “graduated at Harvard College 1749.” Quinquennial Catalogue (1915): A.M.; M.D. (Hon.) 1785. (Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. XII, pp. 493–500 (sketch location from Andrew W. Pollock’s
Archives, Letters and Records
- Harvard Library, Contagion : “Cotton Tufts Papers” — Harvard Library, Contagion : “Cotton Tufts Papers” ; also ArchiveGrid record for B MS c30
- …hold 188 letters by or to Dr. Cotton Tufts, 21 of them touching on smallpox inoculation, fevers, dysentery or measles. Examples: to John Adams, July 5, 1776: “Yesterday People in Boston were openly inoculated for the Small Pox” · MHS
Other Resources
- American Academy archives transcription — Act of incorporation, passed May 3, 1780, as copied into the Academy’s Minutes, vol. 1, pp. 1–2.
- charter and list of the 62 charter members — Act of incorporation, passed May 3, 1780, as copied into the Academy’s Minutes, vol. 1, pp. 1–2. American Academy archives transcription
- ArchiveGrid record for B MS c30 — Harvard Library, Contagion: “Cotton Tufts Papers”; als
- Past Presidents of the Massachusetts Medical Society — Massachusetts Medical Society
- Philip Cash, “The Professionalization of Boston Medicine, 1760–1803,” Medicine in Colonial Massachusetts (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1980), n. 33. · Online text
- DOI — …also says that Cotton planned the first state medical society in 1765 and that the plan fell through (“From the Curator’s Notebook: Cotton Tufts to Cotton Tufts, 1776,” New England Journal of Medicine 260 (March 26, 1959).