Biography
Francis Tufts enlisted from the Maine frontier, served at Dorchester Heights, and lived to become a Freewill Baptist minister. In 1831, in his late eighties, he set out by wagon for Ohio, where he died two years later.
Service Record
Town: Medford; Lincoln Co., Me.; Farmington, Me.; Ohio · Dates: 1744 – 1833
Born 21 July 1744 in Medford; died 2 Oct. 1833 at Yankeetown, Ohio; Freewill Baptist minister. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 128–130, family no. 20-1)
Private, enlisting from Lincoln County, Me.: ten months in the Massachusetts militia, beginning by dislodging Tories stealing cattle on the Penobscot River; later at Tiverton, R.I., and at Dorchester Heights during the evacuation of the King’s troops from Boston. Pension 4 Oct. 1823. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 128–130, family no. 20-1)
Built the first mill at Farmington Falls, 1788; ruling elder and deacon of the Farmington church; met his nephew Charles Tufts (later benefactor of Tufts College) in Medford before his 1831 wagon trip to Ohio. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 128–130, family no. 20-1)
Family Connection
Family number 20-1 in Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I. Parents are not named in the extract seen.
Spouse(s)
Not found in the sources checked (Brooks 1855 Register of Families; Wild; Find a Grave data on file; Tufts Kinsmen Vol. I extract).
Authoritative IDs / Index Numbers
| Source | ID / status |
|---|---|
| Perseus person index (auth=) | auth=tufts,francis. This is a name-level key shared by every Francis Tufts in Perseus, not a personal ID. Use it with the passages cited on this page. |
| Find a Grave memorial | Uncertain: 78802812 (from a search summary only). Flagged; not used. |
| Brooks, History of Medford (1855) register no. | Checked, no entry confidently matched |
| Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I family no. | 20-1 |
| Mass. Soldiers and Sailors | Not yet checked for this page |
| DAR ancestor no. | Note: Pending further work. |
| FamilySearch ID | Note: Pending further work. |
| Geni profile | Note: Pending further work. |
| WikiTree ID | Note: Pending further work. |
| Town / vital records | Medford VRs not yet checked by volume and page |
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
No other source on this site has yet been checked for this man.
Pictures
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Tufts House, Farmington
He built the brick Tufts House at Farmington in 1810, making the bricks himself from Sandy River clay, after a log dwelling and a frame house of 1791. The 1979 National Register nomination calls him “a professional brickmaker among other accomplishments” and one of the three men who negotiated the purchase of the township from the Massachusetts General Court in 1790. (National Register nomination, Tufts House, NRIS 79000130, p. 3) See Places and Businesses.
⚑ Unverified
The nomination says he died at Maineville, Ohio, and served on Arnold’s Quebec Expedition; neither is yet confirmed.
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
- — Farmington Falls, Maine (postcard, 1907). A view of Farmington Falls from a 1907 postcard. This is the place, not the mill described in the profile. Tufts association: Tied to Rev. Francis Tufts (20-1
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — …Falls from a 1907 postcard. This is the place, not the mill described in the profile. Tufts association: Tied to Rev. Francis Tufts (20-1); see his profile for the cited source.Image: Unknown (1907 postcard). Public domain.
- — …This is the place, not the mill described in the profile. Tufts association: Tied to Rev. Francis Tufts (20-1); see his profile for the cited source.Image: Unknown (1907 postcard). Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — …Tufts association: Family tradition places Peter Tufts (b. 1753) in the party that fortified the Heights; Booth p. 22 gives it as “It is related.” Unverified.Image: Jet Lowe (HABS/HAER, Library of Congress). Public domain.
- — …Family tradition places Peter Tufts (b. 1753) in the party that fortified the Heights; Booth p. 22 gives it as “It is related.” Unverified.Image: Jet Lowe (HABS/HAER, Library of Congress). Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — Yankeetown, Ohio. A present-day view of Yankeetown, Ohio, at Ohio 207 and Cook-Yankeetown Road (photographed 2012).Image: Aesopposea. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Markers, Plaques and Places
- National Register nomination, Tufts House, NRIS 79000130 — …of 1791. The 1979 National Register nomination calls him “a professional brickmaker among other accomplishments” and one of the three men who negotiated the purchase of the township from the Massachusetts General Court in 1790.
- Places — …brickmaker among other accomplishments” and one of the three men who negotiated the purchase of the township from the Massachusetts General Court in 1790. (National Register nomination, Tufts House, NRIS 79000130, p. 3)
- Businesses — …among other accomplishments” and one of the three men who negotiated the purchase of the township from the Massachusetts General Court in 1790. (National Register nomination, Tufts House, NRIS 79000130, p. 3) See Places an