Biography
Henry Tufts is the family’s most notorious member. He signed the Association Test and served as a private, but he is remembered for his 1806 memoir of crime, imprisonment, escape, and years of doctoring learned among the Saint Francis Indians.
Service Record
Town: Boston; Newmarket and Lee, N.H. · Dates: abt. 1735 – [death not in extract]
Born about 1735; signed the Association Test of loyalty circulated by order of the Continental Congress; private in the Revolution. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 136–137, family no. 25-1)
Apprenticed as a tailor on Fleet Street, Boston’s North End; followed his brother Thomas to Newmarket, N.H.; petitioned in Nov. 1765 for the division of Durham and the forming of the parish of Lee. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 105, 136–137, family no. 25-1)
Published his memoir, The Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, at Dover, N.H., in 1806. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 136–137, family no. 25-1)
Convicted June 1793 and sentenced to hang on 14 Aug. 1793 (the book calls the sentence unjust); commuted to life imprisonment at Castle Island, Boston Harbor; escaped from the Salem jail in 1798. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 136–137, family no. 25-1)
Spent three years with the Saint Francis Indians of Québec, learning doctoring from Molly Ockit; the town of Limerick paid him for doctoring its poor. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 136–137, family no. 25-1)
Family Connection
Family number 25-1 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=) | Checked, not found (no auth=tufts,… key for this name in Brooks, the Medford Historical Register or Historic Leaves). |
| Find a Grave memorial | Checked, not found |
| Brooks, History of Medford (1855) register no. | Checked, no entry confidently matched |
| Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I family no. | 25-1 |
| 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
The order of imprisonment and escape is as given in the extract. No other source on this site has yet been checked for this man.
Pictures
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
- — A Narrative of the Life … of Henry Tufts (1807), title page. The title page of A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts , printed by Samuel Bragg Jr., Dover, N.H., 18
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — …… of Henry Tufts (1807), title page. The title page of A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, printed by Samuel Bragg Jr., Dover, N.H., 1807.Image: Samuel Bragg Jr., printer. Public domain.
- — …title page. The title page of A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, printed by Samuel Bragg Jr., Dover, N.H., 1807.Image: Samuel Bragg Jr., printer. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — Town Hall, Lee, New Hampshire. The town hall in Lee, N.H. (photographed 2013).Image: Bostonian13. CC BY-SA 3.0.
- — …Dover, N.H., 1807.Image: Samuel Bragg Jr., printer. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia CommonsTown Hall, Lee, New Hampshire. The town hall in Lee, N.H. (photographed 2013).Image: Bostonian13. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
- Source: Wikimedia Commons — Old Salem Jail, St. Peter Street, about 1908. A postcard view of the Salem jail on St. Peter Street. Whether Henry Tufts was held in this building is not established.Image: Unknown (postcard). Public domain.