Biography
James Tufts, a younger son of Peter Tufts the immigrant, is the first of the family known to have died in war. In King Philip’s War he was a teamster with Capt. Thomas Lathrop’s company, which was ambushed while escorting carts of grain from Deerfield on September 18, 1675, at the stream afterward called Bloody Brook.
“James2 (Peter1), resident of Deerfield; was with Capt. Lothrop as teamster when the latter was ambuscaded at Bloody Brook, and was there killed, 18 September, 1675.”
Larkin T. Tufts and Edward C. Booth, “Tufts Genealogy—Earlier Generations,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 51 (July 1897), p. 301. Page (Internet Archive)
“James, son of Peter Tufts, was born in Charlestown, about 1650. He was a soldier in King Philip's war, and was killed in the battle of Bloody Brook, September 18, 1675.”
Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, vol. II, p. 1198. Page (Internet Archive) (Scanned text; obvious scanning errors corrected.)
“James 7. Son of Peter 1; soldier at Bloody Brook, and there was slain Sept. 18. 1675.”
Thomas Bellows Wyman, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, vol. II (1879), p. 959. Page (Internet Archive)
He left one child, James Tufts (1672–1733), whom the immigrant remembered in his will with “new house near Mystic bridge; 40 acres near house” (Wyman, p. 958). Through that grandson the line runs to Lieut. William Tufts of Medford.
Service Record
Town: Charlestown and Deerfield, Mass. · Dates: c. 1650–1675
King Philip’s War: teamster with Capt. Lathrop’s company; killed at Bloody Brook (South Deerfield), September 18, 1675 (NEHGR 51, p. 301; Wyman, p. 959).
Family Connection
Father: Peter Tufts the immigrant. Brother: Capt. Peter Tufts. Son: James Tufts (1672–1733), by Elizabeth Wells (see Spouse).
Relatives with profiles on this site: father Peter Tufts the immigrant; brother Capt. Peter Tufts; son James Tufts (1672–1733); grandson Lieut. William Tufts.
Spouse(s)
- Elizabeth Wells. Cutter (p. 1198) says he “married Elizabeth Wells.” Wyman (p. 959) records only a court case with her about 1669 and a Charlestown selectmen’s order of June 27, 1672, for the “Child of James Tufts and Elizabeth Wells, to be kept by Susanna White.” No marriage record has been found.
Authoritative IDs / Index Numbers
| Source | ID / status |
|---|---|
| Perseus person index (auth=) | auth=tufts,james. This is a name-level key shared by every James Tufts in Perseus, not a personal ID. Use it with the passages cited on this page. |
| Find a Grave memorial | Note: Pending further work. |
| Brooks, History of Medford (1855) register no. | Note: Pending further work. |
| 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
Birth: “about 1650” is Cutter’s estimate; no record found. Brooks’s confusion: Brooks (1855, p. 550) says a James “said (B) to have been a son of Peter (No. 1)” married Mary Dill in 1729 and was “supposed to have been killed by the Indians.” The Dill marriage belongs to his son (NEHGR, Wyman), so Brooks has run father and son together.
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.
Digitized Books and Journals
- Larkin T. Tufts and Edward C. Booth, “Tufts Genealogy—Earlier Generations,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 51 (July 1897), p. 301. · Page (Internet Archive)
- Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, vol. II, p. 1198. · Page (Internet Archive)
- Thomas Bellows Wyman, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, vol. II (1879), p. 959. · Page (Internet Archive)