Biography
William Tufts Jr. of Medford served as a private in a company of guards near Boston late in the war, and died in 1782.
Service Record
Town: Medford · Dates: 1736 – 1782
Born 27 Mar. 1736 in Medford; died 27 Apr. 1782. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 158, family no. 40-2)
Private in Capt. Nathan Sargent’s Company of Guards, under Stephen Dana, Col. McIntosh’s Regiment, Massachusetts Line (the book cites DAR 92:120). (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 158, family no. 40-2)
His brother Aaron (40-4) marched in the French War in 1757 for the relief of Fort William Henry and never returned. (Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I, p. 158, family no. 40-2)
Family Connection
Family number 40-2 in Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I. Parents are not named in the extract seen.
Relatives with profiles on this site: father Lieut. William Tufts (1713–1783); brother George (1747–1796; mother Catherine Wyman); brother Grimes (1748–1808; mother Catherine Wyman); brother Samuel 2nd (1752–1815; mother Mary Francis); brother David (1763–1823; mother Mary Francis); brother Moses (possible; Brooks no. 266a); son Nathan Tufts Jr.; son Uriah Tufts (1768–1837). Brothers are listed with their mothers as Brooks gives them (p. 550); sons of different mothers are half-brothers.
Spouse(s)
- Susanna (surname not given).
“290 William Tufts , 4th, m. Susanna----. He died Apr. 27, 1782”
Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 551. Page scan · Text (Perseus)
Matched by death date (Find a Grave: d. 27 Apr. 1782). Brooks also lists him as no. 257, son of William, b. Mar. 27, 1736.
Authoritative IDs / Index Numbers
| Source | ID / status |
|---|---|
| Perseus person index (auth=) | auth=tufts,william. This is a name-level key shared by every William Tufts in Perseus, not a personal ID. Use it with the passages cited on this page. |
| Find a Grave memorial | 53717633 (dates and family checked) |
| Brooks, History of Medford (1855) register no. | No. 257; 290, p. 550–551 |
| Tufts Kinsmen, Vol. I family no. | 40-2 |
| 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 | 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
Possible match to the MSS Medford entries for Capt. Stephen Dana’s co. (1778) and Capt. Nathan Sergant’s co. of guards (1779); see William Tufts (several men). No other source on this site has yet been checked for this man.
Find a Grave
Find a Grave memorial 53717633. As given there (secondary; not checked against original records): “William Tufts Jr.” Born 27 Mar 1736, Medford; died 27 Apr 1782, aged 46, Medford. Burial place unknown; no photographs.
Business
A man of this name appears in Brooks’s History of Medford in connection with the brickyards. Whether it is this man is Unverified. See Businesses.
From Cutter’s Memoirs (1910)
“William (2), son of William (1) Tufts, was born March 27, 1736, and died according to the church record of dropsy and jaundice, April 27, 1782.”
Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, vol. II, p. 1199. Page (Internet Archive)
“There were several of this name in the revolution, and the writer is unable to determine whether any of the service described belongs to this William Tufts.”
Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, vol. II, p. 1199. Page (Internet Archive)
Cutter gives his wife as Susannah (surname not given), who “died at Boston, February 26, 1801, aged sixty-six, and buried in Medford.” Their children, born at Medford, were Nathan (baptized May 18, 1760), Susanna, Elinor, Aaron (December 18, 1761), William (baptized May 18, 1760) and Uriah (vol. II, p. 1199).
Uriah (1768–1837) became a Boston blacksmith with a smithy on Constitution Wharf. Cutter writes that “He forged and drove the first bolts that were used in the construction of the famous frigate ‘Constitution’” (vol. II, p. 1199).
⚑ Unverified
Cutter’s doubt about this William’s war service applies to the service record on this page, which comes from a different source. Which William Tufts served in the guards company is not settled.
Cutter’s Tufts sketch (vol. II, pp. 1198–1200) is a compiled family history of 1910, written for a descendant’s line. Quotes are from the Internet Archive’s scanned text, checked against the printed page numbers.
Source added: William Richard Cutter, ed., Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1910).
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.
Graves and Memorials
- Find a Grave memorial · 53717633
Markers, Plaques and Places
- Businesses — A man of this name appears in Brooks’s History of Medford in connection with the brickyards. Whether it is this man is Unverified.
Digitized Books and Journals
- Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 551. · Page scan
- Charles Brooks, History of the Town of Medford (1855), Register of Families, p. 551. · Text (Perseus)
- Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, vol. II, p. 1199. · Page (Internet Archive)