The Indiana Tufts The Tufts story begins with Peter & Elizabeth Tufts of county Norfolk, England, whose son peter, at the age of 21, immigrated to America. He settled in Charlestown, Ma and in 1647 he married Mary Pierce of Charlestown. Note that all Tufts in the us and Canada must be related, as peter is the only Tufts that immigrated to America. This story will deal only with the branch of tufts who settled in Indiana. Peter Tufts had a son John b-1664 who married Mary Putnam and they had a son Benjamin Tufts b-28 Nov. 1699 and who married a Mary Hutchinson 7 Jan. 1730, Malden Mass. They had a son Francis Tufts b-1744 Malden, Mass. who married sarah blunt 26 nov. 1767 at Medford Mass. They had a son John Tufts sr. b-4 may 1775 at Damarisco, Maine. He married Prudence Parker 14 may 1797 at Farmington, Maine. The time is around 1836 and the area had just experienced it fifth winter of severe cold temperatures and a group of them have decided to leave the area and go west to ohio. So John Tufts sr decided to sell out and leave Wilton, Maine and move his large family west. His oldest son John Tufts jr decided to take his large family and go with his father. The trip was made in covered wagons over one of the muddiest trails there was, and at times it would take all the horses to pull wagons out of the mud. The trail they were on would go by yankee town, Warren county, Ohio, which was later renamed Maineville by the large group of settlers from Maine. For reasons unknown the Tufts didn't stop here even though there was several Tufts families in residence. they continued on till they came to the "three chimney tavern" near aurora Indiana. This tavern was quite a landmark for all travelers in the 1830's and the Tufts families took up residence while land could be purchased and houses built. John Tufts sr. bought 80 acres of farmland in Ripley county and erected a house and his family moved in to start a new life. John Tufts jr purchased 160 acres of land in Deaborn county and built a frame house and moved his family in to start their new life. John jr. later purchased an additional 160 acres adjoining his original land. He also purchased 80 acres of land in Iowa and later gave it to one of his sons who farmed it for awhile and later moved to California. John jr. son Charles Morrell Tufts when he was old enough, attended the Maineville academy at Maineville, Ohio and during this time he met his wife who was a classmate, Margaret Emma Howe, whose father owned a large farm near Athens, Ohio. Charles and Maggie attended school and took classes, which they could put to use back at the farm in Indiana. They graduated, got married and went back to the farm and put to use what they learned. They planted over 600 Maple trees and built a sugar camp for the purpose of making maple syrup for selling. They planted various fruit trees for their use and for selling. The farm was now thriving with the usual crops plus the syrup and fruits for canning for their use and cash for the excess. John Tufts sr. died 2 July 1849 at Sparta, Indiana and John Tufts jr. died 19 Aug. 1867. His son Charles and his wife Maggie and their sons Edwin, Arthur, Guy, and William managed John jr.'s farm. On a plot of land just east of the house a small building was erected for the purpose of having meetings of the Pleasant Valley grange chapter # 237. Meetings were held and the membership grew to over 230 members in the 30's. It was the oldest grange chapter in Indiana. The Tufts were members of the Mt. Tabor church and most of the Tufts settlers are buried in the new church cemetery just south of the church. When Charles Tufts died 13 Oct. 1888 his wife Maggie took charge of the farm with sons. Edwin Tufts married Marianne Johnston, Arthur never married, Guy married Alice A. Gearhart and William married Amanda Johnson. Around 1900 William l Tufts decided to leave the farm and he sold his share to Edwin and with his wife and two children, Verney and Ella Mae they moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, where their last child William Loren was born in 1910. Maggie and her sons and their families managed the farm till 1930 when she died. Edwin took charge of the farm and with his brothers Arthur and Guy managed to keep it going till Edwin died dec. 1943 and Arthur died in mar. 1954. Guy stayed on the farm but he and his son Harris could not do much other than to take care of themselves. When Guy passed away 22 feb. 1967 it was agreed to dell the farm at public auction, which was done but no development has been done. In the peak of her life the Tufts ridge farm was quite a showplace with the large two-story house and the large summer kitchen in back, the large barn with the hay press built inside for baling hay, the sugar camp, the grange hall and the fishpond. Yes in her day the farm did Indiana proud. Submitted by: William Sanford Tufts [son of verney tufts] 436 Funtwood dr Gahanna, Ohio 43230-2021 e-mail: w-tufts@juno.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by William Sanford Tufts (© 1997 William Sanford Tufts)