John Tufts: A Shipwreck Story of Londonderry Immigrants

John Tufts: A Shipwreck Story of Londonderry Immigrants

By Tom Tufts, Guest Blogger for Nutfield Genealogy 

ttuftsy@comcast.net

from the Boston Evening Post  22 June 1737

Has anyone ever heard of Londonderry or Windham immigrants from Ireland in 1737 being shipwrecked off Nova Scotia or Maine?

Sometimes it’s really not clear what records to believe. I have been researching Tufts families for a few years and come across a lot of great stories and records but often the stories are conflicting or unclear. I always tell people to seek out the actual records and cherish those as accurate, but are they really? We have all seen errors in census and written histories.

 John Tuffts or Tufts was clearly in Windham by 1748 when he married and then bought a farm in 1752 from John Morison (whose wife was Ann (Tufts) Morison-his second cousin). He married (first) Catherine Moore had a family in Windham and a second family with Mary Campbell in Belfast Maine. His history from then is quite clear as he was a miller, selectman and led the families that removed to settle what is now Belfast Maine. They were all clearly of Scots-Irish descent and their stories are in several town histories.

The Tufts historians have differed over John’s ancestry. The latest was Herbert Adams who worked for 50 years on Tufts history and his result was recently published by the Tufts Kinsmen Association as Tufts Kinsmen. He shows that this John came from Medford as most of our Tufts descended from Peter Tufts who came from England around 1638.  He even mentions the bible of Peter Tufts was handed down through John’s family.

Recently a genealogist sent me a note questioning this connection. She has a transcript of a story handed down through a branch of this family that he was actually from Ireland (Scots-Irish) and shipwrecked as a boy when coming to this country and orphaned. This reminded me I had seen a similar story in; Tufts Family History 1963 by Jay Franklin Tufts. That story is from a third branch of John’s family and very similar to the transcript.

The genealogist also sent a news article from the Boston Evening Post in 1737 which details the wreck of the Catherine off sable Island near Nova Scotia. It was from Portrush, Ireland and headed for Boston with many families and said to be the “most richly laden that ever crossed the ocean”. Many perished but some were rescued and brought to “Piscataqua” (Portsmouth) and “thence to Londonderry”.

So my quandary is who to believe. The shipwreck stories can’t be denied. While there are differences, there are too many similarities, and the story comes from 2 different branches of John’s descendents. The bible story, if accurate, would prove he was related to Peter Tufts but where’s the bible?  There are other details in Tufts Kinsmen which relate him as well, including estate benefits from relatives wills. The other note in Kinsmen that is interesting is under another John who was said to be Irish, not from Peter, who settled in West Brookfield MA. There he states a John Tufts did try to come from Ireland but perished in the wreck of the Catherine! He quotes the ships manifest and has the notation (NEJ) which is not in the bibliography.

I really wonder why this story isn’t written about in more local or family histories. If anyone has heard of a similar shipwreck story please share. It was quite dramatic as nearly half perished. John’s mother threw him her purse to him as she slipped below the waves and this haunted him for years. Three others who perished were “Messr.s Archibald, Charles Mcneal (Macneal?) and Mrs. Margaret Snell”. They could have been coming to join others of their family already in Nutfield.  John’s survival was said to be with a brother and sister. What happened to them? Would some family have taken them in? The mystery remains to be discovered.

part two of the above newsclipping

part three

part 4
click to enlarge the images

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My guest blogger is Thomas Tufts, of Raymond, New Hampshire, who is a descendant of John Tufts of Windham.  He contacted me a few weeks ago about this story, and I also received an email query from him through the Londonderry Historical Society.  I couldn't find any information for him in the papers in the Londonderry Leach Library, and he has been searching the files in many local archives, including the New Hampshire Historical Society Library.  I thought that maybe by putting his information on my blog someone out there might know more information about the wreck of the Catherine or this group of Scots-Irish immigrants, including John Tufts.  If anyone knows more, please leave a comment here or contact Tom at ttuftsy@comcast.net  Thanks!

UPDATE -  see additional information about the shipwreck from Christine Sharbrough at the Accessible Archives blog at this link: http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/07/tories-in-new-hampshire/

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo and Thomas Tufts, "John Tufts: A Shipwreck Story of Londonderry Immigrants", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 22, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/03/john-tufts-shipwreck-story-of.html: accessed [access date]).