Puffer Genealogy

PUFFER, Charles Chenery

PUFFER, Charles Chenery[1, 2, 3]

Male 1841 - 1915  (74 years)

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  • Name PUFFER, Charles Chenery 
    Birth 15 Jun 1841  Colrain, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 3
    Gender Male 
    FindaGrave Address:
    72900577 
    Ref# 276  [3
    Residence 1895  Rochester, NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    _COLOR 11 
    Death 2 Dec 1915  Avon, NY Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Avon, NY Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Avon Cemetery 
    Person ID I14604  Puffers
    Last Modified 16 Dec 2023 

    Father PUFFER, Dr. Chenery Henry,   b. 29 Dec 1804, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 6 Mar 1877, Shelburne Falls, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years) 
    Mother ALDEN, Lucy Thomas,   b. 23 Aug 1810, Ashfield, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 31 Dec 1892, Shelburne Falls, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years) 
    Marriage 16 Jan 1834  Ashfield, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Family ID F8511  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family MARKHAM, Susan Emma,   b. 2 Feb 1843, Rush, NY Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Oct 1894, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 51 years) 
    Marriage 1 May 1865  Avon, NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Residence 1892  Monroe, NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Children 
     1. PUFFER, Isabel,   b. 4 Mar 1867, Elizabeth, NJ Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Sep 1956, Rochester, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 89 years)
     2. PUFFER, Linda Dana,   b. 10 Oct 1868, Rush, NY Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Apr 1969, Avon, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 100 years)
    Family ID F9245  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 Mar 2024 

  • Photos 2 Photos

  • Notes 
    • He attended the public schools of his native town, and Shelburne Falls Academy, and entered Rochester University, from when he was graduated in 1863 with the degree of bachelor of arts. He became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and was poet at national conventions of the fraternity at Union College, Schenectady, NY, and Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME. He was also poet of the literary societies as Asbury University, Greencastle, IN at Commencement, 1870.

      His business career began in 1864 at Shelburne Falls, where he was cashier of the Shelburne Falls Bank. Subsequently he had a banking house at 16 Nassau St., New York. In 1863 he went to South Carolina, and edited the Columbia Union-Herald, the only Republican daily in the state, and in partnership with Governor Chamberlain was the owner of the newspaper. In 1873-74 he was receiver of the Bank of the State. He was active and prominent in politics and was a prime factor in the nomination and election of Governor D. H. Chamberlain. Naturally he shared with the administration indiscriminate and unstinted condemnation from Democratic sources. He has always been a Republican, but in later years has not been active in party affairs.

      Having disposed of his newspaper interests in 1875, he engaged in mining operations in Colorado, and subsequently in 1884 engaged in the manufacture of glass enameled steel tanks at Rochester. Later the business was incorporated under the name of the Pfaudler Company, of which he is now chairman. In connection with its subsidiary companies in Detroit, MI, Schwetzingen, Baden, Germany, and in London, Eng. This concern is the largest in the world in this line of business. On account of the foreign business and especially the plant in Germany, Mr. Puffer has spent much of his time abroad.

      He is director of the Central Bank of Rochester and a member of the University Club, the Genesee Valley Club of that city and of the Chamber of Commerce.

      In partnership with his brother-in-law, William G. Markham, Mr. Puffer owns a model dairy farm of 400 acres at Rush, NY. "Elm Place" as the farm is known, is the old Markham homestead. From a herd of seventy Holstein cows, a high grade of certified milk is produced.

      Charles Chenery, to whom the subscribers to this book owe its existence, died at his home in Avon, NY, Dec 2 1915. On Thanksgiving day he underwent an operation for appendicitis, the immediate cause of death being heart failure. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says: "It is said of Mr. Puffer that in his numerous trips up and down Europe he store up a wonderful amount of interesting knowledge of its interesting and historical byways which are little visited by the average traveler and which added great charm to his conversation. His circle of friends in foreign lands was to be as large as that in his home city."

      After the Civil War, he managed plantations for the Sea Island Cotton Company in Columbia, South Carolina. They purchased plantations in Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina (summer of 1865). As a carpetbagger in Columbia, Puffer campaigned for the local Republican Party and actively supported Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain. Later, Puffer moved north and co-owned a dairy farm in Avon, New York, along with his brother-in-law William Guy Markham.

      (Ed. Note) An article in the newsletter of the Avon Historical and Preservation Society in 2008 about his daughter, Linda Dana Puffer, mentions that Charles was "lost in the Titanic disaster of 1912..". This fact obviously conflicts with known facts of his death in 1915.- DMC

  • Sources 
    1. [S361] U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925.
      Birth date: 15 Jun 1841 Birth place: Coleraine, Massachusetts Residence date: Residence place: Rochester, New York

    2. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 150, 235-236.

    3. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 151, 235.

    4. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 151.

    5. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 236.

    6. [S434] New York State Census, 1892.