Puffer Genealogy

PUFFER, Josiah[1, 2]

Male 1735 - 1806  (71 years)


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  • Name PUFFER, Josiah 
    Birth 21 Mar 1735  Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 4
    Gender Male 
    FindaGrave
    Ref# 33  [5
    Residence 1790  Canajoharie, NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 7
    Residence 1799  Canajoharie, NY Find all individuals with events at this location  [8
    _COLOR 11 
    Death 9 Jul 1806  Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [9, 10
    Burial Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Woodside Cemetery 
    Person ID I34307  Puffers
    Last Modified 3 Apr 2023 

    Father PUFFER, Capt. Jabez,   b. Abt 1704, Braintree, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Jun 1789, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years) 
    Mother HAYNES, Thankful,   b. 22 Apr 1708, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jun 1737, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 29 years) 
    Marriage 24 Jul 1731  Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [11, 12, 13
    Family ID F8550  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family READ, Mary,   b. 19 Mar 1741, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Jul 1831, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 90 years) 
    Marriage 29 Nov 1759  Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this location  [9, 11
    Children 
     1. PUFFER, Rev. Isaac G. Sr.,   b. 24 Jan 1761, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Mar 1837, Watson, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years)
     2. PUFFER, Mary,   b. 5 Apr 1763, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Apr 1857, Petersham, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 94 years)
     3. PUFFER, Jabez,   b. 14 Jun 1765, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1865, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age < 99 years)
     4. PUFFER, Eunice,   b. 2 Aug 1767, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Feb 1846 (Age 78 years)
     5. PUFFER, Thankful,   b. 17 Apr 1769, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 18 Apr 1857, Westfield, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 88 years)
     6. PUFFER, Lucena,   b. 27 May 1771, Sudbury, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Sep 1851, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     7. PUFFER, Samuel Read,   b. 21 Oct 1773, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Mar 1854, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     8. PUFFER, Ruth,   b. 1 Mar 1776, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Apr 1833, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 57 years)
     9. PUFFER, Sally,   b. 22 Mar 1780, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Oct 1811, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 31 years)
     10. PUFFER, Asahel,   b. 20 Dec 1781, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 20 Mar 1835, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 53 years)
     11. PUFFER, Betsey,   b. 19 Mar 1788, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Aug 1846, Westminster, MA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 58 years)
    Family ID F8770  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 Mar 2024 

  • Photos
    josiah puffer 1735 gs.jpg
    josiah puffer 1735 gs.jpg

  • Notes 
    • He settled in Westminster about the time of the incorporation, 1759, on Lot No 62, in the south part of the town, on the farm lately owned by Cephas W. Bush. In early youth he lost a thumb by the explosion of a gun in his hands and was disqualified for military service. When he enlisted, it is said that he passed the examination by wearing gloves of which the thumb of one was filled with wood. He was in the French War, as the following letter to his father at Sudbury shows:

      "Halfway Brook, July ye 23, 1758.
      Honored father and mother

      I hope these few lines may find you and all my Brothers and Sisters well and in good health as I am at this time after my Duty to you my father and mother and Love to my Brothers and sisters and friends and neighbors I will inform you that we have been met with a vary poor Stroke in the loss of Captain Daken and Leftene Curtis and thre privets, william grout J onathan Patson Nathanial Molton all of Sudbury and in the fight we lost three Captens and two Leftenants and one Ensine and two Sargnts and one Corporal and thirteen privets all out of our Regiment * * * and I will inform you that I Received your Letter this Day Dated June ye 29, and I Desier you would Send me a Letter as Sun as you Can I also Desier prayers for me and I hope that I shall Return to you in Due time--Know more at present So I shall Remain Your Dutifull Son
      JOSIAH PUFFER."

      He was a sergeant in Capt. Dakin's Co,, Col. Nicols' regt. at Worcester (list Jan 4 1759). He was in Captain Noah Mile's company, Colonel John Whitcomb's regiment Apr. 19, 1775, and took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill; also in Capt. Elisha Jackson's company to reinforce the northern army, 1777.

      He was an active, influential citizen, of good judgment, able and upright. He was a Representative to the General Court in 1787, 1790, and 1791. He was the best educated man in town, except perhaps the minister. He retained his health to the day of his death. He mowed an acre of heavy grass the day before he died, and, indeed, died in the hayfield next day, while making his hay, pitchfork in hand, and was found dead by a neighbor. He deeded land to his son Samuel in 1805 (W.D. 163, 452). His will was dated Jan. 10, 1806. The 1790 census shows he was living in Westminster, head of a family of nine.

  • Sources 
    1. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 36, 49-51.

    2. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 36, 49.

    3. [S436] Vital Records of Stow Massachusetts To the Year 1850, page114.

    4. [S466] _Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988.

    5. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 36.

    6. [S724] New York Genealogical Records, 1675-1920.

    7. [S723] _1790 United States Federal Census.

    8. [S1125] New York Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804.

    9. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 49.

    10. [S466] _Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Page 243.

    11. [S436] Vital Records of Stow Massachusetts To the Year 1850, page 253.

    12. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 33.

    13. [S1114] Massachusetts Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850.