| Notes |
- "He followed the sea when a boy and was in Gloucester when the War of 1812 broke out. He served three months in the militia. He did not like the service on land and, when the privateer Basilisk, was fitted out, he enlisted and went to sea. After taking some prizes, he and five others were put aboard one of them, but they were captured by a British man-of-war. An Irishman swore that he knew John Puffer as an Irishman. John was asked to pronounce the name Blair. His accent was decided to prove that he was Irish and he was impressed in the British Navy. He had his "protection" and kept it secreted until he reached Halifax, when he appealed to the authorities, and proved that he was an American. He was then made a prisoner of war and later transferred to the war prison at Dartmoor, England. While there he kept a diary, which is now in possession of one of his grandchildren, while another has the "protection box". Another grandson has a chest which John had when he moved to Maine, and a copy of the will of Robert Redman (date 1760), an ancestor of his mother. In 1822 he was living at 29 Pleasant Street, Boston. About 1823 he moved from Boston to Frankfort, Me on the Penobscot River, 13 miles below Bangor, but a year later moved to Columbia, Me., where most of his children lived. He was a carpenter by trade, and a lumberman in the forests of eastern Maine at the time when ship building was a prominent industry in the coast towns. He was living in 1876."
According to the Reed genealogy, ".. and when they were fired upon by the guards, in the prison-yard, a ball grazed his jacket, and killed a fellow prisoner."
His gravestone reads
"I am now at rest weep not for me
From sin and death I now am Free
Transplanted to my home above
I dwell where all is peace and love."
in 1823 moved to Frankfort, ME
in 1824 moved to Columbia, ME
Before he served onboard the privateer Yorktown, he served in Capt Lemuel Bradford's Co 21st US Inf during War of 1812
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According the British Admiralty records, he was a Lt. aboard the privateer Yorktown. This ship was capture
on 8 Jul 1813 at sea by the HMS Maidstone. He was "interned" at Halifax, NS, aboard a prison ship till 19 Nov
1813 (3-4 months). On that date, he was shipped to England aboard HMS Nemesis bound for England.
He remained in Dartmoor Prison for 2 years and five months. He came to Columbia in 1825, and bought the betterments of the place at Little River, so called, of Moses Leighton, where his son John and daughters, Taphenus and Arabella now live. He was active in town affairs and took an interest in building up society. "They came from Braintree in 1824 or 1825 and settled at Little River Corner. He built a big farm house up by The Rips (in our pasture and 2nd field where the big rock is)." Elizabeth Roberta Puffer
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ED NOTE: In 1986 I took a trip to Columbia to locate the "diary" and "protection box". After a long and suspenseful search, on my last day there, I learned that the "diary" had been in the possession of Elizabeth Roberta Puffer, a cousin of my grandfather Charles K.W. French. She had died two years prior. The "diary" was given by her to the State of Maine Archives. I drove to Augusta to view the "diary".
I had a chance (about an hour or two) to examine the contents. Its not a "diary" in the strict sense. It doesn't record daily activities. Its a large, burlap covered book with many different types of entries in two distinct sections.The first section contains mostly mathematical questions and solvings. The second section contain some poems (sea shanties?) about the war and some of the battles as well as small drawings of ships. One page lists the names of men killed and wounded in the massacre of prisoners that happened at Dartmoor at the close of the war when the Americans were about to be repatriated in a prisoner swap. The conditions at the prison were abominable. Barely one in 10 men survived a year. I postulate that "Dartmoor" John used the "diary" as a textbook to teach fellow prisoners mathematics to pass the time and to keep his sanity. His name is written on the book cover in his own hand. It is a priceless piece of family history and it is too bad that it transferred out of family hands to the State of Maine. It can be viewed at the State Archive in Augusta.
According to a letter from Roberta Puffer "It was there that he continued to keep the journal which we still have. It is in a safety box in a bank. It is getting old. It covers 1820-1870 and is crumbling with age . There are about 70 pages". According to family history, "John Sr. was put in Dartmoor prison in England as a political prisoner 1812-1814. He was taken off the clipper ship The Basilisk by an English vessel in 1812. They were going to impress him into the British Navy but he had his protection papers which he showed to the authorities in Halifax, where he was declared to be an American citizen from Boston. However the English vessel took him to England and he was put in Dartmoor until the end of the war of 1812." This is a mystery still. The book I saw was not a diary nor did it cover the period stated. Could there be another? Further investigation of Dartmoor Prison records show no John Puffer listed as a prisoner. Another mystery. Did he use an alias?
"John Puffer Sr also brought up two other boys, Ira Barney and John Page who did well in life." Roberta Puffer
ED NOTE: 8/24/05
What a great week for discovery this has been. After searching online for years to locate information about Dartmoor John (Puffer) perhaps our most illustrious ancestor, I was able to make contact with a man in England who is an historian on Dartmoor Prison. He provided me with information about Dartmoor John's capture, and subsequent imprisonment.
I had begun to doubt his story of ever being in prison because I was unable to find any outside information to verify the family history (as related in the Puffer Genealogy).
There is no record (that I can find) of any ship by the name of Basilisk during the War of 1812, either American or British. There was no record of his name in the lists of prisoners that I was able to find.
In fact, the ship he was on was the Yorktown, a well-known American privateer. HMS Nimrod took the Yorktown as a prize in 1813 off the coast of Nova Scotia. John Puffer was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he spent some time in prison there, before being shipped to Chatham, Kent, England where he spent almost a year in prison there. Finally he was shipped to Dartmoor Prison in Devonshire, where he spent the rest of the war. He survived the 'massacre' there in December of 1814 (a well documented historical event). He was released from Dartmoor in 1815.
One of the frustrations of this search is that his 'diary' has only one brief mention of anything to do with the prison. It is a short list of names of wounded or killed men. Since I now have a source I can check those names against the prison list and see if he's accurate. For a man who spent the better part of 2.5 years in prison you might expect a bit more biographical writings of that experience.
(2016) listed below are the names that appear in the "diary" and the injury they suffered.:
Robert Willet left left thigh, amputated
Thomas Finley in the thigh
William Appleby in the arm
George Campbell dead
John Peach in the thigh
Cornelius Garrison head and hand
John Geir left leg amputated
William Lane in the eyes
Pain Perry in the shoulders
A month ago I doubted his story was true. I even suspected that he fabricated the story based on what he had heard of other prisoners' true-life stories of impressment and imprisonment. Many books of the time were written by former prisoners about this most notorious of English prisons. I thought John Puffer had taken those verbal and written stories and made them his own.
I am relieved to know that he, in fact, was a prisoner, even if some of the facts were wrong in the family history.
Prison number 3431 2791
By what ship or how taken British Squadron British Squadron
Time when (taken) 26 July 1813 13 July 1813
Place where (taken) Halifax off Halifax
Name of Prize Yorktown Yorktown
Man-o-war/Privateer/ MV Privateer Privateer
Prisoners name John Puffer Jonathan Puffer
Quality (rank) Seaman Seaman
Time received into custody(at Dartmoor) 13 September 1814 7 Jan 1814
From what ship or whence received HMS Niobe from Chatham from Halifax
Place of Nativity (where born) Cantor (Canton, MA) Cantor (Canton, MA)
Age 20 20
Stature (height) 5`6" and a half inch 5`6" and a half inches
Person stout(means muscular) Stout
Visage/ complexion oval/fresh oval /fresh
Hair brown
Eyes brown hazel
Marks or wounds none
Date of supply (bedding etc) Chatham Feb 18 14
Exchanged/Discharged/Died or escaped Discharged Discharged 8 Sept 1814 to Dartmoor by HMS Niobe
Time when 28 May 1815
Whither and by what order Released Boards Order 16 March 1815
end of Dartmoor record
So a short synopsis of his war experience:
He was captured off Halifax, Nova Scotia, and taken to the HMS Niobe, a prison ship or hulks (ships used as prisons in Halifax, NS) on 26 July 1813, he was kept there until he was taken in at the Chatham hulks (County of Kent, England) on 7 Jan 1814. (A period of 5.5 months). He was kept there (Chatham) until 8 Sept 1814 when he was sent to the Dartmoor War Prison. ( A period of 8 months)
He arrived at Dartmoor Depot on the 13 Sept 1814, this was a fast trip of about 250 miles sea voyage to Plymouth, then the last 17 miles was a severe march up to 1500 feet above sea level to the prison carrying his bedding etc. He was not supplied at Dartmoor, but at Chatham, so he carried his bedding up to Dartmoor.
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On June 13, 1873 his wife sold land to John Puffer (her father-in-law) for $1500. On Nov 14th, 1863 she bought 34 acres+- of land for $425 from Levi W. Ingersoll. (David M. Caranci has the original deed.)
The 1870 Census shows him as John PUFFIN. He is 76 YO and is a farmer. He lives with his wife Catherine who is 72 years old and a housewife.
"He enlisted in the navy in the war of 1812 and was taken prisoner soon after and lodged in Dartmore prison, where he remained two years and five months. He came to Columbia about the year 1825, and bought the betterments of the place at Little River, so called, of Moses Leighton, where his son John and daughters Taphenus and Arabella now live. He was active in town affairs and took an interest in building up society."
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June 12, 2011
Another week of great discovery by my contact with another great grandson of Dartmoor John, Homer Morrison.
He has been able to fill in many (if not all) of the missing pieces regarding how John Puffer came to Dartmoor prison. He has the records of the English Admiralty of his capture and transfer from Halifax, NS to Chatham, England to Dartmoor.
American Prisoners of War Held at Halifax During the War of 1812 by Harrison Scott Baker
Below is Baker's summary for John Puffer, Volume II, p. 327. This was the key:
Puffer, John Prisoner 3619 Rank:Seaman From: Manchester RC, Privateer
Captured: 11 July 1813 at sea by HMS Maidstone Interned: 28 July 1813 Discharged: 09 November 1813
Belongs to Yorktown Privateer. Received from Recruit. Nemesis for England per order of Adml Sir J B Warren.
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Puffer Genealogy
1793 - 1877 (83 years)
[6, 7] 
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