My Family Tree

William Mann Tuffts was the only child of Elizabeth Mann and Theodore Tuffts. According to his obituary and census records, he was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1864. After his death his widow made an application for a Nova Scotia birth certificate which gave the date as August 26.

His father died or left the family when he was about 10 years old, and Halifax city directories show his mother ran a boarding house on Creighton Street in Halifax.

William must have shown academic promise, attending Dalhousie College as a "prize man" in 1885 and graduating from Princeton University after studying there for three years. He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in 1888, and on October 3 of that year he accepted his first charge , which encompased Lower Freetown, Bedeque and later, Summerfield. The History of Presbyterianism in PEI noted that "Having youth and mental and physical vigor on his side, he ministered to this large and scattered field for about seven years with great success, when he accepted a call to a charge in Ontario."

On 28 October 1890, at the age of 26, William married Caroline (Carrie) Zwicker, daughter of Peter and Dorinda Zwicker, a prominent family in Mahone Bay, N.S. William and Carrie had three children: a son William Malcolm who died as an infant and was buried in North Bedeque, PEI; a daughter Dorinda Winifred, born in Hawkesbury, Ontario on 31 July 1894; and a daughter who was born in Stellarton, Nova Scotia in 1899, but who did not survive.

In the 1891 census, William and Carrie were living in Lot 25, Prince Edward Island with William's mother Elizabeth, who had been born on the Island. A Charlottetown newspaper reported that William accepted the call to St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Hawkesbury, Ontario in 1892. His mother moved with the family to Ontario. In The History of Prescott, William wrote the history of the Presbyterian Church in that area. He noted that in 1893, the congregation built a beautiful new manse, at a cost of over $3000. He was in Hawkesbury Ontario in 1894 when his mother died, and his daughter Dorinda Winifred was born. Not long afterwards he became the fourth minister in Sharon Church in the Pictou, Nova Scotia Area where he stayed for 12 years. He took a leave of absence for one year to do research in the British Museum, and studied in New College, Edinburgh under Dr. Marcus Dods - probably around 1901 - there was a passenger list with Rev. and Mrs. Tuffts returning from Liverpool England that year.

After returning, William took an examination at the Presbyterian College in Montreal and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1908, William and his family emigrated to the United States, where he adopted the spelling "Tufts" for his last name.

The Boston Post reported "The Rev. Dr. William M, Tufts was installed pastor of the Union Square Presbyterian Church, Somerville." (July 20, 1908 - Boston Post) He was chosen moderator of tho New England Presbyterian Synod in 1915 (Boston Daily Globe October 27, 1915).

The Boston presbytery will take action on the call of the Rev. William Manning Tufts, D. D., to the pastorate of tlie First Presbyterian Church, Columbus avenue and Berkeley street. (January 6, 1911 - Boston Post)

In his obituary, it was noted that he had a great deal of success in Sunday School work and in men's classes in his Boston charges. William applied for naturalization in the United States in 1916. He was at the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Columbus Ave. and Berkeley St., Boston for six years before his death in 1917.

He died suddenly on June 13 1917, not long after performing the marriage of James Cameron and Beatrice Caswell. His funeral was held on June 14. The funeral had to be held quickly, so the family could have his body transported to Mahone, Nova Scotia for burial, without waiting a month. Four clergymen officiated at the funeral service, and a number of other ministers attended the service. It must speak to his reputation that so many were able to attend, and at such short notice.

TUFTS—In this city. June 13, suddenly, Rev. William Mann Tufts, D. D. pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Boston. Funeral services from First Presbyterian Church, cor. Columbus are. and Berkeley at., Thursday
(June 14, 1917 - Boston Post)

Mrs. Carrie Tufts was administratrix of the estate of her husband, William M. Tufts, who died June 13, 1917; bond of $15,000; estate valued at $6000, all In personal property. (Cambridge Chronicle , 28 July 1917)
By 1925, Carrie had returned home to Nova Scotia. On 11 August 1925 Evelina Carlson "in conformity with the Married Women Deeds Act" sold her property to Carrie Tufts, widow of Rev Tufts for $1800.

Carrie died in 1940.

Mt. Union, Pa.
Tufts, William Mann, DCNS '85; '87-"88, Pastorist
DCNS=Dalhousie College Nova Scotia
from the Benham Club of Princeton, New Jersey
1919 Necrological Report Princeton University:

WILLIAM MANN TUFTS, D.D.,
Son of Theodore William and Elizabeth Hutchings (Mann) Tufts, was born Aug. 26, 1864, in Halifax, N. S., Canada. He made a public confession of his faith in the Presbyterian church of Poplar Grove, Canada, at the age of nineteen. His preparatory studies were pursued in the Halifax public schools and the Halifax Academy, and he graduated from Dalhousie College in 1885. Entering the Seminary at Princeton in the same year he took the full three years' course there, graduating in 1888.
He was licensed by the Presbytery of Halifax, May 29, 1888, and ordained by the Presbytery of Prince Edward Island, Oct. 3, 1888, being at the same time installed pastor of the churches of Bedeque and Summerfield, Prince Edward Island, and was released from these charges March 13, 1892. He was pastor of St. Paul's Church, Hawkesbury, Canada, from April 18, 1892, to July 31, 1896, and of the Sharon Church, Stellarton, N. S., from Aug. 14, 1896, to July 12, 1908. During the year 1907-08 he delivered lectures on Practical Theology in the Halifax Theological Seminary.
He was pastor of the Union Square Church, Somerville, Mass., 1908-10; and of the First Church of Boston from Jan. 25, 191 1, until his death there of apoplexy, June 13, 1918, in the 53rd year of his age. He was stricken in his own church and died on the way to the hospital. He was buried in Mahone, N. S., Canada.
He was clerk of the Presbytery of Nova Scotia from 1906 to 1908; convener of the General Assembly's Committee on Augmentation, 1907-08, and moderator of the Synod of New England in 1915. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the Presbyterian College of Montreal in 1901.
He was married Oct. 28, 1890, in Mahone Bay, N.S., to Carrie Augusta Zwicker, who with one daughter survives him.
Boston Globe June 14 & 15 1917