Person Page 377

John Puffer was born on 5 October 1698.

Mary Puffer was born on 3 November 1706. Samuel Belcher and she were married on 16 January 1726 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Samuel Belcher and Mary Puffer were married on 16 January 1726 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Mathias Puffer was born about 1635 in Braintree, Massachusetts. He and Rachel Farnsworth were married on 12 March 1662 in Braintree, Massachusetts. He and Abigail Everett were married on 11 February 1677 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. He died on 9 May 1717 at age ~82 in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Matthias left Mendon and returned to Braintree after his wife and son were killed by Indians July 10, 1675. They later moved to Dorchester, then Milton (Stoughton), MA.

Mathias Puffer first appears in Dorchester in 1663, he married Mar. 12, 1662, Rachel Farnsworth, of Braintree. In 1675 he was at Mendon, when that town was attacked by the Indians. His wife, Rachel, and eldest son, Joseph, were slain. Several of his cattle were killed. He was forced to return to Braintree to take care of his children. This hardship ceased on February 11, 1677, when he fortunately found in Abigail, daughter of Richard and Mary Everett, of Dedham, some one far better adapted to that business. In 1687, he is again at Mendon, and he appears at Milton in 1693, when he joins the church in that town, and on the 14th of May, 1697, leads to the alter Miss Mary Crehore of that town.

Matthias Puffer was one of the thirteen persons ordered to be settled at the plantation of Nipmug, later called Mendon, in September 1663, and in 1671-2 he was a selectman of Mendon. He was one of a committee "Deputed by the towns of Dedham and Mendon to Run the Lyne between them" in 1669. At a town meeting 18 October 1674, the town of Mendon chose Puffer "to goe to Natick to fech Asnawaket up for to shew us the bounds of the land that he sold to Moses Paine and Peter Brackett and all so gave him full power to act in the behalf of the Town as if themselves were present."

The first victims of King Philip's war in Massachusetts ere the wife and son of Matthuas Puffer, killed by Indians at Mendon 10 July or 14, 1675. The event has been commemorated by a suitable monument at Mendon, inscribed with a list of the victims. After this massacre the inhabitants returned to Braintree, Weymouth and other older towns and the Indians burned Mendon the following winter. After the war, about 1780, when some of the inhabitants had returned to the desolate village, a complaint was made to the General Court because Puffer had not returned to help build up the settlement again. To the Court he made answer: "To the Honored Council now sittinge in Boston, the huymble petition of Matthias Puffer humbly sheweth that whereas your petitioner hath been complained of for being absent from Mendon to ye discouragement of those that remaine, my answer is that I first departed with ye consent of the Town, provided I carried away the Widow Gurneyat my own charge which I accordingly performed and since the Majors warrant to summon me and the rest thither againe I have returned thither againe and have been helpful to them by procuring them ammunition and otherwise. Indeed I have been forced to return to Braintree to take care of my children that are left.
My wife was slaine by the barbarous Indians and my eldest son; severall of the best of my cattell killed; to maintain the garrison many more of them, I have left; my estate is lost; my condition is desolate and I am not in ye capacity that others are whose families are not broken, I humbly beseech the Honored Councill to consider my case & not expose my poore children to ruin for I have not estate to maintain my children without my labour and care, to him that is in affliction pitty should be showed.
I think my case is the case of the widow if not worse. My humble petition is that I may be suffered to remaine at Braintree that I may be a succor to my children which else will be exposed to ruin and your petitioner shall ever pray,
Matthias Puffer"

He married, second, at Deham, 11 April 1677, Abigail Everett, born 1647, daughter of Richard, one of the pioneers of Cambridge, Dedham and Springfield. She died at Dedham 27 Dec 1685. He married, third, at Milton 14 May 1697, Mary Chehore, probably widow of Teague Crehore of Milton.

After living at Deham for a time, he finally settled in Dorchester. His farm was in that part of the town afterwards incorporated as Stoughton. He was surveyor of highways at Dorchester in 1702 and tythingman in 1705. He joined the church at Milton 12 November 1693. He deeded 120 acres of the 340 acres that he bought in 1696 of James Foster to his son John.

His house was the next north of the Doty tavern. It was enlarged and repaired about 1810 by John Davenport. In 1879 it was the oldest house in Canton. He deeded it to his son Jonathan Puffer.

He died at Dorchester, 9 May 1717. His will was dated 23 April 1714, proved 24 Jun 1717. He left to his wife Mary a third of the real estate and ten pounds in money and bequeathed also to his sons John, James, Jonathan and Eleazer and daughters Hester Sumner and Abigail Crane. Jonathan was executor. In the will the name is spelled Puffar. He signed by mark, which was an old English or German capital "M".

The land he owned consisted of a tract bounded by Washington Street on the west, the Indian Line and the Pond on the south, and Blue Hill Street on the north. He divided his lot among his four sons, John, the eldest, having the eastern portion; James, the next adjoining Jonathan, an intermediate track to which Davenport's Lane now runs, and all contiguous on Washington Street to Eleazer. He had a daughter Hester who married June 2, 1697, William Sumner, and Abigail who married March 25, 1708, William Crane. He died May 9, 1717.

Source:
Internet--google--Matthias Puffer 1635--Research of D G Weymouth
Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree--Charles Nutt.

Rachel Farnsworth was born in 1641 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Mathias Puffer and she were married on 12 March 1662 in Braintree, Massachusetts. She died on 10 July 1675 at age ~34 in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts.

She was killed by Indians at Mendon, MA, July 10, 1675. She and her son were the first victims of King Philip's War in MA.

Joseph Puffer was born in March 1663.

James Puffer was born on 4 June 1668.

Esther Puffer was born on 2 June 1677.

Abigail Everett was born on 19 November 1647 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Mathias Puffer and she were married on 11 February 1677 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. She died on 27 December 1685 at age 38 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Puffer was born in 1678 in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Eleazer Puffer was born on 30 June 1684 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

George Puffer was born about 1600 in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England. He and Elizabeth Sedley were married on 10 July 1623. He died on 27 September 1639 at age ~39 in Braintree, Massachusetts.

He was living in Braintree, MA, in 1639. Land was granted to him at Mount Wollaston, later Braintree, now the City of Quincy, Ship Cove, now Quincy Neck. February 24, 1639.

More about the Puffer family in "Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, MA 1639-1915" by Charles Nutt, Worcester, MA, 1915.

Note: Father's birthdate does not make sense. Needs more research.

Noah Mason was born on 17 December 1678 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

Mary Mason was born on 12 December 1682.

Daniel Mason was born on 8 July 1685.

Timothy Mason was born on 17 March 1687.

Sarah Mason was born on 7 February 1689.

Hannah Mason was born on 2 December 1690.

Martha Mason was born on 16 June 1693.

Martha died on 6 February 1675.

Capt. Edward Slade was born on 4 June 1694 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He and Elizabeth Anthony were married on 19 December 1717 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He and Phebe Chase were married on 6 December 1720 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He and Deborah Buffum were married on 7 September 1736 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. He died on 5 April 1755 at age 60 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He was buried in Slade Burying Ground, South Somerset, Massachusetts.

Information on descendants of Capt. Edward Slade and his wives are in Ancestral Lines, Third Edition, by Carl Boyd. Capt. Edward Slade had person sources.¹ He was born on 4 June 1694.

Mary Butterworth was born about 1628 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. She died in 1714 at age ~86.