SUMMARY:

Some families in the Peter Tufts (immigrant) group have always contested their ancestry. They have always considered their immigrant ancestor to be from Ireland. Particularly the family of Professor James Hayden Tufts, and the family of Deacon John Tufts.

INFORMATION:

Deacon John Tufts (1723-1802) of Windham, New Hampshire and Belfast Maine.
This John Tufts was relegated to a Peter Tufts family by Herb Adams, but a story has surfaced from the family and confirmed by some records that he was an immigrant from Ireland. The story tells how he was shipwrecked on his way to New Hampshire which left him orphaned but surviving to raise two families in New Hampshire and Maine.
Read about this story in Thomas Tufts’ blog Tufts Family Genealogy
Please forward any additional information about this family or contact information of any descendants.

John Tufts of West Brookfield, Massachusetts.

John Tuffs/Tufts of West Brookfield was the son of James Tufts of Medford, Massachusetts according to Tufts Kinsmen. Author Herbert Adams left the following note in his family listing:
NOTE: Dr. James Hayden Tufts (407-2) always insisted that this John Tufts was not a descendant of Peter Tufts but, rather, was an immigrant in his own right. This compiler totally and unequivocally disagrees with the eminent professor although no records [can] substantiate either claim… The earliest records of members of other branches of the family who settled in Brookfield spelled their surname in the conventional way and John’s family later conformed. The History of North Brookfield calls John Tufts’ sons Irish but it has always been known that his wife, Agnes Foote, was Scottish and from Ireland. However, no record can be found that any Tuffs or Tufts person came to America in this time period from the British Isles or anywhere else. Strangely ironic is that a “John Tufts” did try but we know of him only because the ship’s manifest tells that he did sail from Northern Ireland but perished in a wreck on the Isle of Sables July 17, 1737. [NEJ]. Prof. Tufts conducted a diligent search of Ireland in an attempt to find his preAmerican Tufts roots there and compiled a sizable book on the results to prove his assumption but found not a thread of evidence to substantiate his supposition. This compiler and several others have conducted searches for this John in Ireland and all to no avail. Therefore this compiler has had to conclude that Prof. Tufts’ belief is only conjecture and hyperbole.
(Tufts Kinsmen 2010 by Herbert Adams and the Tufts Kinsmen Association)
There is a lot of information in that little paragraph. There is some information about the shipwrecked John Tufts who subsequently went to Nutfield and could be the “Deacon John” mentioned earlier. There are also some resources noted that could be searched for evidence of Brookfield John’s birth country. Today, there are many more places to search online for Irish records than were available to Herbert Adams.
I do not believe the John Tuffs/Tufts of West Brookfield was the shipwreck survivor because the dates cannot be matched. His gravestone says age 91 in 1795 (born in 1705)

The shipwreck survivor was said to be 14 in 1737 when the wreck occurred (b. 1723) so it is unlikely a 72-year-old man was mistaken for 91. Another interesting note in the records of this John is this record available online:

BOLTON, ETHEL STANWOOD. Immigrants to New England, 1700-1775. Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1931. 235p. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1966.
This is just confusing as it connects the Belfast John to the Brookfield John. Without detailing every record available, we are in hopes of confirming any of these connections. DNA testing of families descended from these families and other Tufts lines should be able to resolve this.
If anyone knows of any other TUFFS families or confirmed Tufts immigrants from Ireland, please forward the information. There is another story of a John Tufts that shipwrecked in the St. Lawrence river coming from Ireland. There is a Moses Tufts family that emigrated from Ireland to Canada and then to Wisconsin. Another family came from Ireland to Eastern Canada, and then to Massachusetts. The origins of the Winthrop Tufts family of New York and Canada may be Irish as well. There will be more on these families as this page develops; please forward any information on these families.
Here is an interesting story about the Quebec family shipwreck survivors in 1849:
https://immigrantships.net/newsarticles/ireland1847_49.html