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| Notes for Matthias (Spouse 1) | ||||||||
| First Settlers of Canton Outside the limits of Ponkipog, on the land owned by the Dorchester proprietors, houses were being erected. Mathias Puffer, as early as 1690 had attempted to build a house near Blue Hill, but an order from the Selectmen of Dorchester forbade him to proceed with it, but having been able to convince them that he had purchased three hundred and forty acres of land of the widow of Capt. Hopestill Foster, and had two hundred and twenty laid out to him (1695) by the town of Dorchester, the restriction was removed; he was allowed to erect his house. He was appointed in 1697 with Capt. Vose and Ebenezer Billings to look after the common swamps and uplands, to see that neither shingles or timber were carried away. This appointment implies residence. In March 1703, he was chosen surveyor of highways, and was the first officer elected by Dorchester, who lived in the New Grant. As his life was an eventful one, and as there are many living who have "Puffer blood" in their veins, a short sketch of probably our first settler will not be uninteresting. 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. 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. | ||||||||
| Last Modified 6 Jul 1999 | Created 6 Jan 2007 by EasyTree for Windows |