Birth: England
Immigration: 1633
Details: John, his brother William and their sister Sara arrived in the Boston, Massachusetts area circa 1633. The early Tefft family was an intensely patriotic family participating in the Colonial, Revolutionary and 1812 wars. The Tefft/Tifft name is of Saxon origin meaning “the place where a house has stood.” The name appears in early Saxon annals.
Lived in: 1635
Place: Boston, Massachusetts
Moved to: Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Details: John and his sister moved
Birth of Son: 1640
Name: Samuel Tefft
Note: 16 MAR 1642
Details: John’s sister, Sara, died. Her headstone is the oldest in the state and is in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Birth of Son: Joshua Tefft
Birth of Daughter: 1653
Name: Tabitha Tefft
Freeman: 1655
Place: Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Land Rec: 22 NOV 1662
Details: He and wife Mary sold seven acres to Robert Shink of Newport.
Lived in: 1671
Place: His name was recorded as an inhabitant of Pettaquamscott, Rhode Island.
Will: —Ex. son-in-law Samuel Wilson. To Samuel Wilson, my now dwelling house and 20 acres in Pettaquamscott. To wife Mary, all cattle, viz: two oxen, two cows, two yearling steers, eight swine kind, a ewe and a lamb, and all other movables. To son Samuel Tifft, 23. To son Joshua, 1s, To daughter Tabitha Tefft, 1s. and an iron pot after wife’s decease. Debts to the sum of £1, 3s. to be paid equally by son-in-law Samuel Wilson and son Joshua Tift.
Death: 26 JAN 1675/76
Details: Beheaded while trying to rescue his son, Joshua from Indians.
Burial: John Tefft Lot, South Kingstown, Washington Co, Rhode Island
Parents are unknown
Mary Barber
Birth: 1618 England
Death: 1680 Providence Co, Rhode Island
Parents are James Barber and ?
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