Gaston, Joseph.  "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912."  Vol. 4. 
Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 1012.
 
JAMES T. TUFFS

     occupies a central place on the stage of business activity at Grants Pass,
where for nine years he has been identified with banking interests, having for
six years held the position of vice president of the Grants Pass Bank & Trust
Company. There was no unusual or spectacular phases in his career, but his life
record is that of one, who recognizes and embraces his opportunities, who meets
his obligations, and who is ever faithful in the discharge of the duties that
devolve upon him. He was born in November, 1861, about two miles west of the
city in which he now lives and has always resided in this locality. He is a son
of James P. Tuffs, who was long an honored and esteemed resident of this
section. The father was born in Eastport, Maine, January 12, 1825, his parents
being John and Catherine (Fitzgerald) Tuffs, the former a native of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ireland. John Tuffs on leaving his
native state removed to Maine, where he engaged in contracting and building for
a long period but both he and his wife died in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
     James P. Tuffs, who was one of a family of ten children, learned the ship
carpenter's trade, working in the yards at East Boston, Charlestown, Medford and
South Boston, Massachusetts. As a carpenter on the Plymouth Rock he sailed from
Boston, December 28, 1849, and made the voyage around Cape Horn and after six
months spent on the sea landed at San Francisco, June 28, 1850. Working on the
streets of San Francisco through the summer, assisting in putting down the first
paving ever done in that city, he received a wage of nine dollars per day, which
was paid in Mexican dollars. These accumulated so rapidly that he soon had a
bushel of those coins, which lie exchanged for gold. Becoming interested in
mining, he worked in the vicinity of Yreka and came to Canon creek, Josephine
county, Oregon, following the discovery of gold in this locality. In two years
he had made five thousand dollars in mining there. He next became a partner of
Lewis Barnes in purchasing and operating a ferry and they also bought a stock of
goods and began merchandising on the Rogue river. Mr. Tuffs disposed of those
interests, however, in 1853, and took up his abode on a donation claim two miles
farther up the river where he set out an orchard. He subsequently became a
resident of Grants Pass and was not only prominent in business circles of the
city but also in its public affairs. For two terms he served as a member of the
city council and became a member of the first board of' county commissioners of
Josephine county, which position he also filled for two terms. He erected the
building at the corner of Sixth and Eighth streets, which is now occupied by the
Grants Pass Banking & Trust Company. On the sale of the John K. Jones' estate
about 1865 he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land for three dollars
and a quarter per acre. Thereon he erected a fine residence and made other
improvements and as time passed he extended the boundaries of his property until
he was the owner of six hundred and twelve acres of valuable land adjoining the
old site of Grants Pass. In 1889 he built a home adjacent to the city limits,
which he occupied to the time of his death on the 27th of April, 1906, when he
was eighty-one years of age. He had been a member of the Masonic fraternity from
1858, having been initiated into the blue lodge at Kirby, Oregon, whence he
transferred his membership to Grants Pass Lodge, No. 84, F. & A. M. He was made
a Royal Arch Mason in Reamer Chapter, No. 28, and a Knight Templar in Melita
Commandery, No. 8, at Grants Pass.
     In 1854 James P. Tuffs was married to Miss Margaret Croxton, who was born
in Stafford, England, November 10, 1838. It was in 1843 that she was brought to
America by her mother, the other member of the party being her brother, Walter
Croxton. They made their way to Alton, Illinois, where they joined the husband
and father, who had come to the United States a year and a half before and had
prepared a home for his family. Subsequently they resided for a time in St.
Louis, Missouri, but afterward returned to Schuyler county, Illinois, where they
remained until 1852, when they crossed the plains to Oregon, Mr. Croxton taking
up a donation land claim at Ten Mile, Douglas county. In the fall of 1853 his
daughter Margaret came to the Rogue river valley with her aunt, Margaret
Derrick, and here met Mr. Tuffs. On the 11th of May, 1854, they were married at
the home at Ten Mile where she has since resided. She made the trip to Grants
Pass a few days after her marriage÷a seventy mile ride÷in the saddle. Several
times she rode back and forth on horseback to see her parents Thomas and Anna
(Box) Croxton. Her mother died at Grants Pass in 1867 when fifty-two years of
age, and the father passed away at Ten Mile in 1868, also at the age of
fifty-two years. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters of whom
three sons and two daughters are yet living. Following their marriage Mr. and
Mrs. Tuffs lived for ten years on the old donation claim and then removed to the
farm, on which Mrs. Tuffs still makes her home. The place comprised six hundred
and twelve acres before any of it was platted. She now has about ten acres, much
of it within the city limits. She is the oldest resident of Grants Pass and the
lower Rogue river valley, the town not having been founded at the time when she
took up her abode here.
     To Mr. and Mrs. James P. Tuffs were born seven children: Mrs. Hattie White,
who died in 1889 at the age of thirty-three years, leaving three children;
Lydia, who is the widow of Robert H. Dean, a resident of Grants Pass; Jennie M.,
the wife of C. D. Sessions of Lake View, Oregon; Mary Maud, who is the wife of
L. M. Kane, of San Francisco; James T.; Minnie L. who has been a teacher in the
public schools of Grants Pass since 1889 and is with her mother; and William G.
who died in 1889, when in his twenty-second year.
     James T. Tuffs, of the above mentioned family, has always resided at Grants
Pass, remaining upon the home farm until about twenty years of age, during which
period he acquired a district school education. On attaining his majority he
went to Portland, where he attended business college, and following his return
he engaged in clerking in a store, until feeling that his initial experience and
training as well as his capital justified him embarking in business on his own
account, and he opened a store here. Later he began the operation of a sawmill
and has been identified with the lumber business for the past eighteen years. He
has found a profitable field here, so conducting his interests as to win
substantial financial returns. He has been a partner in the Tuffs-Willers Lumber
Company, of Dorris, Siskiyou county, California, for the past two years, and he
was connected with the Booth-Kelley Lumber Company of Eugene, Oregon, until
about two years ago. That company was the successor of the old Sugar Pine Door &
Lumber Company, with which he had formerly been associated. For nine years he
has figured prominently in banking circles of Grants Pass and about six years
ago was elected president of the bank in which position he continued until 1909,
when he retired and was chosen vice president. He is also a stockholder in the
Douglas County National Bank of Roseburg and has been a stockholder of the First
National Bank of Grants Pass almost continuously since its organization. His
connection with banking interests further extends to the Butte Valley State Bank
of Dorris, California, in which he owns stock. His industrial and financial
interests are of an important character, his name figuring prominently in
connection with lumbering and banking.
     In 1889 Mr. Tuffs was married to Miss Addie Smith, a native of Turner,
Oregon, and a daughter of L. S. Smith. They have three children, William G., Rex
L. and James H. Mr. Tuffs has attained the Knight Templar degree in Masonry and
is a member of the Commercial Club, being in hearty sympathy with the purposes
of the organization in its efforts to promote public progress, upbuild the city
and exploit its advantages. In politics he is a republican and has served as a
member of the city council and as city treasurer but prefers to keep within the
pale of business life and manifest his loyalty to and interest in the community
in other ways than by holding office. He is an alert, enterprising man,
possessing sound business judgment and unfaltering energy and through the
exercise of those qualities has made continuous advancement since he started out
in the business world on his own account.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in September 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.