American politician (1840?1902)
John Quincy Adams Tufts
(July 12, 1840 – September 4, 1902) was an American
Republican
politician
from Iowa and California. He was founder of a sporting goods company in
Los Angeles
.
Personal
[
edit
]
Tufts was born on July 12, 1840, in
Aurora, Indiana
, to Servetus (or Servitus) Tufts and Emily (Dudley) Tufts. The family moved to a farm in
Muscatine County, Iowa
, in 1852. He attended common schools as a child and then
Cornell College
in
Mount Vernon, Iowa
. He married Susan Shaw Cook on October 10, 1861. They had eleven children.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Tufts moved to Los Angeles in 1887. He was a member of the
Masons
and of the Creel Club
[2]
[3]
On September 4, 1902, he died at his home, 3303 South
Grand Avenue
, at age 68. He was survived by his wife and ten children, Anna D. Lyon, Emily F. Cass, Martha W. Muir, Edward B. Tufts, John Q. Tufts Jr., Will A. Tufts, Carl R. Tufts and Roy N. Tufts, all of Los Angeles; Maud S. Frick of San Francisco, and Eva S. Sanson of
Indian Territory
.
[4]
He was interred in
Angelus Cemetery
in
Central Los Angeles
.
[2]
Vocation
[
edit
]
Agriculture
[
edit
]
In 1858, Tufts moved to
Cedar County, Iowa
,
[
citation needed
]
and was a farmer near
Wilton
in that county.
[2]
[3]
Iowa
[
edit
]
Tufts was a member of the
Iowa House of Representatives
in 1870, to 1875.
[5]
In his final term he was the chairman of the Railroad Committee of the Iowa House and was considered a strong advocate for railroad regulation.
[6]
U.S. government
[
edit
]
In 1874 he was elected as a Republican to represent
Iowa's 2nd congressional district
in the
United States House of Representatives
. He did not run for re-election in 1876. He served in Congress from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1877. He was also a
United States Indian Agent
in the Union Agency at
Muskogee
in the
Indian Territory
(now
Oklahoma
), from 1879 to 1887.
[3]
[7]
During his tenure as Indian Commissioner, he organized the first unit of the
United States Indian Police
in February 1880.
[8]
In his annual report to the Secretary of the Interior, John Q. Tufts consistently asked to have the number and pay increased for the United States Indian Police. He urged the government to resolve the question of citizenship in the Indian Nation and he supported the
freedman
's claims to citizenship in the
Cherokee Nation
. John Q. Tufts also asked that laws be passed to provide imprisonment of intruders who return after being removed for the theft of coal and timber. The intruders were often whites who stole with impunity from Indian lands.
[9]
[10]
In August of 1883 Tufts helped to broker peace within the Creek Nation when a faction that was dissatisfied with election results attempted a rebellion.
[11]
Los Angeles
[
edit
]
In Los Angeles, he engaged in the
real estate
business
[
citation needed
]
and also founded the Tufts-Lyons Arms Company, a
sporting-goods
firm. In 1890 he was elected to the City Council from the 5th
Ward
. He served one term, then ran for mayor on the Republican
ticket
, losing to
Thomas E. Rowan
in 1892.
[2]
[3]
[12]
He was opposed in his race for mayor by the
Los Angeles Herald,
which said of him that he was "openly hostile to a large class of
teamsters
,
hackmen
and others" and that he had "also favored a cut in the wages of
day laborers
in the public employ."
[13]
The
Times,
however, endorsed him because of his "recognized standing in the business community."
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Ancestry.com
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"John Q. Tufts Dead,"
Los Angeles Herald,
September 5, 1902
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"John Quincy Tufts Taken by Death,"
Los Angeles Times,
September 5, 1902, page A-2
- ^
FamilySearch, list of children’s names
- ^
"Representative John Quincy Tufts"
. Iowa General Assembly
. Retrieved
May 24,
2024
.
- ^
"Talking Right Out,"
Davenport Daily Gazette,
September 6, 1874, page 1
- ^
"Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1880," p. 96 (1880)
- ^
OKLAHOMA'S Frontier Indian Police
Archived
2006-04-20 at the
Wayback Machine
, By Art T. Burton.
- ^
"Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1883," p. 90 (1883)
- ^
"Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1884," p. 100 (1884)
- ^
"Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1883," p. 88 (1883)
- ^
Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials 1850?1938,
Municipal Reference Library, March 1938, reprinted 1946
- ^
"J.Q. Tufts,"
Los Angeles Herald,
December 4, 1892
- ^
"J.Q.Tufts,"
Los Angeles Times,
December 2, 1892, page 4
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Wards
| | 1st Ward
| |
---|
2nd Ward
| |
---|
3rd Ward
| |
---|
4th Ward
| |
---|
5th Ward
| |
---|
6th Ward
| |
---|
7th Ward
| |
---|
8th Ward
| |
---|
9th Ward
| |
---|
|
---|
Related articles
| |
---|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|