Son of Elijah and Taphenes (Billings) Puffer∼"He followed the sea when a boy and was in Gloucester when the War of 1812 broke out. He served three months in the militia. He did not like the service on land and, when the privateer Basilisk, was fitted out, he e nlisted and went to sea. After taking some prizes, he and five others were put aboard one of them, but they were captured by a British man-of- war. An Irishman swore that he knew John Puffer as an Irishman. John was asked to pronounce the name Blair. His accent was decided to prove that he was Irish and he was impressed in the British Navy. He had his "protection" and kept it secreted until he reached Halifax, when he appealed to the authorities, and proved that he was an American. He was then made a prisoner of war and later transferred to the war prison at Dartmoor, England. While there he kept a diary, which is now in possession of one of his grandchildren (now at the Maine State Archives in Augusta), while another has the "protection box". Another grandson has a chest which John had when he moved to Maine, and a copy of the will of Robert Redman (date 1760), an ancestor of his mother. In 1822 he was living at 29 Pleasant Street, Boston. About 1823 he moved from Boston to Frankfort, ME on the Penobscot River, 13 miles below Bangor, but a year later moved to Columbia, Me., where most of his children lived. He was a carpenter by trade, and a lumberman in the forests of eastern Maine at the time when ship building was a prominent industry in the coast towns. He was living in 1876."
According to the Reed genealogy, at Dartmoor Prison ".. and when they were fired upon by the guards, in the prison-yard, a ball grazed his jacket, and killed a fellow prisoner."
According to the Reed genealogy, at Dartmoor Prison ".. and when they were fired upon by the guards, in the prison-yard, a ball grazed his jacket, and killed a fellow prisoner."
Son of Elijah and Taphenes (Billings) Puffer∼"He followed the sea when a boy and was in Gloucester when the War of 1812 broke out. He served three months in the militia. He did not like the service on land and, when the privateer Basilisk, was fitted out, he e nlisted and went to sea. After taking some prizes, he and five others were put aboard one of them, but they were captured by a British man-of- war. An Irishman swore that he knew John Puffer as an Irishman. John was asked to pronounce the name Blair. His accent was decided to prove that he was Irish and he was impressed in the British Navy. He had his "protection" and kept it secreted until he reached Halifax, when he appealed to the authorities, and proved that he was an American. He was then made a prisoner of war and later transferred to the war prison at Dartmoor, England. While there he kept a diary, which is now in possession of one of his grandchildren (now at the Maine State Archives in Augusta), while another has the "protection box". Another grandson has a chest which John had when he moved to Maine, and a copy of the will of Robert Redman (date 1760), an ancestor of his mother. In 1822 he was living at 29 Pleasant Street, Boston. About 1823 he moved from Boston to Frankfort, ME on the Penobscot River, 13 miles below Bangor, but a year later moved to Columbia, Me., where most of his children lived. He was a carpenter by trade, and a lumberman in the forests of eastern Maine at the time when ship building was a prominent industry in the coast towns. He was living in 1876."
According to the Reed genealogy, at Dartmoor Prison ".. and when they were fired upon by the guards, in the prison-yard, a ball grazed his jacket, and killed a fellow prisoner."
According to the Reed genealogy, at Dartmoor Prison ".. and when they were fired upon by the guards, in the prison-yard, a ball grazed his jacket, and killed a fellow prisoner."
Inscription
I am now at rest weep not for me / From sin and death I now am Free / Transplanted to my home above / I dwell where all is peace and love
Gravesite Details
This is a known duplicate to reflect accurate information
Family Members
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