Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Tufts, Charles

TUFTS, Charles, donor, b. in Medford, Mass., 16 July, 1781; d. in Somerville (formerly a part of Charlestown), Mass., 24 Dec., 1876. He received a common-school education, inherited a large property in land, became a manufacturer and active business man, promoted the prosperity of his town, and added to his fortune by sagacious investments. He was a liberal friend of education, and gave the site and seventy acres of valuable land to found Tufts college, Medford, Mass. It stands on a site that was purchased in 1690 by Peter Tufts, the emigrant ancestor.