Albert Clifford Tufts died March 19, 1904, at his residence, 144 Summer street,
Somerville.
He had been ill with grippe for three weeks, and was convalescing, when cerebral symptoms supervened, which rapidly brought on a fatal termination.
Mr. Tufts was the youngest child of
Nathan, Jr., and
Mary Jane (
Fitz)
Tufts, and was born in the house in which he died, September 11, 1864.
His paternal grandfather was
Nathan Tufts, of
Somerville, for whom the
Nathan Tufts park, surrounding the old mill and Powder House, was named.
His maternal grandfather was
Abel Fitz, a prominent merchant of
Charlestown, and early resident of
Somerville.
Mr. Tufts was educated in the public schools of his native
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city.
On his graduation from the high school in 1883, he entered the counting room of his father and brother, grain merchants on Warren bridge,
Charlestown.
He became a partner on the death of his father in 1887, and was active in the business till his last illness.
Mr. Tufts married, April 19, 1893,
Mary Belle, the daughter of
William Wallace and
Anna (
Moses) Cotton, of
Portsmouth,,
N. H., who, with a son,
Nathan, a boy of six years, survives him. An elder child,
Elizabeth, lived to the age of eighteen months.
Though somewhat retiring in general company,
Mr. Tufts was fond of the society of his kindred and friends, and was a frequent and generous host.
He was keenly alive to the amusements and pleasantries of life, and yet he seemed to preserve the simple and sober ways of a Puritan ancestry.
He impressed all who met him in his many walks of life as a sincere, just, and thoroughly trustworthy man. He was the soul of honor.
The business ethics inherited from his fathers were not decadent in him. He dealt with all in a straightforward and honorable way, and heartily despised the trickeries and petty meannesses of the world; and yet we fail to recall that he ever spoke ill of any one.
As a friend he was helpful, steadfast, and true.
He was a constant, unobtrusive, though discriminating, giver to worthy causes.
Blessed in his domestic relations, he was singularly happy in his family and home.
He was a tender husband and parent, akind and thoughtful brother, and a loyal kinsman.
His sterling business qualities and the unusual correctness of his life naturally brought him to positions of trust and responsibility.
He was a member of the
Boston Chamber of Commerce, and served on its important committees and as one of its board of trustees.
He was a director in the
Bunker Hill National Bank; a member of the
New England HistoricGenea-logical and the
Somerville Historical Societies, and of the Merchants' Club of
Boston; a director in the Central Club Association of
Somerville; and a member of the
Standing Committee and an earnest supporter of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church of
Somerville, with which he had always been affiliated.
At these various directing boards he was a regular attendant, a conscientious worker, a wise counsellor, and a safe guardian.
