John Q. Tufts

John Q. Tufts

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, California.

Personal

The son of Servetus or Servitus Tufts and Emily (Dudley), John Q. was born in Aurora, Indiana, on July 12, 1840), and he moved to a farm in Muscatine County, Iowa, with his parents 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 in his home, 3303 South Grand Avenue, at age 68. He was survived by his wife and ten children, Mrs. F.M. Lyon, Mrs. A.B. Cass, Mrs. Will Muir, Edward B. Tufts, John Q. Tufts Jr., Will A. Tufts, Carl R. Tufts and Roy N. Tufts, all of Los Angeles; Mrs. Robert Frick of San Francisco, and Mrs. T.A. Sanson of Indian Territory. He was interred in Angelus Cemetery in Central Los Angeles.[2]

Vocation

Agriculture

In 1858, Tufts moved to Cedar County, Iowa, and was a farmer near Wilton in that county.[2][3]

Iowa

Tufts was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1870, 1872 and 1874. 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.[4]

U.S. government

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][5]

During his tenure as Indian Commissioner, he organized the first unit of the United States Indian Police in February 1880.[6] 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.[7][8]

Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, he engaged in the real estate business 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][9]

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."[10] The Times, however, endorsed him because of his "recognized standing in the business community."[11]

References

  1. ↑ Ancestry.com
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "John Q. Tufts Dead," Los Angeles Herald, September 5, 1902
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "John Quincy Tufts Taken by Death," Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1902, page A-2
  4. ↑ "Talking Right Out," Davenport Daily Gazette, September 6, 1874, page 1
  5. ↑ "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1880," p. 96 (1880)
  6. ↑ OKLAHOMA'S Frontier Indian Police, By Art T. Burton.
  7. ↑ "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1883," p. 90 (1883)
  8. ↑ "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1884," p. 100 (1884)
  9. ↑ Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials 1850–1938, Municipal Reference Library, March 1938, reprinted 1946
  10. ↑ "J.Q. Tufts," Los Angeles Herald, December 4, 1892
  11. ↑ "J.Q.Tufts," Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1892, page 4
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Aylett R. Cotton		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Iowa's 2nd congressional district
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877 		Succeeded by
Hiram Price
Political offices
Preceded by
Austin C. Shafer		 Member of the Los Angeles City Council
from the 5th ward
1892 – 1896 		Succeeded by
Freeman G. Teed
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