Chenery Puffer (1804-1877)

   A resident of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, Dr. Chenery Puffer was a prominent 19th-century physician in Franklin County, Massachusetts who served one term in the Massachusetts General Court. Little information could be found on this obscure man, excepting a small write-up in the Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1639-1915, published in 1916. All of the information on Dr. Puffer contained herein was discovered in the aforementioned work, as was the portrait of him shown above.

  Chenery Puffer was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts on December 29, 1804, the son of John and Ruth Willis Puffer. Chenery was the eighth and last child born to the couple, who were married in 1786. He attended school in the Dummerston, Vermont area and at age 21 migrated to Three Rivers, New York to begin a teaching career. He soon returned to Vermont and began studying medicine under a certain Dr. Knapp of Dummerston, and later graduated from the Harvard Medical School. 

  Puffer established his first medical practice in the town of Coleraine, Massachusetts, and resided here for some time. He married in Massachusetts in January 1834 to Lucy Alden (1810-1892). The couple were wed for over forty years and had four children: Henry Marvin (1835-1905), Samuel Willis (1837-1912), Charles Chenery (1841-1915), and Lucy Maria (died at age 4 in 1846). Of the four Puffer children, Charles Chenery Puffer can be regarded as the most notable, as he became notable in publishing, and manufacturing in South Carolina and New York.

  Dr. Chenery Puffer later removed from Coleraine to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, where he resided until his death. In the years following his removal to Shelburne Falls, it is mentioned that he enjoyed "a large and lucrative practice....achieving great distinction with his work." Puffer's inclusion on the site here rests on his service in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives, which he was elected to in 1863. He served one term in this body and during his term served on the Committee on Roads and Bridges.

  

                           A roster from a Manual of the General Court of Massachusetts from 1863.

    In addition to his medical practice and legislative service, Dr. Puffer was also active in civic affairs in Shelburne Falls, serving on the town school committee for a few terms. He later served as President of the Franklin County Medical Society and is also mentioned as a founding member of the local Baptist church. Dr. Chenery Puffer died at age 73 on March 6, 1877, at his home in Shelburne Falls and was subsequently buried in the Arms Cemetery in Shelburne. His wife Lucy survived him by fifteen years, dying in 1892 at age 82. As a testament to his stature in the Shelburne Falls community, the Descendants of George Puffer memorialized him as "universally respected and beloved in the community he served so faithfully."

Brown Nurse (1804-1869)

  This humorously named gentleman is Brown Nurse, an influential resident of Troy, New Hampshire during the mid-19th century. Nurse was born in Harvard, Massachusetts on June 24, 1804, and was the son of Deacon David Nurse, a clergyman and captain during the Revolutionary War.
  Brown Nurse migrated from his native Massachusetts to New Hampshire in 1829, settling in the town of Troy. It was here that he embarked upon a teaching career, but then removed again to the city of Richmond, where he engaged in business. Nurse married on December 15, 1831, to Mary Wheeler (died October 1865), with whom he would have one daughter, Mary Jane Nurse, in August 1833. Two years following the birth of his daughter, Nurse returned to Troy and subsequently went into the trade business with the help of his father-in-law. Nurse also was named to the position of town postmaster, serving fourteen years in this office. He later was elected to multiple terms as Troy town clerk, serving in 1837, 1838, and 1845-48, and town treasurer from 1842-44.
  Throughout the succeeding years, Brown Nurse became regarded as one of Troy's most respectable citizens, so much so that in 1850 the town elected him to the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, serving here until 1851. At the conclusion of his legislative service Nurse returned to his native town and in 1859 was named to a committee that aided in writing and publishing a history of the town of Troy, stemming from its founding in 1764 until 1855. 
  Brown Nurse died while attending a church service in the village of Fitchburg on February 21, 1869, at age 64. The portrait of him shown at the top of this article was discovered via the Historical Sketch of the Town of Troy, New Hampshire, and Her Inhabitants, published in 1897.