History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

360 ANNALS OF LYNN 189I.
the corner of Ocean and Nahant streets, overlooking the
peninsula, the beaches and a large extent of the bay, must
have been the source of much enjoyment to him. But it has
now become the site of several less spacious but beautifully
appointed residential estates ; thus affording pleasure to increased
numbers of nature's votaries.
The neat Scandinavian Church, on Pleasant street, was
dedicated on the nth of October. Its cost was $7,000.
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the weather was clear throughout the
United States. No signal station reported a drop of rain.
No other such occurrence reported for eighteen years.
Died, in Warnerville, Concord, Mass., Nov. 23, Gardiner
Tufts, aged 63. Death found him at his post of duty as Superintendent
of the State Reformatory, which position he had
faithfully filled for some years. He was a son of Richard
Tufts, for a long time a deacon of the First Congregational
Church, well known as a rigid moralist and temperance advocate,
and a grandson of David Tufts, spoken of elsewhere
as the first regular Lynn expressman. He was engaged in
mechanical employments during his earlier years, but before
middle life had conceived an ambition for a different and
wider field of action. Among his first public appointments
was that of Assistant Postmaster of the House of Representatives
at Washington, a position which gave him an insight
into public affairs and an acquaintance with public men
that proved of great benefit in after years. Soon after the
breaking out of the Civil War he was appointed Military
Agent of Massachusetts at Washington, and in that capacity
received unstinted approbation from those in authority over
him, and the affectionate regard of the many to whom in the
exercise of his office he administered ; long after the war
he continued to receive loving testimonials from the sufferers
and their dependents, whom he had done so much to relieve.
He was a friendly advocate for every worthy soldier, and a
faithful counsellor for the less deserving.
His constant efforts
in behalf of the soldiers of our dear old Commonwealth are
still fresh in the memory of thousands. It need not be said
that he was universally esteemed in his native place, in
whose prosperity he ever retained an affectionate interest,
nor that he was called to fill various local offices of trust and
responsibility. He was a member of the Common Council,
an Alderman, and a Representative in the State Legislature.
Colonel Tufts — for he held that military title by brevet —
was a great lover of music, and an adept in its practice, at
least as a vocalist. He was also well skilled in the use of