Surnames: TUFTS GAGEMAN COVEY CULVER SLOAN

----Source: Stark Family Album

Tufts, William C. (25 Dec 1873 - 4 Feb 1956)

W. C. Tufts, 82, a member one of the pioneer families of Withee, Clark County, Wis., and operator of a real estate business here for the past 25 years, died at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was taken at 5:30 p.m. Friday following a heart attack. He resided at 1001 W. Fifth St., Marshfield.

Mr. Tufts, who was born Dec. 25, 1873, in Brown County, Wis., was two years old when he moved with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William S. Tufts, to Unity, Wis. His father was identified with the Spaulding lumbering interests there.

In 1878 the family moved to the area now known as Withee, where the elder Mr. Tufts operated a general store and sawmill and later helped organize the Withee bank, where his son became cashier after his marriage to Viola Covey on Dec. 20, 1895, at Wis. Rapids.

W. C. Tufts occupied that position for seven years and then was cashier at the Owen bank for 11 years. He and his family moved to Eau Claire in 1920 and then lived at Minneapolis for a short time, before coming to Marshfield in 1931. His wife died Jan. 10, 1946. On June 4, 1947, he married Mrs. Ione Niles Hageman at Wis. Rapids.

Mr. Tufts received his elementary education at Withee and Stevens Point, and attended Lawrence College and the University of Wisconsin. Since coming to Marshfield he had operated the Marshfield Land Co. He was a charter member of the Masonic Lodge at Owen, with which he was affiliated for more than 50 years. He was also a former secretary of the county Republican party.

Surviving him are his wife; two children, Mrs. Robert (Kathrin) Roden, Madison, and William C. Tufts, Jr., Grayling, Mich.; and three grandchildren. One daughter, Mrs. W. Sloan, (Ruth) Culver, preceded him in death last year and two brothers and one sister and a half-brother also are deceased.

Funeral services were held at 2:00 p.m. Monday from the Hansen Funeral Home, Marshfield, with the Rev. Douglas P. Oyan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, officiating. Burial took place in Riverside Cemetery at Withee, where graveside rites were conducted by the Owen Masonic Lodge.