Was Thankful Redman the First   White Child Born in Canton?  By: Newton Talbot
Mr. Huntoon in his interesting article in the Journal of January 13th, 1882, quotes from the record of deaths in the first Precinct in Stoughton, kept by Samuel Chandler, as follows:--"1783, Dec. 26 widow Thankful Blackman, first white child born in Stoughton, 1700." 

This record of Mr. Chandler, he accepts as conclusive, that previous to 1700 no child of English parents had been born in what is now the town of Canton. 

Hon. Ellis Ames,--whose historical knowledge is the wonder and delight of all those who have had the privilege of consulting him, upon matters relating to almost any of the early families of Norfolk County,--in his remarks at the dedication of the Canton Town Hall, stated that the first white child born in Canton was in the year 1700. 

In any attempt to controvert these statements, it is to be regretted that the tax-lists of Dorchester, to a much later date, are supposed to have been destroyed by fire; but whether this is so or not, they cannot be found. With these lists, and with our knowledge of the names of the early settlers, we might determine with more accuracy than can be done with our present information, the dates of any permanent settlement in this part of the new grant; but it seems to me perfectly certain, from public records, that settlements were made, and children born, in the old precinct some years before the birth of Thankful Redman, afterwards the wife, and then the widow of Benjamin Blackman[George Blackman]. Her birth is entered in the town records of Dorchester, as follows: "Thankful Redman, daughter of Charles Redman, born the 14th April 1701." 

Leaving for a time the question under discussion, let us study some of the early settlements in what is now Canton. Beside the Ponkipog Plantation which was set apart by the Dorchester proprietors in 1657, there were two farms granted by the same authority, before the twelve division lots were open for settlement. The first of these farms, of five hundred acres, was granted to Capt. Roger Clap in 1657; the other of three hundred and forty acres, to Lt. (Hopestill) Foster in 1665. Capt Clap's selection is now known as the "Farms," and was held by his family until 1694, when it was purchased by John Fenno. 

As early as 1671, buildings of some sort had been erected, for we find that upon the 11th of the 10th month, December 1671, the selectmen of Dorchester ordered the constable "to go up to Capt. Clap's farm where Henry Merrifield doth live, and enquire whether his daughter which married Funnell be abiding with him," etc., and upon the 8th of the 11th month, January 1671--2, Merrifield's wife appeared before the selectmen, saying that they could not turn their daughter out of doors in the winter, but that she would willingly return to her husband as soon as a passage presents. The selectmen did not approve of their entertaining her; but would let the matter rest. 

Merrifield's name appears in the Dorchester records in later years, but no account of his residence is given; neither is anything further found relating to Captain Clap's farm. 

Lt. Foster, selected his farm on the south side of Blue Hill, and upon the east side of the road coming up from Milton, and the location was their known as "Blue Hill Plain." 

In 1687, Lt. Foster's widow requests that the farm may be laid out, and thereupon the selectmen order that one hundred and twenty acres be laid out to her, or to her order. It is probable that at this time, widow Foster had bargained her farm to Matthias Puffer, to whom it was afterwards deeded. Mr. Puffer, who was formerly of Braintree, had been one of the settlers of Mendon; but upon the destruction of the latter place in 1675, by the Indians, asked, and probably received permission to remove to some other locality. 

We find that in 1680 he was paid by Dorchester for killing wolves, and that in 1684, two-thirds of his ministerial tax was abated by the same town, showing that he was a resident, but living remote from the meeting house. 

In the spring of 1690, the selectmen of Dorchester order him to forbear finishing his house raised upon common land, near Blue Hill, or in Blue Hill Plain. In the spring of 1694 -5 the other two hundred and twenty acres of the Foster farm was laid out by John Dean, surveyor, of Dedham, by order of the town, as land that Matthias Puffer had bought of widow Foster. 

Mr. Puffer's deed from the Foster estate, is dated April 14th, 1696; but it states that the land conveyed, is "now in his possession." 

In August 1691, Matthias Puffer, "for several good causes and considerations, him moveing, but more especially the settlement of John Puffer, his eldest son, near unto his own dwelling house, hath of his own free will given," etc., to said John Puffer, one hundred and twenty acres of land bounded northeasterly upon Braintree line, northwest upon the Great Blue Hill, southeast upon Ponkipog Pond and southwest upon land of said Matthias Puffer. Mr. Puffer's own deed of 1696, bounds southeast upon Ponkipog line. 

James Puffer's home lot, that he had by gift from his father, was upon the southwest side of the lot deeded to John Puffer, his brother; but his deed from his father is not recorded. 

These brothers were both married the 17th of the 10th month, 1695, by Rev. Mr. Danforth of Dorchester, John, to Mary Holbrook, of Roxbury, James, to Abigail Newton, of Milton. That both of them settled upon the farms their father gave them out of his home farm, does not seem to admit of a doubt, as both continued to own and occupy them, so long as they lived. 

If this be so, it then follows, that Abigail, born Nov. 26, 1696, and Esther, recorded Hester, born May 29, 1699, daughters of James and Abigail Puffer; and John, born Oct. 3, 1698, son of John and Mary Puffer, antedate the birth of Thankful Redman; one of them nearly five years. 

There is also the birth of Hannah, daughter of Thomas Worth, born Sept. 1, 1699; and also that of George, son of Elias and Hope Monk, born May 1, 1696; all these births are recorded in the Dorchester records, and the Puffer children were baptized by the Rev. Mr. Thacher, of Milton. 

Both Monk and Worth, held leases from the Indians, at the time of the first investigation; and neither of them were old Dorchester names, or names of residents in the lower part of the town. 

The birth of Elizabeth, 1685, and Edward, 1690, children of Henry Bailey, are entered in the Dorchester records; but they are marked "unseasonable," meaning out of chronological order, it may be that they were not born in Dorchester. 

As a descendant in the fourth generation from Esther Puffer, I desire to claim for her, all the honor to which she is entitled, as one of the early settlers in Canton; and in order that the higher honor may be paid to Thankful Blackman, let me suggest for the consideration of others, what has always been my construction of the record made by Mr. Chandler, which is this: that Thankful Blackman was the first white child born in Stoughton, in the Eighteenth century, or as he expressed it, in 1700. That she was the first so born, there can be no doubt. 

I fear that this article covers many points, that have been better presented by Mr. Huntoon, through the columns of the JOURNAL; but it has been necessary to reproduce them in the examination of this subject. 

Was Thankful Redman The First  White Child Born In Canton?  By: Daniel T. V. Huntoon 
The statement that Thankful Redman was the first white child born in Canton, does not rest alone on the documentary evidence of Mr. Chandler's Diary. It is a matter of tradition. It has been handed down from generation to generation. An intelligent person, now over ninety years of age, Mrs. Abigail Maynard, the daughter of Samuel Blackman, who was the grandson of Thankful Redman, says her father always told her that his grandmother, Thankful, was the first white child born in Stoughton. Miss Chloe Dunbar, born 1805, has often heard her grandmother (who was a daughter of Thankful Redman) say that her mother was the first white child born in Stoughton. Now these persons derive their information from those best acquainted with the facts, who were possessed with a knowledge of the subject, who had no temptation to misrepresent. This tradition has come down undisputed, uncontradicted, unchallenged, until now, through the family of the Blackmans, and correlative families, and I never have heard of any similar claim being made by the decedents of the Puffers, the Worths, the Monks, or the Baileys. 

And all this tradition is corroborated by the written documentary testimony of a man born only seven years after Thankful Redman, who lived in the same town with her, and on the day of her death, records that she was the first white child born in Stoughton, 1700. 

The dates quoted by Mr. Talbot are correct, and he certainly has made out a very strong case. But before accepting his conclusions we should like to be assured that the Puffer houses were actually built and occupied by the parents of the children born before 1700, in what is now Canton. 

Mr. Talbot cites the birth of a son of Elias Monk, in 1696. Elias Monk was in Dorchester, in 1690. In 1691 his daughter Mary was born. Mr. Talbot tells us that he was not a resident in the lower part of Dorchester. If this is so, is not the presumption strong that Mary Monk was the first white child born in Stoughton. This doesn't help Thankful Blackman, but it upsets Esther Puffer, and leaves the honors "easy." 

From the opening of Mr. Talbot's article, I supposed he was going to show that either the wives of Henry Merrifield or Funnel had children. Had this been the case, it would not have been surprising that the first settlers of Canton should have been ignorant of the births of transient people in 1671.
  

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