Henry Tufts

Who was Henry Tufts?

Henry Tufts was an infamous 18th century thief who committed various crimes in northern New England. Most of what we know about his life and crimes comes from his 1807 autobiography A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts, Now Residing at Lemington, in the District of Maine. In Substance as Compiled from his own Mouth.

This autobiography was reprinted in 1930 as Autobiography of a Criminal. Neal Keating’s 1993 reprint of Tufts’ autobiography summarizes Tufts as a “…horse thief, bigamist, burglar, adulterer, con man, scoundrel, counterfeiter, deserter and common criminal.”