Teffts Come Home

Tefft Homecoming October 16 - 19, 1999 South Kingstown, Rhode Island

FAQs on Tefft Homestead Purchase

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In October 1999, a year after  these Tefft descendants discovered each other over the Internet, they met for the first time in South Kingstown, R.I., the ancestral home in America for the entire Tefft clan. We came from every corner of this country to meet each other and  see the Tefft Homestead. About 30 of us are shown having arrived at our destination. Our ancestors worked this land for nearly 250 years. Much of the evidence of their lives remains here.Early in 2000, we formed a family association. By the end of the year, the homestead was purchased and is now theTefft Historic Park.

Returning to honor the past

Closely tied to the story of the Blueberry Hill development, which placed the remaining archaeological features of Tefft Homestead site at risk, is the story of a bone dug up in development some eight years ago. The 18-inch femur was unearthed during construction of a home in the Tefft Hill estates and kept by the property owner in a desk drawer for some eight years.Tefft descendants reburied the bone in a service held on October 19. Reburial took place in what remained of the cemetery (two graves) at the back of the house. (Probably other graves existed there before the property was bulldozed and the house was built.) The service attracted local media attention with accounts of it published for several weeks in The Providence Journal and other local newspapers. Television coverage of the service also was carried by Channel 6, a Providence, R.I., station.

Buried in a plain pine box, the centuries-old remains were laid to rest during a family service conducted by Rev. George Jennings and his wife, Mary Tifft Jennings, of Hermosa Beach, CA. The box was constructed by Jay Roger Tefft of Green Mountain Falls, CO,  using 17th century methods.

What it was like coming home

The existence of the Tefft Homestead in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, miraculously surviving as a family farm from the 1670s to 1909, drew some 30 Tefft descendants from every corner of the United States for our first-ever Tefft Homecoming. Coming home for us meant far more than returning to our past. The urgent business of preserving the homestead, the created awareness that our ancestors' cemeteries have been neglected and need attention, the joy of meeting new cousins and learning about the links we share...all added context and content we had been missing in our lives. The undoubted highlight of our three-day gathering of family was a walking tour of the 28-acre Tefft Homestead property. Overgrown today with brambles and brush, the hilly homestead site still contains many significant features of what once was a dairy farm with stone-walled pens, house foundations, water wells, and cemetery plots. These remnants constitute the only remaining physical evidence of the original settlement of the land by our family's founder, John, his sons, grandsons, and subsequent generations of great-grandchildren. The woods, lovely in their fall display, gave only a grudging glimpse of the life our forebearers must have led. Still, all trudged enthusiastically on for nearly four hours seeking every possible discovery of these past lives. We came to Rhode Island to find our roots in America. We learned that we are Swamp Yankees...independent, self-reliant, strong and enduring New England stock. Our family name and heritage was planted deep in Rhode Island's soil. As one native Rhode Islander put it: "Go anywhere in the state. You'll find the Tefft name on every back road." We learned too that we are not at all alone in caring about the Tefft Homestead, the family's history, and the cemeteries where our ancestors are laid to rest. Many join us in wanting to see this rich heritage preserved.

Samuel Tefft's "new " home, c. 1720, burned to the ground around Christmas 2000. The residence was a short distance east of the Tefft Homestead property, on Chestnut Hill Road in the Tefft Hill subdivision.

Tefft Homecoming Itinerary

Sun., Oct. 17 10 a.m. Walking tour of Tefft Homestead 4 p.m. Tefft Reception hosted by Biscuit City Homeowners Assoc. Mon., Oct. 18 10:30 a.m. Visit Pettasquamsutt Historical Society 11:30 a.m. Tour Tefft cemeteries and historic Samuel Tefft home 7 p.m. Tefft Genealogy Roundtable Tues., Oct. 19 10 a.m. Reinterment Service

Links to More on the Teffts

The Tefft Genealogy Site

We're building our list of links. Please e-mail me if you know of other websites Tefft family members might learn from or enjoy.

Contact Darlene Tefft Cobb at dcobb@antelecom.net