William Puffer
| William Franklin Puffer | |
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| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta | |
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In office November 2, 1905 – June 7, 1917 |
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| Preceded by | New district |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Gilmour |
| Constituency | Lacombe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 1, 1861 North Crosby, Ontario |
| Died | April 22, 1948 (aged 86) Lacombe, Alberta |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Charlotte Ann Gilmore |
| Children | Seven |
| Residence | Lacombe, Alberta |
| Occupation | Rancher, lumberman |
William Franklin Puffer (November 1, 1861 – April 22, 1948) was a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 until 1917. Born in Ontario, he came west and settled in Lacombe, where he operated a butchery, among other interests. He was elected to the legislature in Alberta's first provincial election, and returned to office in each of the next two before being defeated in the 1917 election. He subsequently made two unsuccessful attempts to reclaim his seat.
Born in North Crosby, Ontario, on November 1, 1861, Puffer was the son of a United Empire Loyalist. He married Charlotte Ann Gilmore, with whom he would have seven children, on July 1, 1885. They came west in 1889 and homesteaded near Olds, before finally settling in Lacombe in 1893. Puffer was engaged in several businesses, dealing in cattle, lumber, dairy products, and farm implements. In 1900, he established a butchery in Lacombe next to a laundry operated by Hop Chung, a Chinese immigrant. When Chung wished to bring his wife and children over from China but could not afford the C$500 head tax, Puffer paid it; Chung's family arrived in Lacombe in 1908, making her one of the first Chinese women in Alberta. In 1911 both Puffer's butchery and Chung's laundry burnt down, and they rebuilt a single building to share.
Besides his friendship with Chung, Puffer spoke fluent Cree and took what was then the unusual step of employing First Nations people.
Puffer was active in local politics: he sat on the school board from 1893 to 1894 and from 1896 to 1902, and on the town council from 1903 to 1906. He entered the wider sphere of politics in 1904, when he was nominated as the Northwest Territories Liberal Party's candidate in the by-election to replace Peter Talbot as Lacombe's representative in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
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