William Nutt

WILLIAM McNUTT was born in or near Kilquhanity, Galloway, Scotland about 1698. According to two separate accounts passed down through the descendants of his son William Jr., he was the son of John McNutt [aka John McNaught] of Kilquhanity. John is said to have left his ancestral village about 1713 or 1714, accompanied by four sons, with the intention of emigrating to America. En route, he abruptly died in Londonderry, Ireland about 1715 just before the group was to embark for the voyage over. His sons remained in Londonderry for a few years before all of them eventually worked their way to America.

In 1719, when he was about 21 years of age, William finally arrived in America, coming with a group of Scotch-Irish who settled at Nutfield [later Londonderry], New Hampshire. William was a fuller by trade, and was later employed by Captain David Cargill who established the first fulling mill in Londonderry. In New England, he is always seen as William NUTT, although many years later, one of his grandsons, Elijah Allen Nutt (1774-1858), resumed the original surname of McNUTT.

William Nutt's homestead lot was drawn 26 September 1720, and comprised 60 acres east of Exeliel Pond. In the late 1720s, William and his family resided in Haverhill, Massachusetts, but -- by 1729 -- had returned to Londonderry.

William Nutt was married at Bradford, Massachusetts, 29 May 1723, to JANE COLBATH [also spelled “Colbreath” or “Galbraith”], b. about 1703. They were married by William's former pastor, Rev. Thomas Symmes who had recently relocated to Bradford. Jane was also a member of Presbyterian Scottish family that had settled many decades earlier in Northern Ireland. She came to America with her brothers, John and George Colbath, in 1718.

William Nutt worked for Captain Cargill until the latter's death in 1733. On 15 August 1733, he purchased the fulling mill from Capt. Cargill's heirs, and operated it as sole proprietor for the next six years. In 1739, however, he sold the mill and his farm in Londonderry and moved to nearby Chester, New Hampshire. About 1740, he and his his eldest son John built a saw mill in Chester -- said to have been the first in the area -- situated near Cohas Brook. William was also the owner of a "large tract of land" upon which he built a farm.

William Nutt died in Chester, NH on 26 October 1751, age about 53, leaving no will. His estate, appraised on 30 November 1751, was valued at 2,675 pounds, indicating him to be a wealthy man by the standards of that time period.

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(1) Letter written to Robert Hanscom by Kathleen Roberts Tewksbury (1914-1994) of Bangor, Maine [a direct descendant of William Nutt III (1762-1843) of Harmony, Maine], dated 14 July 1986:

"This account of our family was passed down, generation by generation, from William Nutt III. [His] grandfather, William Nutt, the first of the family in America, was born in Kilquhanite, Scotland, the youngest son of John Nutt. The original name was 'McNutt', sometimes "McNaught'. John McNutt, with four sons, was on his way to America to join his oldest son. They made a stop in Londonderry, Ireland when he suddenly died. The passage of the sons was delayed, but they all came later. Their names were John, James, Robert, David, and William (youngest). William came over in 1718, lived at Haverhill, Mass., then Londonderry and Chester, NH, and died in 1751. He married Jane Colbath and had 9 children. Names were John, James, William Jr., Samuel, Robert, Nathaniel, Benjamin, David, Jane, and Mary. William Jr. was the father of William Nutt III of Harmony, Maine."

"By tradition, John McNutt [or McNaught] was the grandson of another John McNaught who was a friend of Cromwell's. He was said to have been a pirate, but in Cromwell's days, piracy was regarded as a noble profession. After the death of Cromwell and the return of the Stuarts, this John McNaught was either executed or banished."

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(2) "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography", p. 264 -- Biography of Dr. Sarah McNutt [aka Nutt] of New York City. This account has matching information, except William is called the "second son" instead of the "youngest son". No mention, however, of the John McNaught-Cromwell-pirate story.

McNUTT, Sarah Jane, physician, was born at Warrensburg, Warren co., N. Y., twin daughter of James and Adaline (Waite) McNutt. The MacNaughts occupied the estates of Kilquhanite in Galloway, Scotland, since 1400. The last proprietor of the name, John MacNaught, started for America with his four sons in the beginning of the eighteenth century, but he died on the way at Londonderry, Ireland. In 1718 his second son, William MacNaught, joined a company of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who established a colony at Londonderry (now Manchester), N. H. He married Jean Galbreath, and the line of descent is traced through their son William, who married Sarah Elkin James; their son, Elijah Allen, who married Susanna Mudgett, and their son James, who was Dr. McNutt's father.

Biography of Dr. Sarah Jane McNutt -- p. 264 (ancestral information)

See: https://books.google.com/books?id=B_ApAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA264&dq=sarah+mc...