'J. \y : '^.^ "^^ ■%^' :.,c^ \,^ <- ^. - .V v' f ,> O ■ ^ *>-^ . ,V Si 'o .- '-f -^^ -V^v b .0^ .^ ^^'^ ^••^ ^A ^^ ^V.,«,^ ^ X^ ^^-^ ^^: \ ^" ... ^. *.,."^ ^0 1 ^ /'I -y^ l^■ From Dr. Green's "The Boundary Lines of Old Groton ' Nmixc; (;K^KAL()c;^ A RKCORH OF SOMK OF FHF nKSCFNDANTS John Niittiivj;, ot (iroton. Mass. BY RFV lOMN KKKP NT I'FINC; n SYRACUSE. N. Y. C. W. BARDEEN. PUBLISH FR 1908 M am ^ jj^ 7?.-^ 16 wir'oa CONTENTS PAGE The story of the work .... 9 ^ onathan Nutting's account book (see also 66) . 13 John, the Founder . 15 The Governor's island legend . 17 As to our name . 19 And whence came we ? . 21 Concerning a Nutting coat of arms . . 24 Groton . 26 Gibbet hill . 27 Groton inn . 30 The graveyard . 29 The lakes, Baddycook, Massapoag . 33 The Nashua river . 35 Nod farm . 35 First generation . 40 The Rev. John Fiske's note book. . 41 Remove to Groton . . . . . 42 Remote accommodations of John Nuttin g (see also 95) . 45 John Nutting as a Groton town officer . 46 as a land holder . 49 as a soldier . 53 The burning of Groton . . 53 King Philip's war .... . 53 Return to Groton . 61 Second generation . 63 Third generation . 65 Jonathan Nutting's account book . 66 The first shoe made in Groton . 66 Starred names . , . , , . . 69 NUTTING GENEALOGY Fourth generation 72 Lieutenant William 72 David, the loyalist 76 Fifth generation 78 Xutting cemetery, West ford .... 79 Abel, the musketeer 81 William, Esquire, of Groton 82 Continental currency 83 Shays 's rebellion 83 Vaccination 84 Minute books 85 Captain John of Lexington 87 Uncle Eb's fife 87 John of Northampton 89 Sixth generation 93 Th(jmas, of Oswego county, New York . . 93 Asia Nutting's house on John I's accommodations 95 William, Esquire, of Randolph .... 96 The Patch branch 98 The Bardeen branch 98 Joseph Danforth Nutting 99 Professor Rufus Nutting 101 Nutting's English Grammar .... 101 T lie Chamberlain branch . * . . .102 Seventh generation 113 Rufus, the organ-maker 117 The Rev. David Hubbard Nutting . .118 Mary Ohvia Nutting 120 The Patch branch 120 Zara Patch 120 The Rev. Jacob Patch and wife . .126 The Bardeen branch ' 127 Sarah Hubbard Nutting 129 INDEX 7 Isaiah Hall Nutting ...... '. 131 Inductive English Grammar . 131 George French Nutting . 131 Daniel Chaplin Nutting . . . . . 132 The Rev. John Keep Nutting . . . . 133 Timothy Dwight Nutting . . . . . 136 His tin horn eight feet long . 136 The Rev. William Jarvis Gregg Nutting . 137 The Chamberlain branch .... . 137 The Rev. Jacob Chamberlain . . 138 William Isaac Chamberlain . 141 Benjamin Franklin Nutting . 115, 264 Mary Adelaide Nutting .... . 144 George E. Nutting .... . 146 Truman Nutting . 154 Mary Eliza Nutting .... . 155 Andrew J. Nutting . . . . . 159 Col. Lee Nutting . 159 Eighth generation ..... . 162 Newton W. Nutting .... . 162 James Ralph Nutting .... . 164 Mrs Amy Belle Nutting Irish . 165 The Rev. Wallace W. Nutting . . 166 Cordelia A. Gilman Nutting . . 169 Maria Gilman Nutting .... . 170 William Rufus Nutting .... . 171 The Rev. John Danforth Nutting ■ . . 172 Ruth Nutting . 174 George Hale Nutting .... . 176 The Patch branch . 176 The Bardeen branch . . . ' . . 180 The Bennett branch .... . 187 Daniel Chaplin Nutting . 190 Jessie Gulielma Nutting . . . 193 8 NUTTING GENEALOGY Anna Celeste Nutting The Chamberlain hrancJi . James Robert Nutting . Jonathan Johnson . Frederic Harrison Nutting Lucius Henry Nutting Ninth generation Frederic George Carlton. The Patch branch The Bardeen branch Lillith May Nutting Characteristics of the Nutting f Appendix. Nuttings_in the Re Place Index .... Name Index I, Surnames not Nutting. Name Index II, Given names of Nuttings Errata amily volutionarv \v ar . 193 . 196 . 198 . 201 . 202 . 203 . 212 . 212 . 216 . 217 . 227 . 230 . 233 . 249 . 252 . 266 . 278 NUTTING GENEALOGY Before we really Begin The Story of The Work I must have been born with the antiquarian instinct. I always loved to be occupied with things that belonged to the times long past. An atavism of that sort also seems to have attached to the line of my descent. My grandfather compiled — with assistance hereafter to be mentioned — a Nutting Genealogy. And before me as I write, is a little volume, now almost two centuries old, which contains a beginning of the same sort by my grandfather's grandfather. This compiler had not much material to work up, it is true, for his grandfather was the father and founder of us all. But he did what he could. I have but continued the series thus twice begun. This is the heredity of it. Environment help- ed. I was born in one of the most ancient homes of our family. It had sheltered three generations of Nut- tings before my own, of which I was the youngest mem- ber. In my childhood, the old house showed all its an- tiquity.* It was weather-beaten and time-stained, just as an artist would have liked it. A great central chimney, with many flues, gave it a homely dignity. Long, sloping roofs came down at the rear, very near to the ground. Moss and lichen did their "best to give ar- tistic touches of color. * The picture of "Nod Farm" on page 35 shows the house much modernized. This was done while I was a lad, but I remember the older building. 1(1 NUTTING GENEALOGY A niiglitv elm swung its branches over the nearest part of tlie roof-branches hung with flashing orioles and their swinging nests. The less-used flues of the great chimney were peopled every summer by hundreds of chimney-swallows, which went siffering down into their nests the last thing at night, and came chittering out before sleepy lads liked to waken in the morning. Within this house also were relics and heir-looms, each with its half-dream\- legend, just fitted to help on the ready imagination of the antiquarian small boy. All were eciually ancient to me then. As I recall a few of them, I conclude that the most venerable of them all must have been the very long-handled spontoon (a ca- valry-weapon) reputed to have come over seas with the \ery first settlers, perhaps with our first ancestor. It looked wicked enough to have come out of the Dark Ages. A pillion, tattered and moth-eaten, which hung above my reach in the "chaise-house" must have been a close second. What delightful shudders it gave me to crane my neck for a near view of those dark stains upon its faded cushion — tokens of the tragedy w^hich had con- secrated it for a memorial forever! As I then under- stood the story, my grandmother had been piously ri- ding to meeting upon that pillion, behind her puritan husband, when the arrow or the bullet of a skulking In- dian found its mark, and ended her earthly life. Long after both pillion and dwelling had gone up like Elijah by the fiery way, I learned tliat this story was true, on- 1\' that the grandmother was the very first of my mo- ther's foremothers in America; that the tragedy took place at Longmeadow, near Springfield; but that the pillion came, first to Westford, and then — with my mo- ther — to my home. HEREDITARY INSTINCT DEVELOPED 11 There was a shoe-maker's bench, on which had been made the very first shoe ever made in Groton,-in the the yeai 1706, and for aught I know it may have been made out of "Wilyam Shattuck's hyde", which cer- tainly was paid for about that time. There were Revolutionary relics, too; the "musket" which Corporal William had carried to Lexington, and its * 'accoutrements"— cartridge-box, knapsack, etc.— and the sword, still in my possession, and long reputed to have been used in that battle by Lieutenant William, the corporal's father. I am sorry to say that I feel some doubt as to the sword, as upon seeking documentary proof that the elder William was a Minute-man, I can- not find it. Outside the house were other stimulants to the boy's imagination. The low hill behind the old dwelling show- ed a depression which marked the location of an ancient Indian strong-hold, known as the "Indian Fort". Ev- ery plowing turned up evidence that this tradition was not without some foundation, in the shape of numerous arrow-heads and other Indian relics, including at least one stone axe. We boys believed that the fort had be- longed to Paugus, the great Sagamore of the Pigwack- etts. But that could not have been. Paugus was later. Down near the river, another depression was known to mark the site of a "garrison, "or '-^ White Man's Fort", built for defence against Paugus and such. Tradition was that a skull — the worse for a bullet hole, and part of a rusty fire-lock, had been dug up in the center of this depression. The old homestend was quite isolated by surrounding forest or river, so that the lads who lived there were in a world by itself, and dependent on their own wit for IL> NUTTING GENEALOGY amusement. And they lived in the atmosphere of the old times. Especially, in the times of the old Indian troubles. My next elder brother, a lad always in the lead among his mates, assumed the role of Paugus, the great chief. For want of other timber, I was obliged to "be" his whole tribe of Pigwacketts. This led to many comical results, and the memor}' of these plays led me many years after (with my brother's help) to make of them a series of Boy-stories, for which there is still some inquiry. Forth from tliis old home, on the morning after Paul Revere's Ride, came Corporal William, my grandfather, (in response to "The Alarm" ) to march to Lexington. He was about twenty-five years old. His father, the Lieutenant William, was with him, though past milita- ry age, and, as it now appears, not enrolled in any com- pany- . He was only a volunteer Minute-man, though he went with his son. As thev started, thev heard the drums and fifes of the Pepperell men, who were just coming down Primus hill, to cross the River. They would pass through Groton. They were commanded by Captain John Nut- ting, and several other Nuttings were in the company. It would be a trifle farther to the rendezvous, to go with the Pepperell men — but who could resist the call of the martial music, and the louder call of kindred valor ? At least, the Corporal and his father did not resist; and so it came to be the family tradition that "they n-iarched to Lexington with Captain John and the Pep- perell men." The truth being, that they marched with them as far as the rendezvous at the village, where the Corporal joined his own command. After the affair at Lexington, the Lieutenant seems JONATHAN NUTTING'S ACCOUNT BOOK 13 to have returned home. The younger man remained for some time in the service, as did Captain John and his company and many others. It is said that the Corporal about this time made an honorable surrender, and at the same time won a glo- rious victory. Not in a military way — unless the meet- ing came about through a visit of the other party to the camp, concerning which I am not informed. But in some way he surrendered to the charms of one Susanna, a youthful widow and the daughter of Colonel Joseph French of Dunstable, who ma}^ have been there with the Dunstable men. He counted it a great victory, however, and so persisted to regard the matter for the whole of his life. The wedding followed some time after and settled the question of pedigree for a hundred or two of us. And about the time of the wedding, young William seems to have thought that the founding of a new family might naturally lead one to find out something about those whose previous ventures had made his own possible. The Centennarian (as he afterwards came to be known) was then very near achieving that title. He was brother to Jonathan, young William's grandfather, deceased. Jonathan had left a careful Family Record, in the quaint little home-made volume alluded to above. It is called" Jonathan Nutting, His Accompt Book",* and besides the Family Record which is its chief value, it is interesting as showing the current prices at that date of most of the common articles. Its pocket pre- serves many little business papers, among which are re- ceipts which release "all debts and dues, from the be- ginning of the world unto this daye". * See illustrations, pages 66, 67. 14 XUTTIXG GENEALOGY This Accompi Book, whose earhest date is 1717, had come into the hands of the Centennarian on the decease of Jonatlian, and seems to have put him also upon gen- ealogical studies. In consequence when young Wil- liam resorted to him he was supposed to be or to have been personally acquainted in some degree with every descendant of John 1, our founder in America. How- ever this may have been, it seems certain that some en- tire families were omitted from the list which was made u]3. Yet it is stated that the memory, and in fact all the faculties of John 3 (the Centennarian) were at this time in full vigor. William took down from the lips of the old man all that he could relate, and added whatever he could by his own inquiries. As onh' four generations had then ])assed ( John 3 being sole survivor of the third, and Wil- liam being of the fifth) the task was then comparatively easy. And on the whole this "Early Genealogy" (re- ferred to by the letters "E. G.") has proven very reliable and correct, with the exception of the strange omissions already mentioned. Without it, the present work w^ould have been almost impossible. As William grew^ older, he added to the lists. When his own children left him, he made for them more or less complete copies. Some slight discrepancies crept into these, which however were easily corrected. Some of these copies wore out, and even the fragments were lost. I have two or three — all in tatters, and none quite ]jerfect. The best (preserved with the Account Book) lacks one important section, whose items I have been obliged t(j supply (with an interrogation) from memor}' of other copies, now lost. I first saw one of these copies when a boy of four- teen, in Michigan. I eagerly transcribed it, and so be- JOHN, THE FOUNDER 15 gan, unconsciously, the task which now after more than sixty years years results in the [present volume. During all this time, Nuttings who have chanced to meet me will bear witness that I have faithfully cjues- tioned them as to their family connection. At first, the memoranda thus secured seemed almost hopeless, save in lines nearly related to my own. As the years went on, and fragment after fragment took shape, I found that the fragments began to fit into each other, like the sections of a puzzle. And, what at first seemed very unlikely, I found that virtually all the lines point- ed in one direction. All, or nearly all, were directly traceable to Groton, Mass. And nearly all showed di- rect connection with John, whom I think entitled to be called John The Founder. True, there are exceptions: links are sometimes miss- ing. In one important instance, a line seems to begin in Northern Vermont. But that beginning dates at the time when Vermont was rapidly being settled from Massachusetts, and when several families of Groton or- igin went thither. And in the case alluded to there were honorable reasons for private removal. At the same time we find at Groton a youth who in name and age very exactly corresponds to the settler in Vermont alluded to. Demonstration is impossible, so far. But the presumption is not far from proof. In two or three cases, the early death of parents has left persons without knowledge beyond a certain point. But all are within a short distance of Groton, and to provide for these there are plenty of Groton lines of which the record stops short at an early date. I have testimony on which I rely, to the effect that about the middle of the last century one David Nutting, who had been chief shepherd upon the large Oxford- 16 XUTTIXG GENEALOGY shire farm of my informant's father, came to America, setthng somewhere in New York. It was further stated that this David had a son in the Methodist ministry. I have sought this family in vain. Very lately, a vague rumor comes to me that in Cal- ifornia somewhere, is a family which hails from Ireland. There have been Nuttings in Ireland since 1594 — at which date also there was a Sir Godfrey Nutting in Oxfordshire. But I have not been able to get in touch with any modem stock in America. From no family have I received any tradition that points to an independent origin. I am reasonably sure that we are all of one descent. Demonstrably, in near- Iv every case: almost certainly in all. One of the less pleasing duties of the genealogist is to clear away the myths which somehow gain credence in connection with all merely floating family histories. At first I accepted some of these. I believed, and no doubt am responsible for the belief in others, that our Founder came to America with a grant from the Crown of an immense tract out of which Groton was taken as a small part. Careful inquiry reduces this to the sim- ple fact that he first took shares in the new town of Chelmsford, and later in that of Groton, in which he had a moderate interest. The grant was to the Mas- sachusetts Colony, whose General Court re-granted the territory of Chelmsford and Groton as of some other towns. Not to mention other stories, the latest and most in- teresting is the Governor's Island Story. This has come to me within the last year, from several indepen- dent and widely separated parties. The story is, that as early as 103:.', many years before liis marriage (which has hitherto been our eailiest es- THE GOVERNOR'S ISLAND LEGEND 17 tablished date) our Founder, or at least some one bear- ing his name, came to New Amsterdam, and bought from the Indians the large island now known as Gover- nor's Island. That the island, from his ownership, was long called Nutten's or Nuttin's Island. That after some years he sold it to the government, when the name was changed to Governor's Island. That after the sale he went to Massachusetts, settling at Groton. iVs soon as this story came to my knowledge, I has- tened to interest our clansfolk in New York in its in- vestigation. The first of those who undertook this search was Mrs Lucius H. Nutting, who had already proved most helpful, but her effort was ended by her sudden and lamented decease. Another took up the work, and the first authority consulted seemed to throw some doubt upon the story. The History of New York, while admitting that the island bore our name (or some- thing like it — Nooten or Nutten), says that the name was given because of the numerous nut-trees which covered the whole island. The question occurs, whether this may or may not be simply an' attempt to explain the name. Farther in- quiries are being made, and as soon as a definite con- clusion can be reached, we shall inform our readers. Some thirty years since, I had the pleasure of becom- ing acquainted by correspondence, with Miss Mary Eliza Nutting, then a teacher in Boston, and a proof- reader and translator for Litteh's Living Age. She also was pursuing genealogical studies, and the corres- pondence was to mutual profit. She had heard of the Early Genealogy, but supposed it lost. I was able to furnish her with it. In turn, as she was of the Ebene- zer Branch, and lived near Cambridge, while I was of the line of John, the eldest son of the Founder, she could 18 NUTTIXO GENEALOGY tell nie much that I could hardh' have learned concern- ing the descendants of the two }'ounger sons, Ebenezer and Jonathan. Our correspondence was ended l)y lier illness, which temiinated in her lamented deatli. But all that she had learned had already been communicated to me, and it is incorporated in this volume. At different times I have desired to put what had been learned in print, lest it be lost, but have been de- terred partl>- l)y the pressure of other duties, partly by the expense, which I could not risk. About two years since, however, Mr George W. Nutting, a young rela- tive in Texas, not only urged publication, but offered a small advance toward the expense. Others readily re- sponded, until it seemed safe to venture — these contri- butors taking the risk of being partially repaid from sales. Without this guarantee we could not have gone forward. To give the labor required for compiling the work w'as my part. I should like to mention l)y name all those who in va- rious ways have rendered indispensable help in the un- dertaking. Many have sent in names and facts of great value. Others have made suggestions of a business na- ture, or have taken the trouble to find out the best means and the best style for publishing. One has kind- h' acted as treasurer. And many have helped by sub- scribing for copies of the work. Finall\', we have the good fortune to find among our own number a jjublisher who will not only do the work reasonably and in the best style, but who will feel a per- sonal interest in the success of the enterprise. Curious- ly, he also first saw the light in that same old dwelling of which we have spoken — making the fifth generation sheltered beneath its roof. As to our Name Miss Mary devoted some effort to learning the origin and significance of ^ our family name. The experts in such matters whom she consulted, were agreed that the first syllable is simply the Saxon or Scandinavian given- name, Canute, or Knut. Then, if the final syllable be "Ing" and Saxon, it would be equivalent to "son". This would place us with the Johnsons, Robinsons, and all the great company of the "sons." But the "Ing" may be a contraction for "Ing-a" : and then it would signify a cave, or Castle. "Knut of the Castle" certainly sounds better. One authority sugges- ted that the name was Danish, and that Knut Inga was doubtless a viking; who, landing on the eastern shore of England, and (with some flourishing of ugly weapons) announcing himself to the astonished natives as KNUT INGA {i.e., Knut Inga, the Ter-r-i-blel) he so frightened the said natives that they ever after reck- oned his two names as one, and scared their children into good behavior by threatening them with K N UT- INGA — as our English cousins afterward used the name of OLD BONY! I vote for this Viking theory. It sounds well. But since Miss Mary went from us, I chanced to speak of the matter to a Norwegian. He was a university man in his own country. And he at once said, "Your name is certainly Norse. ' ' He offered to introduce me to a fam- ily of Ingas, who he said would recognize me as a long lost relative. And among them he spoke of a young giant, Knut, who from his description I judged might stand for a twentieth-Century replica of our original KNUT THE VIKING. 20 NUTTING GENEALOGY But he demurred entirely to the delinitiun cdready given, of "Inga". It signifies, he said, ''green, grassy lajid" . England he said, was not so named from the Angles, but because it is a land of green grass. In proof of his contention, he cited the very pronunciation of the name. We do not call it Angland, nor yet England, but always Ingland, — that is, Inga-land, the land of green meadoivs. I confess, his argument seemed good. But since we ha\'e a choice, I still vote for the Viking. And Whence Came We? This wrtS another question which appealed to Miss Mary. There was a rumor that our Founder was from Nottinghamishire. That was soon disposed of. Then Miss Mary favored Yorkshire. And some one suggested Kent. No one mentioned Oxfordshire. But I have lately come upon what seems good evidence that as long ago as the middle of the 1 6th century (say as ear- ly as 1570 or thereabout), there was in Oxfordshire a Sir Godfrey Nutting, Baronet; and that in 1594 his son, Sir Robert Nutting of the Inner Temple, London, was granted a coat of arms. And I seem to have farther proof that at this early date there were Nuttings in Ire- land, near Dublin, and also in Suffolk, England, the two families being closely related. As already noted, the only recent Nuttings known to have come from En- gland, were from Oxfordshire. Here in Florida, curi- ously, and only last year, I obtained the address of Sir John G. Nutting of St. Helen's near Dublin, Ireland, and hoped I had found a descendant of the Irish family already alluded to. But it proved that Sir John's title was a modern one, and that his parents had died so ear- ly that he only knew that his father was from England (Bristol, I believe). He could tell us nothing of the English history of the family. The only promising clue I have come upon, I found in the Life and Letters of Governor John Winthrop, by his descendant, Hon. R. C. Winthrop of Boston. The home of the Winthrops in England was at Groton Ma- nor, Suffolk, of which John Winthrop was lord before he came to America. 22 NUTTING GENEALOGY It appears in this Life, that when Adam Winthrop was succeeded in the lordship of the manor by his son John, one John Nutton, a long-time tenant of "one moiety of the ... lands of Groton Manor", delivered up to the new lord his copy-hold deed of the lands so held, and the new lord immediately gave him a new deed of the same tenor, granting said lands to him and to his heirs and assigns forever, upon certain conditions as to rent. The deed so executed is signed by John Nutting (Nutton is a very common variant for Nutting, in all old documents), and was kept among the Winthrop pa- pers. Another copy was signed by Winthrop, and delivered to the tenant. Other mention is made of this John Nutton (who in the deed is noted as John Nutton, Senior), showing that he and his famih' were somewhat more than mere ten- ants. (3n a certain occasion John Nutton is sent to Dublin on business with the brother of John Winthrop, who had settled "near Dublin" in 1594. (The deed al- luded to was executed in KilS.) John Winthrop ju- nior was a student at Dublin at the time of the errand of John Nutton thither. And in a letter to his son, the future Governor sends salutations to "my god-daughter Susanna Nutton". After Winthrop has been made Governor, has em- l)arked for America, and is waiting for a fair wind, in writing adieus to his wife, who remains behind for a ' time, he mentions the Nutton family among the friends to whom he sends regards. Hoping for light on our English history I wrote sev- eral years since to the then Rector of Groton Manor, asking for any records which might be of interest to us. I received a very courteous reply, in which it was stated that the Rec