Samuel Nutt was the son of William Nutt, the immigrant ancestor of this Nutt family line. William was born ca. 1698 in or near Londonderry, in the province of Ulster, in Northern Ireland. His family seems to have been in Ireland amongst the Scotch Presbyterians, but only for a short time. The name is English, but of Danish origin, dating back to the days of King Canute, or Knut, as the name was spelled originally. William desired to come to America so, not being able to pay for passage across the Atlantic, he did what many young men did in those days and that was to sign on as an indentured servant. At age twenty he arrived in Boston harbor August 4, 1718, working as a fuller in his employer’s fulling mill business in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Once his contract was fulfilled, William married Miss Jane Colbath in 1723 and they began their own family in that same place. Of William and Jane’s ten children, Samuel, the subject of this article, was their fourth-born child born in December 1728, in Londonderry.
Samuel Nutt’s earliest years were spent growing up on his parents’ farm in Londonderry. In 1739, when about 10 years of age, his parents moved their family to the adjoining town of Chester. It was in Chester that Samuel grew into adulthood, married, and began his family. Samuel was married three times. First, about mid-1750s, he married a woman surnamed Gordon, but this marriage was short-lived and she died without issue. His second marriage was in 1759 to Elizabeth Dickey, born 1740, a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth MacPherson Dickey. There were seventeen children born to this marriage, all single births from 1760 to 1788, eleven of who reached adulthood. Elizabeth died in 1800 in Newport, New Hampshire at the age of 59. Samuel’s third marriage was in 1802, in Newport, to Rhoda Flood, a daughter of Henry and Rhoda [nee unknown] Flood.
Samuel worked in the fulling mill business until he was about 30 years old, then by trade, worked as a house building carpenter the remainder of his life. It is said that several of the earliest built frame houses in Francestown were his handywork. He also bore the honor of being the first town clerk of Francestown, and his plain and heavy penmanship in the oldest record book is still well preserved. He lived his industrious life in several places in New Hampshire: 1728-1739 Londonderry; 1739-1763 Chester; 1763-1767, Weare; 1767-1793 Francestown; 1794-1802 Newport; and finally from 1803-1808 Topsham, Vermont.
It was during his years in Francestown that Samuel was so much involved in Revolutionary War activities. He served on both the Committee of Correspondence and the Committee of Safety. He also served on a Francestown committee to receive the accounts and to appraise the terms of the men that were in service without any town bounty. His name is also listed on the roll of 117 Francestown men who with certainty was an enlisted soldier for some part of the war and who was actually in the field. After the war Samuel served for a while on the State of New Hampshire Committee for Ratification of the U.S. Constitution, but he was unable to serve to its completion due to the difficulties of age and pressing family events at home.
Samuel Nutt died July 5, 1808, at Topsham, Vermont, aged 79 years. A grave marker has never been found for him, but family members believe he was laid alongside his wife of forty years, Elizabeth, in the Pine Street Cemetery West at Newport, New Hampshire.