Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

NUTT This is not an extensive family in Maine, but it has made a reputation for itself that is noble, lasting and worthy of imitation by those who would abundantly achieve success. The first Nutt of whom we have any record in American history was Miles, who came from England to Watertown, Mass. in 1637. He brought a daughter named Sarah, and he probably had sons. The name is a derivative from the man who had a nut orchard. Nutting was the son of Nut, and from this we have Nutter and Nute. The blood is of Scotch (Scottish!!) strain. (I) James (1) Nutt lived in Whitefield, Lincoln county, Maine, but removed to Harmony, then called Vaughnstown, Somerset county, and died there aged ninety-three. He was a farmer and shoemaker, and twice married. Children of 1st wife: William, James, John, Hannah and Mahala. Children of 2d wife: Samuel, Statira and Lucy. (II) James (2), son of James (1) Nutt, was born in Whitefield and settled in Perry, Washington county, on the shore of Passamaquoddy bay about 1820, and died there aged eighty-seven. He was a Whig until the nomination of General Fremont, for whom he voted, and continued thereafter to act with that party. Mr. Nutt was deputy sheriff and tax collector, and a Congregationalist in his religious connections. He married Sarah Brown, of Mount Vernon, Kennebec county. Children: 1. Noel Byron. 2. Sarah, married Dudley Currier, of Perry. 3. Cythia, married Samuel Osborne. 4. Belinda A., married Joseph Rich. 5. Jethro B. 6. Laura A. 7. Mary, mararied B. W. Coggins, of Lubec. 8. Edwin. 9. Frederick Merton. (III) Noel Byron, eldest son of James (1) and Sarah (Brown) Nutt, was born in Perry, June 11, 1824, and died at Eastport May 10, 1898, having measured the allotted span of man's stay on earth with four years to spare. Noel B. was educated in the schools of Perry, St. Albans Academy, and Washington Academy at East Machias. At the age of sixteen he began to teach school, this being his vocation till 1861, his first engagement as a teacher in Eastport being in 1848. In 1858 he bought the Eastport Sentinel, which was established in 1818 by Benjamin Fulsom, and is still published by Mr. Nutt's son, and one of the oldest papers in the state. The Sentinel, under Mr. Nutt's able management, increased its circulation and widened its influence, becoming the leading exponent of Republicanism in far eastern Maine. It supported its men and measures with a convincing logic that was hard to withstand. It always forcibly upheld the claims of the old Pine Tree State for consideration, and when Hannibal Hamlin was on the hustings he had no more effective ally to boom his candidacy, and the same may be said later of James G. Blaine and Thomas B. Reed. The Sentinel was always loyal to the sons of Maine in their honorable aspirations, its columns always open to the discussion of local enterprises, and its tone pure, chaste and elevating. In 1887 Mr. Nutt was elected treasurer of the Eastport Savings Bank, which he held as long as he lived. He was treasurer of the Eastport Water Company, treasurer of the Washington county railroad, and in addition to these several intersts he carried on an extenisve insurance business. He was deputy United States collector of the Passamaquoddy district from 1861 to 1874, and collector from 1874 to 1886, having been first commissioned by President Lincoln, and reappointed by Grant, Hayes and Garfield. Before Eastport received her city charter he was chairman of the board of selectmen and also of the school committee. He was a charter member of the Union Division Sons of Temperance, secretary of the Eastern Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, member of the Eastern Royal Arch Chapter, of which he was high priest, and belonged to St. Bernard Commandery, Knights Templar. He attended worship in the Unitarian church, was on the standing committee managing the same, and teacher in its Sunday school. Mr. Nutt was a friend of the friendless, a counselor to the distressed and a benefactor to all who needed the assistance and encourgement of their fellow men. In business affairs he was upright and honorable and a man of unbending integrity. Mr. Nutt was married in 1845 to Harriet, daughter of John M. Todd, of Calais, Maine. She was born April 10, 1824, and died in 1904. Children: Frederick Edgar, Noel L., Hattie L. (widow of Henry B. Hunt), Jessie Emma and Nellie S. (wife of Wilbor A. Shea, of Eastport). Mrs. Hattie L. Hunt has two daughters: Helen, married Harrison Oakes, and Marion S. (IV) Frederick Edgar, first son of Noel Byron and Harriet (Todd) Nutt, was born March 14, 1847, at Perry, Maine. He came to Eastport when seven years of age, was taught in the public schools, and learned the printer's trade on the Eastport Sentinel, of which he later became editor. He was for a time connection with the Eastern Express Company as messenger, between Boston and St. John, New Brunswick. He next estabolished and conducted a canning factor in Nova Scotia. Relinquishing this business, he went to the states of Minnesota and Nebraska for a few years, coming to Eastport again in 1886, and took charge of the Eastport Sentinel. In 1891 he was appointed special U. S. deputy collector by President Harrison, and has held the office since by reappointment. He was a member of the Eastport school committee for some years, always a Republican, and religiously tends toward Unitarianism. Mr. Nutt is interested in fraternalism, and was raised to a master Mason in Eastern Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Eastport; received the capitular degree from Eastern Chapter, and was accorded the rites of the Commandery in St. Bernard, No. 11. He is an active and influential member of the board of trade. Mr. Nutt married Maria Emma, daughter of Rev. Ingam Sutcliffe, of Nova Scotia, and a native of England. The marriage took place Feb. 22, 1874, on Washington's birthday. Children: 1. Earnest Frederick, born Dec. 14, 1874, married Virginia Kemp. 2. Jessie Maria, born in August, 1877, married Randall B. Rumery, of Eastport, and has two children: Alice Winifred, b. Jan. 1, 1904, and Randall Benjamin Jr., b. Oct. 1906. 3. Marjorie Winifred, born Sept., 1882.