James, Martha, Samuel and Jotham Nute: Three Generations in Colonial Dover, New Hampshire

Our Nute line remained in Dover for another three generations after James Sr. immigrated to the New World. James Sr.’s two children, James Jr. (1643-1691) and Martha (1653-1718), are both grandparent ancestor lines, but they would converge two generations later when a grandchild of each, i.e., second cousins, marry each other.

We have a plethora of James, Williams, Elizabeths, Leahs, Sarahs, and Samuels, a bane to family history writers and readers alike. Bear with me. I'll try to make it as painless as possible.

Martha Nute, 8th GGM and the Dam Garrison

Martha (1653-1718) was the 4th child of James Nute Sr. In 1780, she married William Dam (1653-1718), son of 9th GGF John Dam (1611-1690) who was an early immigrant to Dover around the same time frame as our James Sr. Both James Nute and John Dam received land grands on the Back River; indeed, their lots were adjoining and Martha married the proverbial boy next door. 

William and Martha’s daughter, Leah (1695-1750) married 7th GGF Samuel Hayes (1695-1777) and their daughter, 6th GGM Mary Hayes (1728-1759) married second cousin Jotham Nute (1724-1801). Thus, the full circle comes back to the Nute family line.

Things weren’t, however, all peachy-keen between the two families. A 1709 row between the Nutes and the “whole Dam family” over a thatch bed was described as,

William Dam, Jr. (Leah’s brother) testified - “say we see James Nute (James Jr.’s son) throw our father (8th GGF) William Dam down and also call him thief and threaten to cut off his legs and bid him kiss his ass and also Richard Pinkham by violence thrown our father William down several times and hold him and called him thief.” Richard Pinkham further testified “(9th GGF) William Dam Sr. and William Dam Jr. and Jacob Allen (8th GGM Martha Nute’s son-in-law) and Martha Dam (daughter) and Sarah Dam (daughter) carry away ye thatch which James Nute had mowed and further saith he hear William Dam Jr. say he would run his pitchfork into ye James Nute’s belly or guts.” 

No love lost here between the Dam and Nute families.

Martha’s father-in-law, 9th GGF John Dam, was a carpenter and joiner. In 1656, he purchased Back River Lot 13 adjoining his Lots 11 and 12 and the Nute Lot 10, and gave the land to son William Dam on turning 21. Just before their marriage in 1675, John built a palisaded garrison for Martha and William, Jr. The garrison was spared in the 1689 Cochecho Massacre, likely due to its location across the Back River. 

Visiting the Dam garrison housed in the Woodman Institute, 2015

Dam-Drew garrison before removal to the Woodman Institute in 1915, pulled on log rollers several miles and across a bridge

The original garrison houses had no windows, only slits for rifles. The windows in the photo were likely added around the time of the Civil War. The large attic overhang had openings that allowed the women to pour boiling water on the attackers. Many had a palisade inside which about 100 people could fit if needed.

The couple lived in the garrison house for several decades and passed it down to their daughter, 7th GGM Leah Dam, who married Samuel Hayes in 1720. Samuel and Leah lived in the garrison until 1770 when it passed to Leah’s granddaughter, Leah Nute, who married Joseph Drew the following year. Joseph and Leah Nute Drew lived in the garrison until 1810 when they moved into a mansion. The garrison, however, remained in the Drew family until its removal to the Woodman Institute on the other side of the Bellamy River (Back River) in 1915. The garrison was in the Dam-Nute-Drew family for 240 years, and is today’s direct connection to the first families to settle Dover - our Nute and Dam families.

8th GGF William Dam died in March 1718, age 64, and Martha followed two months later in May 1718, age 65. They are both buried in the Nute-Dam Cemetery on the bank of the Back River with graves marked by etched stones. Daughter, Leah, is also buried in the cemetery, originally with an etched stone, but someone has placed a relatively recent headstone.

Leah in Nute-Dam cemetery

James Nute Jr. (1643-1691), 8th GGF

The eldest son of James the Immigrant lived on the Nute homestead his entire life, begat four children, and died at the young age of 48. Town records show James' level of involvement in the growing community was less than his father’s, perhaps as the Farm was across the Back River from town.

James married Elizabeth Heard (1653-1705), daughter of 9th GGPs Captain John Heard (1612-1688) and Elizabeth Hull (1628-1710), both English immigrants. Captain Heard built a defense garrison in the Cochecho area, but died just before the massacre of 1689.

The story is told that the widow Elizabeth, a daughter, and three sons were returning by boat to the settlement from Portsmouth the night of the massacre. As the family approached the Waldron garrison, they spotted trouble and fled. Elizabeth was unable to keep up with the others and ordered them to leave her behind. While hiding in the thicket through the night, she was spotted by a young Abanaki Indian who raised his gun, aimed, then turned away. It is said Elizabeth had saved this Indian’s life as a youth several years earlier.

James and the younger Elizabeth Heard married in 1675 and raised four children on the Nute farm:

Sarah (1675-1762) m. William Furber IV

Leah (1680-1748) m. 1st, Jethro Furber, brother to William, and 2nd, Hatevil Nutter

James III (1687-1759) m. Prudence, last name unknown 

SAMUEL (1689-1765) m. ELIZABETH Pinkham (1688-1765)

Father James Jr. died at the young age of 48 in 1691, leaving a 38 year old widow, Elizabeth, with  four young children, ages two to 16 years old. 

Elizabeth remarried three years later to Lt. William Furber whose wife had also just died, leaving him with  several young children as well. Lt. Furber’s first wife was from the Starbuck mariner family who founded the whaling industry on Nantucket. His father, an early Dover settler, was a survivor of the wreck of the Angel Gabriel off the coast of Maine during a hurricane in 1635; a brother and nephew were lost at sea in 1686.  Lt. William ran the Furber ferry service from his house at Welchman’s Cove (Bloody Point), Newington, to Oyster River.

James III was only four years old and our 8th GGF Samuel two years old at the time of their father’s death. James Jr.’s will left two thirds of the house and land to the eldest son, James III, when he came of age. The other three children, including Samuel, were only to have equal shares of the “moveables.” The widow was ordered to have the children’s estate bound out to “prentice” until she remarried in which case her one-third of the estate would be secured for the good of her children.

James III lived in the family homestead in Dover, but acquired land in Rochester, New Hampshire, the community north of Dover. At his death, he bequeathed the land to his sons Paul and James IV. This acquisition shows the Nute family was already getting land outside Dover by the third generation. Incoming immigrants to Dover and the rule of primogeniture giving almost everything to the first born son was clearly making the land situation tight in Dover, particularly for the lower born sons. Disease and Indian wars had well decimated the Native population in New England by the 1700’s, making land acquisition easier for the white colonists.

The two daughters, Sarah and Leah, married their Furber step-brothers, William and Jethro. Jethro died in 1715, five years after marriage to Leah. Several months later, the widow Leah took her sister’s husband to court on a boundary dispute. Not much love lost here.

Elizabeth died at the young age of 52 after “five days of extreme sickness with fever and malaise.” The burial of Elizabeth and Lt. William Furber is presumably on the Furber family homestead at Welchman’s Cove.

The burial site of James Nute, Jr. is unknown. As he lived and died on the Nute farm, internment in the Nute-Dam cemetery with an unmarked or lost stone would be a reasonable assumption.

Samuel Nute (1689-1765), 7th GGF

Samuel was two years old when his father died, five years old when his mother remarried, and 18 when his step-father, Lt. Furber, died. He may well have grown up on the Furber homestead at Welchman’s Cove, but the town history of Dover shows he had a home in Dover as an adult.  A 1707/8 notation in James Jr.’s probate indicates guardianship of Samuel Nute, age about 18, was granted to Jethro Furber, his future brother-in-law. This would have been about the time his step-father, Lt. William, died. The notation appears to be an addendum. The guardianship may have been an apprenticeship.

In 1718, Samuel married Elizabeth Pinkham (1688-1765), age 30, old for a woman’s first marriage in those days, but there is no record of a previous marriage. Elizabeth, our 7th GGM, was a direct descendant of Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence through her grandmother, Rose Stoughton, wife of Richard Otis. Henry III is, thus, our 21st GGF to my generation.

Elizabeth’s grandparents, Richard Pinkham and Richard Otis, were both early arrivals in Dover and both families had garrison houses. 9th GGF Richard Otis, and two of his children were killed in the Cochecho massacre in 1689. Her 39 year old uncle, Stephen Otis, was killed in the garrison fight. Elizabeth’s young cousin, three-month old Margaret, was taken captive to Canada, renamed Christine, and raised by French nuns in Quebec. Elizabeth’s mother, 8th GGM Martha Rose Otis was taken captive, but released in Conway, New Hampshire.

Indians ambushed Elizabeth’s uncles, Nicholas and Richard Otis, and cousin while they were returning home from public worship in 1696. Nicholas, was killed, Richard wounded, and Nicholas’ son was carried away to Penobscot.

Scales’ History of Dover indicates Samuel and Elizabeth lived “on the north side of the road leading from the main road to the old Pascataqua bridge to Capt. Thomas Nute’s (the original Nute homestead).”

Children of Samuel Nute and Elizabeth Pinkham:

JOTHAM (1724-1801) m. Mary Canney, 6th GGPs. Their son Jotham, enlisted in the Revolution at age 16; son, William, fought with the 3rd New Hampshire in the War of 1812.

John (1728-1800) m. Hepzibeth last name unknown; their son, Samuel (1749-1828) was a Captain in the Revolution and fought at Bunker Hill.

Sarah (1729-aft 1777) m. Josiah Clark

Martha (1732-1783) m. Benjamin Dam

Elizabeth (1736-bef. 1765) m. unknown Nute; her son, Obed, likely served three years in the Continental Army from Massachusetts.

Samuel and Elizabeth died the same year in 1765, he at age 75 and she age 77. His will written the year before indicates he had “homestead lands,” pasture land, corn, hay, and fruit orchard. The property had a barn and cellar under the house. Son, John, received 60 acres of the first division in Rochester on which John was already living, as well as title to Samuel’s acreage in the third division. Son, 6th GGF Jotham, received the Dover homestead land, barn, and farm equipment, 12 additional acres in Dover, and land in the second division in Rochester. He left 50 pounds cash each to daughter Sarah and grandson Obed, and a feather bed and livestock to his granddaughter Elizabeth.

As an aside, there is a curious story about the grandson, Obed. Samuel’s first will in 1749 left property to his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, but he changed his will in 1764 leaving money to Elizabeth’s son, Obed. Evidently, Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married an unknown Nute after 1749 and was deceased at the time of the second will. Obed married and moved near Casco Bay, Maine. He had a son, also Obed, then suddenly disappeared when the child was three-weeks old. Obed, Sr. was last seen sitting on a log beside the trail between his home and Casco Bay where he had gone for provisions. He appeared ill, but refused assistance. It is believed Obed did not die, but absconded from his family responsibilities. A man by the same name enlisted in the Continental Army in Framingham, Massachusetts, two years later (1776) and served 3 years. The Goodspeed genealogy identifies the wife as Thankful Bangs who moved to the Cape Cod area with young Obed and married John Goodspeed.

Jotham Nute (1724-1801), 6th GGF

Indian attacks continued in the Dover area, with the last foray at Knox Marsh in 1725 when members of a Quaker family who refused to use the garrisons for shelter were killed or captured.

6th GGF Jotham Nute was born around the time of the Knox massacre and remained in Dover most of his life. His father’s will indicates Jotham inherited the land referred to in Scales History of Dover on which his father Samuel and Phebe lived.

Jotham married 6th GGM Mary Hayes (1728-1759) in Dover before 1749, the year our 5th GGF Samuel was born to the couple. No marriage records have been located. Jotham and Mary were third cousins with shared great-grandparents, immigrants James and Sarah Nute.

Mary Hayes’ paternal grandfather, 8th GGF John Hayes, immigrated from England or Scotland about 1680 and settled in Dover. Mary’s maternal GGF, 9th GGF William Horne, immigrated as early as 1630, settled in Dover by 1659, and was killed in the Cocheco massacre in 1689. Her mother, 9th GGM Elizabeth Cough, was taken captive by Indians in 1707 while walking along the road.

8th GGM Mary Horne, daughter of William and Elizabeth who died so tragically, married 8th GGF John Hayes when she was but 13 years old and he 25. The couple had their first child within the year. She died at age 30.

Jotham’s children with 1st wife Mary Hayes:
SAMUEL Nute (1749-1825) m. PHEBE Pinkham
Leah (1752-1815) m. Joseph Drew and lived in the Dam Garrison until 1810; Joseph is a DAR patriot for his service of signing the petition to request formation of committee of safety.
Mary (1754-after 1820 in Athens, Maine) m. James Tuttle; James served in the Revolution.

Jotham's children with 2nd wife Mary Canney (1724 - ), widow of Daniel Canney:
Jotham Jr. (1760-1836) m. Sarah Twombley, served in Continental Army in Revolution (see below)
Elizabeth (1763- ), no marriage or death records located
William (1764-1812) m. Mary Polly Davis; served in War of 1812
Jonathan (1768- ) m. Charity Smart; served in War of 1812 as an artificer (skilled in working on artillery devices in the field)

The list of Rochester proprietors shows Jotham’s father, (7th GGF Samuel), uncle (James III) and Thomas Tuttle shared an original 1722 proprietorship in Rochester just north of Dover. Samuel’s 1765 will bequeathed Rochester property in the first division to his son John and land in the third division to Jotham, indicating additional Rochester land had been acquired during the senior Samuel’s lifetime. John was already living on his property in Rochester by 1765. Jotham opted to stay on the family homestead in Dover and leave it to 5th GGF Samuel to settle the Rochester property.

In 1760, Jotham was elected Constable of Dover, but refused to serve. The family of Joseph Nute, compiler of our genealogy, had a receipt for the five pounds he had to pay for the refusal.

The death date of Jotham’s wife, widow Mary Canney, is unknown, but census evidence in Rochester indicates she died before 1790 and that Jotham was living with his son, 5th GGF Samuel, in Rochester. The 1800 census indicates Jotham is still living with Samuel before his death from palsy in 1801.

Jotham was the last generation to live in Dover. His son, Samuel, married and had several children in Dover before moving north to the new town of Rochester, NH, and carving out a farmstead on Nute's Ridge with his half-brother, Jotham.

Sources:

The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/49324/FLHG_RoyalDescentsof600Immigrants-0480/93937?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13190951/person/12568336064/facts/citation/602150460772/edit/record

John Scales, Colonial Era History of Dover, New Hampshire, 1932

George Wadleigh, Notable Events in the History of Dover, New Hampshire, 1913