Samuel Nute (1792-1855), 3rd GGF, Another Mystery

Samuel was born on Nute’s Ridge, the only child of Josiah Nute and Rebecca Wentworth. The 1850 census indicated he could read and write, so he had some education along the way. His occupation is listed as farmer whenever there is a written record, as was that of his father, Josiah, and his son, Orsamus.

At age 13, Samuel’s family left Nute Ridge and moved to Falmouth, Maine, where his father continued farming as an occupation. Doubtlessly, Samuel helped out on the farm until the 22 year-old purchased land from his father in 1814 about 30 miles north in Poland, Maine.

Poland was originally part of the Bakerstown Plantation with settlement beginning in 1767. The original town incorporated in 1795 included not only Poland and Poland Springs, but also Minot and Mechanic Falls. 

Samuel settled early in the Poland’s development and a couple years later married a young lady, 22 year-old 3rd GGM Betsey Fickett (1794-1826), whose father, 4th GGF Jonathan Fickett, came to Poland from Cape Elizabeth with a new bride, 4th GGM Judith Cox, in 1788. Betsey’s mother died when she was nine, and her father married another one of our GGM’s, Betsey Bryant (1769-1854), widow of 5th GGF Dr. Peter Brooks.

In the 1820 census when Samuel was 28, the household consisted of Samuel, Betsey, two children under 10, and Samuel’s mother, Josiah’s widow Rebecca Wentworth. One of the two children was 2nd GGF Orsamus Nute. The following year, Betsey’s father sold Samuel a tract of land in Woodstock, yet another 30 miles north, and the family moved there by 1822.

Woodstock is a wooded, hilly-valleyed area with the beautiful Bryant Pond, brooks and mountain streams. Some settlers began to arrive in surrounding areas after the close of the French War in 1760, more looking for land in the wilderness after the close of the Revolution as they had been paid in worthless money. A road to Woodstock was cut from Paris to Woodstock in 1795 even before her settlement, and families began to arrive. The first were the Bryant boys, including our 6th GGF Solomon Bryant, followed by numerous other grandparent ancestor families - including those of the Davis, Stephens, Swan and Brooks, and their wives from the Robbins, Curtis, Brooks, Strout, and Fickett families.

The town incorporated in 1815 and the following years were tough for the hardy inhabitants. Winters were cold, crops failed, and fires swept through the hills. Amid this, 6th GGF Jonathan Fickett, Betsey's father bought the land in 1818 that was later to become the hilltop Nute farm, and sold the lot to Samuel in 1821.

A February 1821 letter from the town clerk to the Woodstock proprietors looking for taxes and payment on notes held on the inhabitants illustrates the dire straits of the town,

Dear Sir: - We are very sorry that we are not able to forward to you any money in this letter, and extremely sorry to state the little prospect we have of any large payments this season. Money with us is the most scarce it has ever been since the town has settled…. Mr. Jonathan Fickett has sold his lot to a son-in-law by the name of Samuel Nute, who says he can pay the money down, but wishes to have the deed when he pays the money. Mr. Fickett’s lot is number 44….

The Ficketts lived in Poland before moving to Woodstock in 1818. Betsey's dad, Jonathan, already had his land in Poland foreclosed in 1819 for failure to pay taxes. He was, likewise, probably having trouble with payment on his Woodstock land when he sold that beautiful hilltop farm to Samuel. What a chore it must have been for Jonathan to clear the property for planting and grazing!

Samuel and Betsey had four children, all spaced 2 years apart. In 1826, two years after the last child, Betsey died at age 32, leaving 34 year-old Samuel with four children under the age of ten.

Children of Samuel and Betsey:

Harriet Nute, b. 1818 in Poland, m. Charles Brooks Davis (son of our 4th GGPs Aaron Davis and and Lucinda Oraing Brooks as well as brother to our 3rd GGF Joseph Davis), d. age 80 in Lancaster, Massachusetts

ORSAMUS Nute, b. 1820 in Poland, m. 1) Emmy Amy Stevens and 2) Lovina Dunn Davis, granddaughter of our 4th GGF Aaron Davis, Jr. and 5th GGF Dr. Peter Brooks. Lovina is a Mayflower descendant of passenger Richard Warren.

Phebe Wentworth Nute b. 1822 in Woodstock, m. Asa Smith, d. 1875 in Malden, Massachusetts

Mary Jane Nute b. 1824 in Woodstock, m. Eleazer Cole Billings, died in Woodstock in 1904, breast cancer

The year after Betsey’s death, Samuel married Polly Davis, daughter of Revolution soldier 5th GGF Aaron Davis and granddaughter of Revolution privateer, 6th GGF Zebulon Davis. They had no children together. She became a widow in 1855 with the death of Samuel, but continued to live with Orsamus and his family, even moving to Boston when the family migrated out of Woodstock.

Samuel died in 1855, age 62, in Woodstock. His 1846 will left Polly the new part of his house, one third of the income from his real estate, and use of the principal of the estate if needed “to make her comfortable.” He left Harriet $5.00 and “if she becomes of sound mind and capable of taking care of the same for her comfort and support $60 more, and if she does not, then said sixty dollars is to be divided equally among said Harriet’s children." To daughters Phebe and Mary Jane, Samuel left $65.00. Orsamus inherited the residence and farm.

The will indicates the eldest child, Harriet, may have had some mental difficulties. She was mid-twenties, married with children. The problems may have been transient as she raised six children, two of whom went on to become dentists.

The beautiful hilltop location must have reminded Samuel of his childhood home on Nute’s Ridge. The original farmstead is no longer standing, but a local historian believes it to be a short distance behind a stately home built on the hilltop. 

Samuel Nute's hilltop farm with mountains in the distance

The Nute kids visited the Nute farm in 2018. 

Nute Kids at the Nute farmstead, June 2018

Samuel, Betsey, Polly, and Samuel’s mother Rebecca, are buried just down the hill in the Nute-Stevens cemetery, an idyllic setting

Nute/Stevens cemetery

The Nute plot has the obelisk erected by Orsamus, and has a row of small headstones for each Nute known to be buried there. When I visited in 2016, Samuel’s small headstone had flowers, a flag, and a War of 1812 star marker.

Samuel Nute's headstone with War of 1812 marker

We have no family records that indicate Samuel fought in the War of 1812, and none can be located online. On the other hand, he would have been about the right age in 1812, he was on coastal Maine in those years, and the 160 acres mentioned in Joseph Nute’s notes as being granted to Josiah may have been for Samuel’s service. Another mystery waiting to be tracked down.

The Mystery of 4th GGF Josiah Nute (1775-1820)

Josiah has been a mystery in the family lineage. He would have been in late childhood when 5th GGF Samuel Nute moved the family from Dover to Nute Ridge in what was then Rochester, New Hampshire. We know he was Samuel’s son as he was listed in the 1820 will, but he seemed to drop off the face of the earth after his marriage to Rebecca Wentworth in Rochester in 1792. His son Samuel - yes, another Samuel - ended up in Poland where he married Betsey Fickett in 1816. Other Nute researchers, including our GGF Joseph Nute, weren’t able to locate him. Well, mystery solved, thanks to digital records, when I located land deeds in Falmouth, Maine, signed by both he and Rebecca.

Josiah was born in Dover in approximately 1775, one of 5th GGPs Samuel Nute and Phebe Pinkham’s sons. His birth order is unknown. Few of Samuel and Phebe’s children have birth dates except by extrapolation. By the time Samuel cleared the land and had a dwelling adequate for the family on Nute Ridge, Josiah was probably about 11 years old.

Josiah married 4th GGM Rebecca Wentworth (1765-1828) from the illustrious Wentworth family in 1792. Rebecca was descended from immigrant William Wentworth who arrived in Boston in the Great Migration in 1636 and located in Dover. Several of elder William’s descendants were governors of colonial New Hampshire. Rebecca’s grandfather, 6th GGF Richard Wentworth, and his son, 5th GGF Josiah, were early proprietors and settlers in Rochester. Rebecca’s mother, Abiah Cook, was the daughter of 6th GGF Abraham Cook, also an early settler of Rochester.

Josiah and Rebecca had only one child, 3rd GGF Samuel, born in Rochester in November 1792, two months after their marriage. Why they had no further children given their young age and the culture of having large families is puzzling and cause for speculation.

Milton was yet to be set off from Rochester in 1802.  Josiah and Rebecca likely lived on family land on Nute Ridge until their migration to Maine.

The 1800 census shows Samuel, Rebecca, and young Samuel living in Rochester. The 1810 census shows the family living in Falmouth, Maine.

Land deeds have solved the mystery of what happened to Josiah as he next shows up in 1805 in Maine where he bought a tract of land in Falmouth. Maine, though, was not a state in 1805, but still Maine, District of Massachusetts, until 1820. 

Josiah would have been in Falmouth during the War of 1812, an unpopular war with coastal Mainers whose shipping commerce was affected. The British occupation of eastern Maine prompted a split from Massachusetts due to the latter’s lack of military support. Indeed, some parts of Maine continued under British control for four years after the war ended.

What prompted Josiah and Rebecca to leave the Ridge and a fairly large family network of Nutes and Wentworths is puzzling. Granted, the Nute land was quickly being snatched up by the numerous male offspring of Samuel and Jotham Jr., and there may have been little opportunity left for Josiah. 5th GGF Samuel had eight sons and his brother, Jotham Jr., had nine sons - 17 sons on Nute Ridge among whom to distribute property. Ordinarily the land would have gone to the oldest son, but family wills seemed to show land was being distributed among all sons. Samuel’s 1820 will left Josiah $1.00 “and what I have already given him.” Was there some kind of family estrangement?

Falmouth was largely engaged in farming, fishing, and harvesting timber for ship masts at the time Josiah relocated. A land deed in 1814 identifies Josiah as a “yeoman,” i.e., a farmer, in contrast to a husbandman who raises cattle and sheep.

Josiah bought another 50 acres of land in Poland, Maine in 1810, approximately 30 miles north of Falmouth. The land may have been just an investment although Josiah may have moved to Poland briefly with his son, Samuel. Family records show Josiah received a grant of 160 acres in the West around 1812-14 which could have been for military service. Service records have not been located, nor is War of 1812 service mentioned in family records.

At age 39 in 1814, Josiah sold his tract of land in Poland to his 22 year-old son, Samuel, for $400. The deed identifies both Josiah and Samuel as yeomen of Poland, so Josiah may have moved temporarily to Poland with Samuel, or Josiah, Rebecca, and Samuel may have moved as a family unit and the parents conducted further land transactions at a distance. Josiah would have been only 39-40 when these land sales were going on. Had he determined to leave Falmouth for the burgeoning area of Poland, or perhaps developed some disability that he needed to live with his son? He did die only five years later.

At age 40 in 1815, Josiah sold one acre in Falmouth. The deed was also signed by Rebecca and identifies Josiah as living in Falmouth at the time of the deed.

Josiah’s death year can be extrapolated to after January 28, 1820, when he is named an heir in his father’s will and the census enumeration date of August 7, 1820, when only Rebecca is counted in Samuel’s household in Poland. He was 45 years-old at the time of death. No record of a will or probate has been located.

The mystery of what happened to the 48 year-old widow Rebecca was solved when I visited the Nute-Stevens cemetery in 2015 and found her name on the obelisk erected by her grandson, 2nd GGF Orsamus Nute. The birth date was very difficult to discern, and likely the 1765 date listed in the Woodstock Historical Society cemetery book is incorrect. This date would have made her 10 years older than Josiah, her mother 14 years old when Rebecca was born, and placed several years between her birth and that of the next sibling.

Soon after the 1820 census in Poland, Rebecca’s son Samuel and his young family moved to Woodstock, taking Rebecca with them. She died in Woodstock having followed her men from Rochester, New Hampshire, to Falmouth, Poland, and finally Woodstock, Maine, where she died at the age of 56.

Rebecca's small headstone marked R. N. in the Nute-Stevens cemetery