James Nute (1613-1691), our Nute Immigrant

Our surname Nute extends from modern-day descendants and our grandfather, Raymond Nute Sr., through multiple geographic migrations back to the first Nute immigrant to southeastern New Hampshire in 1631.

Sporadic fishing and trading settlements had been in the area of modern day Dover Point and Portsmouth between 1603 and 1630. Serious permanent settlement began when Captain John Mason, one of the Grantees of New Hampshire, sent over two men to manage settlement of the area - Captain Thomas Wiggin responsible to the upper settlement (Dover and north) and Captain Walter Neal to run the lower settlement (Portsmouth, Rye, and Newington). 

Map of Dover/Portsmouth Landmarks

An unsourced list of settlers brought to the area by Captain Neal in 1631 includes our 9th GGF James Nute and 10th GGF Thomas Canney. The immigrants who settled at Strawberry Banke (now Portsmouth) were described as a “rag-tag group of adventurers, servants, and planters.” Captain Wiggin, governor of the Upper Plantation of New Hampshire, brought over a group of Puritan settlers on the ship James to the Dover area in 1633, and more carpenters and millwrights followed in 1634.

Wadleight’s Notable Events in the History of Dover, New Hampshire names heads of families in Dover in 1633, including James Nute, John Dam, Thomas Canney, Richard Pinkham, William Pomfrett, and Henry Tebbetts, all grandparent ancestors.

The reliability of all these passenger lists is called into question as there are no direct records. In any event, when the people of Dover established a formal government in 1640 with the Dover Combination, signers included ancestors James Nute, Richard Pinkham, John Heard, William Pomfret, and Thomas Canney.

The New England Indian Wars began in 1675 and continued for 50 years, ending at Knox Marsh in 1725. The first of 15 garrisons, or fortified houses, in Dover were built in 1675, and more constructed after tension with local Indians increased in the 1680s. The Pinkham, Dam, Tibbitts, Hayes, Otis, Wentworth, and Heard ancestor families were among those with garrison houses built in defense against Indian attacks. The original Dam garrison is housed in the Woodman Institute in Dover.

Coordinated Indian attacks against the garrisons in 1689, known as the Cocheco Massacre, resulted in the deaths and kidnappings of dozens of Dover inhabitants. The treachery began on the part of white settlers in Dover in 1676 when peaceful Indians fleeing the war in Massachusetts were deceived, rounded up for return to Massachusetts, and hanged or enslaved. Hostilities worsened in Dover between settlers and natives over the next several years.

On the evening of June 27, 1689, Indian women requested shelter in several garrisons. During the night the women opened the gates to the attacking Indians. Twenty three people were killed and 29 taken captive.

Ninth great-grandfather Richard Otis, 72, and his children, Hannah, 2 (and yes, that age is correct), and Stephen, 39, were killed. His wife, infant daughter, 3 daughters from his first marriage, and 2 grandchildren were taken captive to Canada. The garrison was burned to the ground.

Ninth great-grandfather William Wentworth, 76, was guarding the Heard garrison while neighbor 8th great-grandmother Elizabeth Heard was away. He was wakened by dogs and able to close the gates against the attack.

Tenth GGF Thomas Canney and 9th GGF James Nute who arrived at Strawberry Bank in 1631 and 9th GGF John Dam who arrived in Dover in 1633 appear to be our earliest ancestor settlers in Dover. Over the next twenty years numerous other grandparent ancestors arrived. These included Richard Otis and wife Rose Stoughton, Richard Pinkham, Henry Tibbitts and wife Elizabeth Austin, Joseph Austin, Thomas Canney and wife Mary Loame, Thomas Cook and wife Katherine Preece, Thomas Downes, John Heard, John Hayes, Thomas Nock, William Pomfret, Edward Starbuck and wife Catherine Reynolds, William Hackett, William Horne,  and William Wentworth. Several immigrant or first generation women from the coastal families of Maine and Massachusetts married men of 17th century Dover, including grandmother ancestors Mary Horne, Elizabeth Knight, Martha Miller, Elizabeth Hull, Elizabeth Clough, Sarah Taylor, Mary Atkins, and Elizabeth Kenney.

All told, we have not just the Nute progenitor from Dover, but at least 30 ancestor families who converged on Dover, New Hampshire in the 17th century. 

James Nute Sr, Immigrant

James’ birth is estimated to be about 1613, extrapolated from the age scratched into his tombstone. He is believed to be from Tiverton, Devonshire, where a distinguished family with this surname lived during the reign of Elizabeth. The first two generations in New Hampshire spelled the name “Newte.”

At least three immigration scenarios are possible:

• James was with the group of "stewards and servants" sent by Captain Mason to work the settlement of Strawberry Banke, now Portsmouth, in 1631. He would have been 18 years old at the time of arrival in the New World. With the death of Captain Mason in 1635, arrival of settlers on Dover Point, and opportunity to own land in Dover, James crossed the river at Bloody Point and settled in Dover, likely around 1635.

• James arrived with Captain Wiggin on the ship James in 1633, and settled directly into Dover.

• James arrived with a later group of immigrants, but was in Dover by 1640 when he signed the Dover Combination.

The first scenario has been the most popular, but direct evidence is lacking. Dover was in political and religious turmoil during the 1630s and no records of the time are available in the town itself. Further, some believe that records may have been destroyed related to a lawsuit brought by the heirs of Captain Mason. 

In 1640 at age 27, James had enough stature in the town that he was a signer of the Dover Combination to establish a formal government. He received a 20-acre land grant in town in 1642. His home was on Low Street of Dover Neck just west or northwest of the Meeting House, on the current Neck Road at Little Johns Creek which flows into the Back River. His lot is at the angle of the creek and river on the south side. His neighbors on Low Street were Captain Wiggin, 10th GGF William Pomfrett, and 9th GGF John Damme.

He married before 1643, age 30, to Sarah, last name unknown, and started his family.

James bought 20 acres (Lot 10) on the west side of Back River in 1650 and received another land grant of 40 acres in 1656. He was a proprietor of communal ox pasture land bordering Low Street in 1652. He moved from “town” to the Back River farm in about 1661. In 1671, he conveyed the family farm of 60 acres to his son, James II, and the 12 acres in Dover Neck to son Abraham. The conveyance indicates he and his wife Sarah would continue to live on the farm as well. The Nute farm remained in the family at least until the 1920’s, at the time thought to be the oldest land in continuous family possession in the country.

James was on a tax list in Dover in 1648, and several tax lists as late as 1685. He was an upright citizen, served on the Grand Jury in 1643, and a Petit Juror at Strawberry Bank on August 8, 1650.  He served as Selectman in 1659-1660, but was fined in 1663 for missing church meetings and entertaining Quaker missionaries.

Children of James Nute Sr. and Sarah:

1. JAMES Jr. (1643-1691) m. ELIZABETH Heard

2. Abraham (1644-1724) m. 1st, unknown; 2nd, widow Joanna Stanton

3. Sarah (1646 - ) m. James Bunker

4. MARTHA (1653-1718) m. WILLIAM DAM

5. Leah (1656-1726) m. 1st, John Knight; 2nd, Benedictus Tarr

James Jr./wife Elizabeth Heard and Martha/husband William Dam are both grandparent ancestors.

The population of Dover dropped to 146 in 1675, likely due to the Indian wars.

Family lore has been that 78-year old James Sr. was killed in his garden by Indians in 1691, two years after the Cocheco massacre. Supposedly, he left his gun in the house when he went to work the fields and became involved in an altercation with three Indians. He killed two Indians with a hoe before being killed himself by the third.

James is buried in the Nute-Dam cemetery on the banks of the Back River on the Bellamy Wilderness Preserve. The cemetery is not easily accessible, as I learned during a visit in 2015. The visitor would be wise to use mosquito repellent and wear boots to get through the marsh between the entry point at the Bellamy Wilderness Preserve and the woods where the cemetery lies.

Marsh leading to woods of the Nute-Dam Cemetery

James’ original gravestone in the Nute-Dam cemetery reads Mr. J. Nute, age 78.  A photo on file at New England Historical and Genealogical Society shows the headstone in 1915.

Mr. I Nute Ae 78

A modern-day headstone placed by E.F. Nute in 1968 reads,

James (Newte) Nute

Born 1613

Landed in Portsmouth 1631

Settled in Dover 1640

Killed by Indians 1691

Original and new gravestone for James Nute, Sr.

Other burials in the Nute cemetery  include daughter Martha, and her husband William Dam,  Leah Dam, wife of Samuel Hayes. In a field closer to the main road is a small cemetery, unkept, with headstones for Paul Nute, Ephraim, Nute, Greenleaf Nute and his wife Susan.

Personal communication with Lee Nute who has extensively researched the family histories and been in communication with others who have researched our common ancestor shows that James Sr., not James Jr., was killed by Indians, although James Jr. also died in 1691. James Jr. left a will when he died at age 48, indicating most likely that he had a potentially terminal illness.

According to Lee, he learned from Judge Eugene F. Nute in Farmington that academics at the University of New Hampshire decided to excavate the grave of James and the two Indians. The Judge “stopped the foolishness,” had the remains reinterred, and placed the granite marker over the grave to prevent any further intrusion.

The short Nute Road off Spur Road (may have been the old Low Road) on Dover Neck may be the location of James’ 20-acre lot on Dover Neck bordering the east bank of the Bellamy River.

Next installment: Our Nute line from Dover to Woodstock, ME.

Sources: 
John Scales, Colonial Era History of Dover, New Hampshire, 1923
Dover Historical Society, Vital Records of Dover, New Hampshire, 1686-1850
George Wadleigh, Notable Events in the History of Dover, New Hampshire, 1913
Mary Thompson, Landmarks in Ancient Dover, NH, 1892
John Scales & Alonzo Quint, Historical Memoranda Concerning Persons & Places in Old Dover, NH, 1900