NUTT, Col. William^{[1, 2]}

1836 - 1909  (73 years)

• Name	NUTT, William
  Prefix	Col.
  Birth	5 Aug 1836	Topsham, VT   [2]
  Gender	Male
  FindaGrave	FindAGrave Memorial 117534270
  _COLOR	11
  Death	31 Aug 1909	Natick, MA   [2]
  Burial	Natick, MA   [2]
  	Address: Dell Park Cemetery
  Person ID	I17319	Puffers
  Last Modified	27 Nov 2021

  
  

  Father	NUTT, Isaac Brewster,   b. 15 Feb 1790, Francestown, NH d. 21 Dec 1854, Topsham, VT (Age 64 years)
  Mother	MONROE, Sally Ann,   b. 15 Jan 1804, Natick, MA d. 7 Mar 1852, Topham, VT (Age 48 years)
  Marriage	6 Feb 1825	Richford, VT
  Family ID	F2668	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	PUFFER, Abigail Prentice,   b. 30 Dec 1839, Sudbury, MA d. 27 Jan 1906, Natick, MA (Age 66 years)
  Marriage	25 Apr 1863	Framingham, MA   [2, 3]
  Children	1. NUTT, William Harrison,   b. 17 Jul 1866, Natick, MA d. 9 May 1952, MA (Age 85 years)   2. NUTT, Charles Robinson,   b. 26 Sep 1868, Natick, MA d. 26 Sep 1918, Wareham, MA (Age 50 years)   3. NUTT, Mary Abbie,   b. 25 May 1871, Natick, MA d. 2 Aug 1875 (Age 4 years)   4. NUTT, George,   b. 5 Nov 1872, Natick, MA d. 1924, MA (Age 51 years)   5. NUTT, Henry,   b. 12 Feb 1875, Natick, MA d. 1948, MA (Age 72 years)   6. NUTT, Bessie May,   b. 18 Oct 1876, Natick, MA d. 23 Sep 1882 (Age 5 years)   7. NUTT, Nellie Ann,   b. 17 Mar 1880, Natick, MA d. 1962, MA (Age 81 years)   8. NUTT, Julia Maria,   b. 30 Jul 1881, Natick, MA d. 1983, MA (Age 101 years)   9. NUTT, Matilda Ellen,   b. 11 Jan 1884, Natick, MA d. Jan 1981, Athol, MA (Age 97 years)
  Family ID	F3109	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Apr 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Both his grandfather William and his great grandfather Samuel Nutt, of Francetown, NH, served in the Revolution and his father was in the War of 1812. The father of Samuel and the first of the family in this country, was William Nutt, who was among the Scotch-Irish settlers in Londonderry, NH, in 1719. In 1852 Col. William Nutt came to Natick and learned the trade of shoemaker, and was associated intimately in business and politics with Henry Wilson, vice-president of the United States. In 1857 he took part in the struggle to keep Kansas a free state and was a squatter at Lawrence, Kansas. He cast his first vote for the Free Soil ticket and was one of the organizers of the Republican party. When the Civil War broke out, he was a member of Company C, Mechanics Rifles, Ninth Regiment, Natick, but left that organization to enlist in Company I, Second Regiment, May 15, 1861. He was made a corporal and, Aug. 11, 1861 sergeant. He was a very capable drill-master, and was detailed early in the service to instruct officers and men of the 27th Indiana Regiment. His first skirmish was Oct. 22, 1861, at Conrad's Ferry, VA. After the Battle of Ball's Bluff, in which he was engaged, he was in the hospital sick for several weeks, and when convalescent was detailed in December, 1861, to recruiting service at Springfield, Mass. He returned to his regiment in June at Martinsburg, Va., after being assigned to the 12th Mass. Regt. from April to June. His regiment lost nearly half its men and more than half its officers in a battle, Aug. 9, 1862, and from that time until March, 1863, he was acting first sergeant. At the Battle of Antietam a third of the regiment was killed or wounded. He was commissioned March 5, 1863, second lieutenant, and in May, first lieutenant, in the 54th regiment under Col. Robert G. Shaw, to whom the memorial opposite the state house was erected in later years. He was transferred to the 55th Regt. and commissioned captain. He was provost marshal of Jacksonville, Fla., in Feb. 1864; commissioned major, Nov., 1864; lieutenant colonel, June, 1865, and brevet colonel at the close of the war. He served with his regiment at the siege of Charleston. He was mustered out in September, 1865. He became a partner in the firm of Davis & Plummer, shoe manufacturers of Natick, after the war, but finding that business uncongenial, began to study law in the office of Walter N. Mason of Natick, in 1866. In February, 1868, he was appointed agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, Halifax and Lunenburg counties, Va. Here he continued to study law. He was admitted to the bar in Middlesex County August 9, 1868, and opened an office in Natick. He entered actively into public affairs and was during the rest of his life a leader in the Republican party, serving as chairman of the town committee and frequently as delegate to the state and other nominating conventions. He was elected moderator of the town in 1870 and from that time to 1896 often served in that office, for which he was well fitted. He was collector of taxes in 1869, 1870 and 1871; representative to the general court in 1871 and 1872, serving on the committee on labor in 1871 and on probate and insolvency and on woman suffrage in 1872. He was chairman of the board of selectmen in 1874, 1876 and 1881; member of the board of health in 1874; overseer of the poor three y ears; member of the school committee in 1873; on many important town committees; deputy sheriff from 1877 to 1886 inclusive; trial justice of t he Natick court 1886 to 1892. He was elected state senator by a vote of 7,328 to 4,204, in a district that had elected a Democrat to year previous. He served on the committee on constitutional amendments, military affairs and was chairman of the committee on taxation. He was also on the recess committee which revised the public statutes. He was just of the peace from 1867 and notary public from 1874 until the end of his life. Colonel Nutt made a specialty of probate practice and settled many large estates. He did much of the pension business in this section. In later years most of his practice was as attorney of the Natick Five Cents Savings Bank. He was on its investing board from May 1, 1909, when he resigned on account of ill health. He was a live member of Meridian Lodge, Free Masons; member of the Grand Army and Union Veterans Union; former president of the Officer's Association of the Fifty-fifth Regiment and also of the Second Regt.; member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and of the Vermont Association of Boston. he was active in all kinds of temperance work and on t he day Fort Sumter was bombarded was elected R.S. of Neal Dow division, Sons of Temperance. He was an able public speaker and frequently heard in Natick. He was on the legislative committee that attended the dedication of the monument to Union soldiers who died in the rebel prison at Andersonville. He commanded the survivors of the 54th and 55th regiments at the dedications of the Shaw memorial, Boston.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 225-228. [S2] Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree, Massachusetts 1639-2020, Red Letter Edition, 225. [S541] Massachusetts Marriage Records, 1840-1915.