John Cutt

John Cutt (1613 – April 1, 1681) was the first President of the Province of New Hampshire. John Cutt was born in Wales, emigrated to the colonies in 1646, and became a successful merchant and mill-owner in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was married to Hannah Starr, daughter of Dr. Comfort Starr of Boston, a founder of Harvard College and a surgeon who emigrated from Ashford, Kent, England. [ [http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/charter.html Harvard Charter of 1650, Harvard University Archives, harvard.edu] ] Starr is buried in King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston.

On January 1, 1680, John Cutt became the first President of the royal Province of New Hampshire, when New Hampshire was first separated from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Cutt was the head of the seven-member royal provincial council. [Aside from Cutt, the other members of the Council were Richard Martin, William Vaughan and Thomas Daniel of Portsmouth, Richard Waldron of Dover, John Gilman of Exeter and Christopher Hussey of Hampton.] Soon after his appointment he fell ill. On March 1, 1681 the provincial Council and General Assembly designated March 17, 1681, "A day of public fasting and prayer." The Council and Assembly believed Cutt's illness and the recent sighting of a comet were signs of "divine displeasure." The day of fasting and prayer was unsuccessful, as John Cutt died on April 1, 1681.

After his decease Richard Walderne (also known as Richard Waldron) was acting President.

John Cutt was accompanied from Wales to Portsmouth by two brothers, Richard and Robert. [ [http://www.seacoastnh.com/brewster/5.html The Cutt Family, Brewster's Rambles about Portsmouth, seacoastnh.com] ] A descendant of brother Robert Cutt was Hon. Hampden Cutts (as the family styled themselves, with the 's' in succeeding generations) of North Hartland, Vermont. Hampden Cutts married Mary Pepperrell Sparhawk Jarvis, daughter of William Jarvis of Weathersfield, Vermont, and the man who introduced merino sheep to America. Cutts's wife Mary Jarvis was herself a descendant of John Cutt through her father. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=6i0wTJbBYpUC&pg=PA450&lpg=PA450&dq=%22hampden+cutts%22+holyoke&source=web&ots=L5xAjVPjh8&sig=G1IDYM3JblaYfl_Ehag5c28hN3s&hl=en The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Boston, 1880] ] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=0140enOJkigC&pg=PA741&lpg=PA741&dq=%22hampden+cutts%22+holyoke+&source=web&ots=x3wQWPQbX9&sig=NO_IdNRHPzrSwv2udXg2wxgh9SE&hl=en The Founders: Portraits of Persons Born Abroad Who Came to The Colonies, Charles Knowles Bolton, Boston Athenaeum, Boston, 1919] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nh.gov/nhinfo/ New Hampshire Almanac: History]
* [http://www.seacoastnh.com/brewster/5.html John Cutt, Seacoast NH]
* [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nh08.htm Commission of John Cutt, 1680, The Avalon Project]
* [http://www.gravematter.com/images/hannahcutt.jpgGravestone of Hannah Cutt (nee Starr), wife of John Cutt]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=t6JGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22john+cutt%22+portsmouth+starr&source=web&ots=u0fmFl20h2&sig=KRua7r2guDTMuozECNHglzOP620&hl=en The Origin of Robert, Richard and John Cutt, Collections, Historic and Miscellaneous, John Farmer, 1824]