Colonel Thomas Cutts ~ Paperback ~ George Addison Emery

Excerpt from Colonel Thomas Cutts: Saco's Most Eminent Citizen in the Country's Early Days About 1645 there came from the west of England to the Isles of Shoals, at that time a great fishing resort, and then to Portsmouth (then called Strawberry Bank on the Piscataqua), two young men, John and Richard Cutt. They were joined later by a brother, Robert, and a sister, Anne Cutt, who married John Shipway, a merchant of Strawberry Bank. It is impossible now to say with certainty from what particular point in England they came, or to give any positive statement as to their parentage. Traditionally, their father was Richard Cutts, Esq., of Grondale Abbey, Essex County, an adherent of Cromwell; he married a widow by the name of Shelton, who, it is said, by him and her former husband had twenty-three children, all living at the same time. The young men dropped the final letter in their name, calling it Cutt, when they emigrated to this country. The first brother, John, lived at Portsmouth. He became a member of the Council for Government of the Province, and in 1679 he was appointed by the Crown its first President. His name was written Cutts in his letters-patent. John's and Richard's estate in Portsmouth covered two-thirds of what is now the compact part of the city. John's second wife was Ursula Cutt, who after his death was killed by the Indians in July, 1694. Madam Ursula was murdered in her own meadow where she had gone with a maid-servant to carry refreshments to her men in the hay-fields, when she and her haymakers were shot down and scalped. Robert Cutt, the third brother and the great-grandfather of Col. Thomas Cutts, came to this country several years after John and Richard. He went after a time to the Barbadoes and was probably connected with his brothers in business, receiving fish and lumber, and shipping West Indies goods in return. He finally returned to Portsmouth, moved across the river to Kittery and "built a large number of vessels." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.