Immigrants to Nutfield, New Hampshire

It is well known that Nutfield was founded by a group of Ulster refugees, Scots Irish Presbyterians fleeing the violence of Northern Ireland for New England. They were not welcome to settle in Boston, so in 1719 a group came to settle in New Hampshire. They called their new home “Nutfield” after the abundance of nut bearing trees in the vicinity; butternut, chestnut and walnut. I’ve had a lot of requests for the surnames included in this group, and so I decided to list the family names of subsequent immigration to Nutfield, now Londonderry, Derry and parts of Windham. These names are taken from the 1722 list of “Proprietors of Londonderry.”

Surnames in this group include: Alexander, Allison, Anderson, Barnett, Clark, Clendenin, Gregg, McKeen, Mitchell, Morrison, Nesmith, Steele, Sterret, Stuart and Weir, led by Reverend James MacGregor.

Soon more Scots Irish families followed: Moor, Adams, Karr, Aiken, Dickey, Watts, Mack, Holmes, Nevins, Boyd, Dana, Boice, Conant, McAllister, Patterson, Pinkerton, Humphrey, Campbell, Duncan, Woodburn, McClearey, White, Willson, McDuffee, McMurphy, Martin, Fling, Wallace and others.

According to Reverend Parker’s History of Londonderry, around 1790 a group of families arrived from Ipswich, Massachusetts. They include Cross, Choate, Proctor, Jewett, Caldwell, Cogswell, Burnham, Crocker and Low. From Bradford came the Savory, Tenny, Barker and Hardy families. From Rowley came the Crowells and Plummers. From Topsfield, the Townes, Dwinnells and Esteys.

After the Ipswich families, another group of Adams family settlers came from Newbury, Massachusetts. Also from Essex County: Batchelder, Gilcreast, Goodwin, Corning, Annis, Avery, Leach, Greely, Kimball and Whittier families. Then a large group of Baptists came from southern Massachusetts, settling in western and northern Londonderry (a section then called “Canada”), and building a Baptist church in 1829: the Manter, Ripley and Sampson families.

If you are from Londonderry or Derry, you will recognize many of these surnames, even just as street names around town. Genealogical sketches of these families can be found in “Rev. Parker’s History of Londonderry” along with other names on tax lists, etc. This book is out of print, but is available at the Londonderry Leach Library, as well in its entirety at www.books.google.com

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo