Notes
Note for: Alexander McNUTT, ABT 1725 - 1811 Index
Note: Nova Scotia was first settled by the French during the early 1600's and
was assigned to the English in 1713, by the treaty of Utrecht. In 1749
Governor Cornwallis arrived at Halifax with a fleet of ships and some
3,000 men to take control of the area. By 1755, the English, with help
from New England Colonials were engaged in driving the French from Cape
Breton Island, with that campaign ending in 1758 after the Siege of
Louisburg. In 1755, French colonists the Acadians, in the Minas Basin of
Nova Scotia were forcibly removed, many to Louisiana, as described by
henry Longfellow in his epic poem - Evangeline.
Shortly after removal of the French from Nova Scotia, colonists in New
England and Virginia began developing plans to recolonize the area. Among
the leaders was Alexander McNutt III of Virginia, who promoted the
resettlement of Nova Scotia by Ulster Scottsmen from New England and
Northern Ireland. He enlisted the help of some of his cousins, Barnard
McNitt's children, in Palmer, Mass., and other Scottish Ulster families
settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Alexander McNutt III became known as the Colonizer of Nova Scotia with a
title of Colonel. Alexander later lost his influence with English
government officials at Halifax because he advocated that Nova Scotia
become the 14th rebelling colony during the American Revolution. During
this period many English Tories left the lower colonies to settle in Nova
Scotia. Most of the Ulster Scottsmen, including practically all of the
McNitts and McNutts, in the lower 13 colonies, supported the Revolution,
and joined in the fighting.
Col. Alexander McNutt accompanied Maj. Andrew Lewis as a volunteer in the
Sandy Creek Expedition against the Shawnee Indians in 1756 and later
served on General Braddock's staff in the expedition against Fort
Duquesne. In one of his memorials to the Lords of Trade, he mentions
having served in upwards of 20 engagements on land and sea, always as a
volunteer and without pay. In the spring of 1760 he assisted in raising
300 men for the king's service at Louisbourg. The Crown made him Colonel,
awarded him a sword, and granted him several hundred thousand acres of
depopulated land in Nova Scotia as payment for his role in the expulsion
of the French Acadians, after which he embarked on ambitious schemes for
re-colonization of the land. He visited England on a Colonization errand
and returned with over 200 settlers and some supplies. The archives of
Canada contain voluminous records of his transactions with the British
and Colonial authorities during this period. He sided with the patriots
during the American Revolution, and his lands in Nova Scotia appear to
have been confiscated as a result. In his later years he became a
religious enthusiast. (Sources: A History of Rockbridge Co., VA, by Oren
F. Morton, 1920; Colonial Families of the United States, 1907, by G. N.
MacKenzie).
Of Acadia, and accordingly of Nova Scotia, during its early government by
the English, the province now known as New Brunswick formed a part, and
to the colony was added, in 1758, the Island of Cape Breton, then finally
taken from the French, In the same year the military rule which had
prevailed was exchanged for a regular Constitution, in which a Governor,
representing the British Crown, presided over a Legislative Council and a
House of Assembly modeled on the two estates of the English Parliament. A
proclamation was issued inviting emigrants to Nova Scotia guaranteed them
the same form of government and rights as the other colonies. Governor
Lawrence convened the first Assembly of Nova Scotia on 7 Oct 1758, at
Halifax. A proclamation was issued, and inquiry soon followed as to the
inducements offered to settlers. The terms were liberal. The townships
were laid out at twelve miles square, or one hundred thousand acres each;
and each settler was entitled to one hundred acres for himself, and fifty
acres for every member of his family, on condition that he cultivated the
land within thirty years; and each township was to have the right to send
two members to the Legislature as soon as it contained fifty families.
Emigration soon set in steadily towards the province; six vessels, with
two hundred settlers, arrived from Boston; four schooners, with one
hundred, came from Rhode Island; New London and Plymouth furnished two
hundred and eighty; and three hundred came from Ireland, under the
management of Alexander McNutt. (Source: THE LOYALISTS OF AMERICA AND
THEIR TIMES: FROM 1620 TO 1816, Vol. 2, p. 273)
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Alexander McNutt found in records originally published in "Chronicles of
the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the
Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.
Alexander McNutt, as eldest son and heir-at-law of Alexander McNutt,
deceased, became grantee of 301 acres of property at Kennedy's Mill Creek
of James River; Record Date: Jan 12, 1753; Record ID: 31747.
[also James McNutt, son of Alexander McNutt, deceased, became grantee of
185 acres adjoining Alexander McNutt [elder brother] at Kennedy's Mill
Creek of James River; Record Date: Feb 12, 1753; Record ID: 31748.]
Notes
Note for: Jane Esther McNUTT, 1752 - Index
Note: Went to Nova Scotia with Alexander and Benjamin McNutt .