William Nutt Family Database

View Nutt Database

Two Nutt Databases: Visitors to this Web site will notice there are two Nutt family databases – one for the William Nutt branch and one for the James Nutt branch. Don Nutt, webmaster for this Web site, very much suspects that William and James are related and that their families should be combined into one database. Both families emanate from County Argyll, Scotland, and William and James were born about the same time. However, until a direct relational link is found, these two branches of the Nutt family will be published in separate databases.

Donald Duane Nutt is of the ninth generation of his family in America. The family's progenitor was William Nutt, born about 1698 in County Londonderry, in the province of Ulster that lies in the north of Ireland. He came to America, sailing into Boston Harbor, on 4 August 1718. Almost five years later, on 29 May 1723 at Bradford, Massachusetts, William Nutt married Jane Colbath. Together they raised six children into adulthood.

Both William and Jane were Scotch Presbyterians of the north of Ireland. Their families had both been in Ireland but a very short time. Their ancestors, the Nutt's and the Colbath's, were of excellent stock, largely from Argyllshire, in Scotland.

Perhaps the most famous of all the Nutt's in America was George Washington Morrison Nutt, 2nd great-grandson of William and Jane, otherwise known as the "Commodore." George was a midget, standing only twenty-nine inches tall, and known as the smallest man in the world. It is said that George was perfectly proportioned and a very attractive person. For a time George was employed by the legendary P.T. Barnum to be a part of Barnum's Lilliputian show.

Learn of an upcoming exhibit on the famous Commodore Nutt for the spring of 2000!

If anyone has additional information on this branch of the Nutt family, especially on progenitor William Nutt, I would be delighted for you to contact me and help fill in any information gaps.