John Cutt (1613 – April 5, 1681) was the first president of the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...

Cutt was born in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, emigrated to the colonies in 1646, and became a successful merchant and mill owner in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

. He was married to Hannah Starr, daughter of Dr. Comfort Starr of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, a founder of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and a surgeon who emigrated from

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about southeast of central London and northwest of Folkestone by road. In the ...

, England. Starr is buried in

King's Chapel Burying Ground King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despite ...

, 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 The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

. Cutt was the head of the seven-member royal provincial council. An early copy of the document appointing Cutt and his council is now preserved by the State of New Hampshire. Soon after his appointment he fell ill. On March 1, 1681, the provincial Council and General Assembly designated March 17, 1681, as a Fast Day, "A day of public fasting and prayer." The Council and Assembly believed Cutt's illness and the recent sighting of a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

were signs of "divine displeasure"; the fast day was unsuccessful, as John Cutt died on April 5, 1681. After his Cutt's death, Richard Waldron was named acting president.

Family

John Cutt was accompanied from Wales to Portsmouth by two brothers, Richard and Robert. 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 Weathersfield is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,842 at the 2020 census. History The town of Weathersfield was named for Wethersfield, Connecticut, the home of some of its earliest settlers. The Connectic ...

, and the man who introduced

merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed ...

to America. Cutts's wife Mary Jarvis was herself a descendant of John Cutt through her father.

References

External links

Genealogy of the Cutts family in America (1892)New Hampshire Almanac: HistoryCommission of John Cutt, 1680, The Avalon ProjectGravestone of Hannah Cutt (nee Starr), wife of John CuttThe Origin of Robert, Richard and John Cutt, Collections, Historic and Miscellaneous, John Farmer, 1824
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cutt, John 1613 births 1681 deaths Welsh merchants Welsh emigrants to the United States Politicians from Portsmouth, New Hampshire Colonial governors of New Hampshire 17th-century Welsh businesspeople Colonial American merchants