NESMITH – Descendants of Nutfield Settler James Nesmith

The Nesmith Family Memorial at
Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry, New Hampshire

NESMITH / NAESMYTH

Deacon James Nesmith was born about 1692 in Northern Ireland.  He emigrated from the river Bann valley and came to America in 1718.  He was one of the signers of the petition to Governor Shute on 26 March 1718, and one of the original sixteen settlers in Nutfield.  He married on 25 December 1714 in Antrim, Ireland to Elizabeth McKeen, the daughter of Nutfield settler James McKeen.  He died on 9 May 1767 at age 75.  His wife died in Londonderry on 29 April 1763.

Elizabeth was born in 1696 and died on 29 April 1763 at age 67.

James was one of the elders of the Presbyterian church in the West Parish when it was formed in 1739.  

  

Children (first two born in Ireland, the rest in Londonderry, New Hampshire):

      1.      Arthur, was born in Ireland, died young

      

      2.      James, was born in Ireland on 4 August 1718, served in the Revolution (Bunker Hill and the Battle of Bennington), and died on 15 July 1793 in Londonderry.  He is buried at the Valley Cemetery in Londonderry, New Hampshire.  He married Mary Dinsmoor, and had eight children:  James born 10 December 1744 (married Martha McCluer); Jonathan born August 1749 (married Eleanor Dickey and removed to Antrim); Robert born 1748 (married Jane Anderson), Margaret born 7 February 1747/8 (married Hugh Moore); Elizabeth born 22 March 1749/50 (married James Cochran of Windham); Mary Jean born 2 September 1751 (married James McCluer) of Acworth); Martha born 6 November 1755; and Sarah born 27 May 1756 (married Daniel Anderson).

      3.      Arthur, born 3 April 1721, married Margaret Hopkins, settled in Maine, had James, John, Benjamin and Mary.

      4.      Jean, born 12 April 1723, died young

      5.      Mary, born 29 January 1726, died young

      6.      John, born 6 February 1728, married Elizabeth Reid (sister of General George Reid) and had eight children:  James born 6 February 1758 (married Elizabeth Brewster and removed to Antrim); Arthur born 1760 (married Mary Duncan and removed to Antrim and then to Ohio); John born about 1766 (married Susan Hildreth and married second to Lydia Sargent,  and had 10 children by two wives); Ebenezer born 27 March 1769 (married Jane Trotter); Thomas born 1775 (married Annie Wilson); Elizabeth born 1762 (married Deacon James Pinkerton);  Mary born 8 April 1764 (married John Miltimore and removed to Pennsylvania); Jane born 14 July 1772 (married Hugh Anderson)

      7.      Elizabeth, born 28 January 1730, married Jonathan Wallace and removed to New York state where she died November 1817.

      8.      Thomas, born on 16 March 1732, married to Annis Wilson, daughter of James Wilson and Janet Taggart. He died on 30 November 1789.  Was a farmer in Windham. He had eight children:  Jacob, Elizabeth (married Jonathan Wallace), and Thomas.

      9.      Benjamin, born 13 September 1734, married Agnes Gilmore. He died on 18 September 1800 in Belfast, Maine.  Agnes died at the home of their son, Thomas Nesmith, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 18 October 1814.  Their children were: James born 23 May 1764 and died 4 March 1811 in Belfast, Maine (married Nancy Gilmore); Elizabeth born 10 September 1765 (married James Miller); Benjamin born 13 October 1767 (married Hannah Morrill); Jeanette born 27 May 1770 (married Dr. William Crooks); Jonathan born 3 July 1772 and died 1798 in Belfast, Maine (married Sally Crosby); Mary born 24 September 1779; and Thomas born 27 March 1782 (married Susan Davidson and Sally Loud Cargill).

Note:  James Nesmith had a brother, Thomas Nesmith, who lived near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For more information:

History of Windham by L. A. Morrison, page 687

Scotch-Irish in New England by Arthur Latham Perry, Boston: Printed by J.S. Cushing & Co., 1891 

Willeys semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896 : and Manchester edition of the Book of Nutfield : historic sketches of that part of New Hampshire comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time by George Franklyn Willey, 1896

Nesmith Genealogical Society:  http://nesmithupdate.com/ 

For more photos and a transcription of the Nesmith Family tombstone, see this link:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/tombstone-tuesday-nesmith-derry-new.html  

Click here for links to the entire series of the first 16 settlers:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/nutfields-first-16-settlers.html  


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "NESMITH – Descendants of Nutfield Settler James Nesmith"; Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 2, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/03/nesmith-descendants-of-nutfield-settler.html: accessed [access date]).