STEELE – Descendants of Nutfield Settler Thomas Steele

Thomas Steele's tombstone
(spelled as STIEL here) at the FindaGrave.com website,
photographed by D. J. Goldman

STEELE / STIEL / STEEL

Thomas Steele was one of the sixteen original Scots Irish settlers who came to Nutfield in 1719 with Reverend James MacGregor. He was born about 1683 and married Martha Morrison, sister of the Nutfield settler John Morrison. His brother-in-law was another first settler, Samuel Allison. Thomas died on 22 February 1748 at age 65, and Martha died in 1759 at age 73. Both are buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in East Derry.

 At the first town meeting, Thomas Steele was elected auditor. He was elected tithing man in 1724. After feuding with his neighbor William Humphrey, Steele confessed in the church sessions records “I called Brother Humphrey a liar. For this I am sorry, but it is a failing I’ve had from my youth of always speaking the truth.”

 Children:

1. Janet, married John Wallace and had six daughters

2. John, went to western New York state

3. Thomas, born in Londonderry 25 December 1722 [the year date is mangled in the town records but the year is assumed to be 1722], died 12 October 1746

4. James, born in Londonderry 25 March 1724, married first to Peggy Ramsey, who died 1757 in Antrim, New Hampshire, and married second to Margaret (Parker) Cochran. He removed to Antrim, New Hampshire about 1780. He had six children with Peggy Ramsey: Ann, Margaret, Martha, James, Mary and Sarah. He had another six children with Margaret Cochran: Robert, born 13 April 1774 in Bedford, died 11 November 1848 at Oberlin, Ohio, Alexander, Thomas, Samuel, Susannah and Jannette.

 5. David, born in Londonderry on 30 Jan 1727, married Janet Little 1751, lived in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He died 19 July 1809, she died Sept 1816, aged 87. Children: Thomas, Janet, David, Martha, Jonathan, Betty, Peggy, and John.

 For more information:

The History of the Town of Peterborough, by Albert Smith, 1876, pages 290 – 291.

 History of Londonderry, by Rev. E. L. Parker Nutfield Rambles, by Richard Holmes, 2007.

 The New Hampshire Steele Family Genealogy by Samuel Fisher Steele, 1889

Scots Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles Bolton, 1910, Chapter XIII, Nutfield and Londonderry, page 254

See all sixteen genealogical sketches of the first settlers in Nutfield at this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/nutfields-first-16-settlers.html 

------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "STEELE – Descendants of Nutfield Settler Thomas Steele", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 6, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/03/steele-descendants-of-nutfield-settler.html: accessed [access date]).