WEIR - Early Nutfield Settler

The Governor Shute Petition for Nutfield

[Note:  I will be doing a series of genealogical sketches on the early Nutfield settlers in advance of the 300th anniversary of Nutfield for Founders Day, April 12 - 14, 2019 in Derry, New Hampshire.  If you have additional notes on the first few generations of this family, please comment below or send me an email at vrojomit@gmail.com, and I will edit this sketch.  These sketches will be used and distributed to the public and to descendants at the Founders Day activities.]

WEIR – Descendants of Nutfield Settler Robert Weir

Alternative spellings WEIR / WEAR / WARE

Robert Weir, a Scots Irish settler from Northern Ireland, arrived in New England with the Rev. James McGregor in 1718.  This group of Ulster Scots first went to Casco in Maine, but spent a miserable winter there.  In the spring they went up the Merrimack River to Haverhill.  Robert Weir and James Gregg petitioned the Governor of Massachusetts for permission to settle on land fifteen miles north of Haverhill in New Hampshire.  He was one of the sixteen men who accompanied Rev. McGregor to see the land, which they called “Nutfield”.  The New Hampshire general court called them (24 September 1719) “a company of Irish at Nutfield”.  In 1722 this land was chartered as Londonderry.   Robert Weir became the first sheriff of Londonderry.  His lot was adjacent to the meetinghouse and Robert MacGregor’s lot.

Robert Weir was born about 1682 in Northern Ireland and died 1726 in Londonderry, New Hampshire.  He was married to Martha Reid (?) about 1706 in Ireland. 

Children: 

      1.       John, born about 1700 in Northern Ireland, died in Warrington Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; married to an unknown spouse. Three sons:  Samuel, Hugh and James

      2.       Robert, born in Northern Ireland, died after 1789 in Sevier County, Tennessee.  Married to Rebecca Carrell in 1740 in Northampton, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  Children:  John (married Nancy Moore), Samuel (married Polly Thompson and Margaret Gilliland), Rebecca (married John Moore and Robert Lowry), and Elizabeth.  Buried at the Fort Wear Cemetery in Tennessee.

      3.       Elizabeth, born in Londonderry 4 November 1723 [Vital Records of Londonderry, New Hampshire, 1719 – 1910]. She married William Thone. Children:  Agnes, Jennet, John, William, Samuel, Isaac, and Benjamin

      4.       James, married Jane.  Children:  Robert (married Mary Walker), Jane (married Thomas Kelso), Hannah (married Edward Hay), John, Mary (married Robert Flack in Pennsylvania), and Ann.    

      5.       William

For more information:

Notable Southern Families, by Zella Armstrong, 1918, Volume 1, pages 16 – 19.

Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles Bolton, 1910, pages 248,  264

“Scotch Irish Settlers in New Hampshire, 1719 – 1776”, by William Copely, in Historical New Hampshire, New Hampshire Historical Society, Volume 50, pages 213 – 228.

Clan Douglas Society of North America (septs Blackwood and Weir)

http://clandouglassociety.org/weir/     

Click here for links to the sketches of all sixteen first Nutfield settlers: 
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/nutfields-first-16-settlers.html 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "WEIR - Early Nutfield Settler", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 26, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/weir-early-nutfield-settler.html: accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ David Gregg, died 1831, Windham, NH. Revolutionary War Veteran

This tombstone was photographed at the Cemetery on the Plain in Windham, New Hampshire.

LIEUT.

DAVID GREGG

BORN 1750

DIED 1831

A SOLDIER IN THE BATTLE

OF BENNINGTON

IN 1777

From page 550 of The History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard Morrison:

“41.  Lieut. David 5 (William4, David3, John2, David1), b. Oct. 4, 1750 O. S.; m. Feb 12, 1784, Jane, dau. Of Capt. David and Ann (Clyde) Gregg.  She was b. Oct. 10, 1759.  He was in the Revolutionary war; was in the battle of Bennington, and had his thumb shot off. When the battle was raging he felt a stinging sensation in his thumb., and the smoke was so thick he could hardly see; he put his thumb to his mouth, and found it hanging by a piece of skin; he bit it off, and kept on fighting with a determination to come off victorious or die upon the field “with his face to his foe”.  He was afterwards offered a captaincy, but declined it.  He received his commission as lieutenant after the war.  He lived in a house that stood over the old cellar opposite C. E. Buttrick’s.  This was part of the original grant, and he was the first occupant.  He was selectman in 1778, ’94 and ’95.  He took care of his parents in their old age; was made an elder in the church.  He was a good man, but was unfortunate in the later years of his life, lost his property, and in his old age was dependent upon the charity of his friends and the town.  His wife d. April 12, 1812.  He m. 2d. Sally Clyde, Aug. 4, 1814.

Children: -

42.  Thomas, b. Oct. 28, 1784; d. Aug. 28, 1812, unm.

43.  Nancy, b. July 23, 1786; d. Dec. 29, 1869.  She m. (2d wife) June 11, 1818, John, son of Col. Robert Wilson of Londonderry.  He was b. Sept. 25, 1785; d. March 19, 1872.  No ch….

44.  John, b. Nov. 12, 1788; m. Nov. 26, 1816. Hannah Giles, b. Oct. 22, 1795, in Dorchester, NH.  He owned the Asa Buttrick farm, which he sold, and rem. to Amesbury, Mass., in 1829, and worked in a woolen mill.  His wife d. Nov. 2, 1853.  He d. March 15, 1873, ae. 84 yrs.  4 mos. 3 days.  [six children listed next]”

On page 545 it lists David Gregg’s parents as:

“9.  William4 (David3, John2, David1).  He was b. in Ireland in 1705; emigrated to Watertown, Mass., in 1712, and to Windham in 1721.  He m. Elizabeth Kyle, of Argylshire, Scotland, then a resident of Haverhill, Mass.  She was b. Jan. 17, 1720.  She is described as possessing an uncommon share of personal beauty, having dark hair and eyes, with a delicate white complexion, and fine person; her disposition was amiable, and she died at an advanced age, shortly before her husband.”

On page 546 it describes William, David Gregg's father:

"Although he left Ireland in his eighth year, everything was fresh in his recollection.  He could describe with great minuteness the old city of Londonderry, with its walls and fortifications; how the streets ran, and he saw them in his boyhood; and would relate what he then and there heard and saw of the extreme distress growing out of the celebrated siege and defence of the city, so long continued the rats, even, were food, and had a marked price, and in the dire famine old leather of shoes was eaten to stay the gnawings of hunger, and how terrible was the famine, and how deadly the pestilence which followed.  He d. in Windham, in 1797, in his 92d year."

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ David Gregg, died 1831, Windham, NH. Revolutionary War Veteran", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 7, 2017,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/tombstone-tuesday-david-gregg-died-1831.html:  accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ GREGG sisters buried in Derry, New Hampshire

These tombstones were photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire, section O plot 28.

Sacred

To the memory of

Miss Mary Ann Daughter of

Ebenezer & Ann Gregg.

Who died Oct. 17, 1827

aged 21 years.

Fearless the alm she met the fatal blow

An left without a sigh these see us below.

A band of seraphs join'd her on the road,

And safe conveyed her to th' blest aboade.

To the memory of

MISS

MARGARET C. GREGG

who died nov. 22

1831

aged 20 years

Daughter of 

Mr. Ebenezer & Mrs.

Ann Gregg

The year rolls round and 

               steals away 

The breath that first it gave

What are we do, where'er we be

We're travelling to the grave.

[NOTE: this is a verse from the Psalm XC, no. 188 in the Windsor Hymn Book] 

Sacred

to the memory of

MISS

HANNAH JANE

daughter of

Mr. Ebenezer &

Mrs. Ann Gregg.

died July 2, 1832

Aged 23 years. 

[epitaph illegible]

Ebenezer Gregg, son of John Gregg and Elizabeth Gregg, was born 24 April 1768 in Peterborough, New Hampshire, died 14 November 1836 in Derry, New Hampshire.  He married Anna Hughes January 26, 1797 in Londonderry.   She was the daughter of John Hughes of Windham, and his wife Mehitable Buzwell of Kingston.  Ebenezer was the grandson of Scots Irish immigrant brothers John Gregg (1702 – 1789) and Agnes Rankin; and Samuel Gregg (1706 – 1778) and Mary Moore.  They were the sons of Nutfield Scots Irish settlers James Gregg (1672 – 1758) and Janette Cargill.

Three daughters all died with five years of each other, all in their 20s.  One sister lived to marry and have descendants. 

Children:

1. Eliza Ann, born July 26, 1804, died November 20, 1881; married Samuel Clark.  Several children named CLARK. 

2. Mary Ann, born 1806, died October 17, 1827 in Derry

3. Hannah Jane, born 1809, died July 2, 1832 in Derry. 

4.  Margaret, born 1811, died November 22, 1831

(There may be other children for this couple, but these are all I found in the records and compiled genealogies.  Each book listed below had different children, too)

Sources:

 Lieutenant Joshua Hewes: A New England Pioneer, and Some of his Descendants, by Eben Putnam, 1913,  Volume 1, page 447. 

The History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard A. Morrison, 1883,  pages 596 - 597. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ GREGG sisters buried in Derry, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 6, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/tombstone-tuesday-gregg-sisters-buried.html:  accessed [access date]).  

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Martha McCLUER, died 1769 Derry, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire.
In 1769, the year of Martha McCluer's death, this was known as Londonderrry, New Hampshire. 

Here Lies

Interr'd the Body of

Mrs. MARTHA McCLUER

Widdow of 

Mr. Andrew McCLUER and

Mother in Law of

Mr. John Reney & Mr.

William Gregg, who died

Dec. 17th 1769 in the 80th 

Year of her Age.

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/06/tombstone-tuesday-martha-mccluer-died.html
Copyright (c) 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Isobel Gregg, Windham, New Hampshire, 1764

This tombstone was photographed at the Cemetery on the Plain, Windham, New Hampshire

HERE LYES THE BODY

OF MRS. ISOBEL GREGG

WIFE TO MR JOHN GREGG

SHE DIED AGUST 9TH 1764

AGED 31 YEARS

Isabel Hemphill was born about 1733 and died on 9 August 1764 in Windham, New Hampshire.  She was the wife of John Gregg.  He was born about 1725 in Watertown, Massachusetts, the son of Captain David Gregg and Mary Nevins.  He drowned in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1754, when she was only 21 years old!  I don't have a marriage date for Isobel and John Gregg, but she must have been almost newlywed when she became a widow. 

This stone appears to be in the style of John Wight, the Scots Irish grave stone carver, who decorated his works with geometric patterns and symbols like coffins, shovels, and skulls. You can read a PDF file about this mysterious stone carver at this link:  http://hne-rs.s3.amazonaws.com/filestore/1/2/8/4/2_42c271659b5633b/12842_baa039815612028.pdf

For more information on the Gregg family, please see The History of the Town of Windham, New Hampshire by Leonard A. Morrrison, 1883

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/tombstone-tuesday-isobel-gregg-windham.html 

Copyright (c) 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday - Gregg Family

These gravestones were found at Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry, New Hampshire.  Two of the stones are newer than most of the stones around them, but they are in terrible condition.  Both are broken, and the stone of Mrs. Martha Gregg is missing the top.   The other stones are in good condition. 

HON.
DAVID A. GREGG
DIED
May 16, 1866
AEt. 78 yrs
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Faith, Hope and Charity
Loved to the Better Land
When the Spirit, whispers
"All is well."

[missing]
Wife of
DAVID A. GREGG
Born at  Northfield, NH
Died at Exeter, NH
Feb. 9, 1843
AEt. 45 yrs

SACRED
To the memory of
LYDIA SULLIVAN
wife of
DAVID A. GREGG,
Born at Exeter, NH
Oct. 4, 1806
Died in this Town
June 2, 1849
AEt 42 yrs & 8 Mos.

CHARLOTTE E.
dau. of
D.A. and C. B. Gregg
died
Feb. 16 1859
Aged 4 yrs

Affectionately
to the memory of
GEORGE SULLIVAN
EDWARD IRVING
Twin children of
DAVID A. AND LYDIA S.
GREGG
who died the 28th and 19th
of September 1854

David A. Gregg had three wives, Martha Hunt Allen, Charlotte Butler and Lydia Sullivan.   From the death date, the broken wife's stone must be Martha Hunt (Allen) Gregg.    The twin boys were six years old and died within 9 days of each other.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday - Captain James Gregg

IN
Memory Of
Capt. James Gragg
who died
March 10th 1758
In ye 85th year
of his age

Captain James Gregg was one of the original charter settlers of Nutfield, then Londonerry, now Derry, New Hampshire.  He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and was in Northern Ireland with his parents before coming to New England.  He married Janat Cargill, daughter of Captain James Cargill.   He built the first grist mill in Londonderry.  For more information on the Greggs see http://www.colonialgreggs.gfhp.co.uk/

For more genealogical information on some Gregg descendants see this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/colonel-william-gregg-of-londonderry.html

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday- Lucy Gregg

In Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire

According to local legend, Lucy died on the morning she was supposed to wed.  

There are theories that the white picket fence still guards her virginity. 

This is the only grave in the cemetery with a white wooden fence.

LUCY

daughter of

JOSEPH & LUCY

GREGG

died

Oct. 4, 1843

aged 22 yrs

+++

so fades a summer cloud away

so sinks the gale when storms are o'er

so gently shuts the eye of  day

do dies a wave along the shore

The story of the volunteer who replaced Lucy Gregg's dilapidated picket fence can be found here http://www.derrynews.com/local/x1243786364/Derry-cemetery-benefits-from-adopt-a-stone-program/stripped?device=mobile

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Original Nutfield Proprietors, April 11, 1719

These are original proprietors, or grantees of Nutfield, then Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire.

James McKeen

John Mitchell

James Anderson

Allen Anderson
John Archibald

John Barnett

James Sterrett

Randel Alexander

John Morrison

Samuel Morrison

James Gregg

John Stuart

James Nesmith

Thomas Steele

James Clark

Robert Weir

Archibald Clendenin

Reverend James MacGregor

The list is taken from Rev. James McGregor’s petition dated 27 Feb. 1720 to Governor Samuel Shute of Massachusetts (Jeremy Belknap Papers, volume 6I.A.81, Massachusetts Historical Society).

"In 1718 five ships full of settlers and four Presbyterian ministers left Londonderry, Northern Ireland for Boston.  Some of the families went that first winter to Casco Bay, Maine and suffered without food and shelter.  In the spring of 1719 some of the families went to Haverhill, Massachusetts where they heard about land to the north that was promising.  This land was called Nutfield, due to the abundance of chestnut and walnut trees. Some of the men went there and built temporary shelters, determined to be granted the land from the Massachusetts governor Samuel Shute.  They returned to Haverhill for their families, and invited Reverend James MacGregor to come with them to Nutfield.  He did, and on April 11, 1719 he preached his first religious service on the east side of Beaver Lake under a nut tree. The following year the town was renamed from Nutfield to Londonderry."

The image above is from Willey's Semi-centennial Book of Manchester, 1846 - 1896, by George Franklyn Willey, 1896, page 52.  It depicts the first open air sermon preached by Rev. MacGregor on the shores of Beaver Lake, under the nut tree. 

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Colonel William Gregg of Londonderry

William Gregg was the son of Captain John Gregg, and grandson of Captain James Gregg, who both emigrated from Northern Ireland to Londonderry, New Hampshire. He was born here in Londonderry on 23 October 1730.

The Bennington Monument

Before the American Revolution, William Gregg was the head of the local Londonderry militia. Upon the Lexington alarm in 1775, he went to Boston until he was called to muster a regiment from New Hampshire for the Continental Army in New York. In 1777 he went to Baltimore to bring back money to help New England fight the war, and then later that year to the Battle of Bennington with General Stark, who was also from Londonderry.

After the war Colonel William Gregg retired back home to Londonderry, where he died on 16 September 1815.

Londonderry and Derry have produced many famous officers of the American Revolution, including General John Stark, Colonel George Reid, and Colonel William Gregg. Also, six early governors were from Londonderry, including Dr. Matthew Thornton, who signed the Declaration of Independence.  Robert Rogers of the Rogers' Rangers regiment spent much time in Londonderry among the Scots Irish settlers, and his father, James Rogers is buried in Derry's Forest Hill Cemetery.

In Parker’s history of the town of Londonderry, he waxed eloquently about the fighting spirit of the Scots Irish warriors, who fought first at the siege of Londonderry in Northern Ireland and then here in the New World. Some of what he writes is highly racist and stereotypical of the Scots Irish.   However, it is very interesting to note that such a tiny township produced so many officers and soldiers for our War of Independence. It is probably due to the rigors of living on the frontier (Londonderry was the frontier between English territory and French territory in the 1700s), more than their being from Ireland and Scotland.

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For more information see:

Rev. Edward L. Parker’s History of Londonderry, pages 220-1.

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Gregg Family Lineage:

Gen. 1. Captain James Gregg, born about 1670, and emigrated from Ayr, Scotland to Northern Ireland in 1690, and was an original grantee of Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1719, died in January 1762 at Peterborough, New Hampshire; married Janet Cargill, born in Illa Scotland, the daughter of Captain David Cargill. James Gregg received a captain’s commission and commanded the first militia recruited in Londonderry. He also built the first grist mill.

Gen. 2. Captain John Gregg, born about 1702 in Ireland, left at age 16 with his parents for Boston; married 1 March 1724 in Londonderry, New Hampshire to Agnes Rankin, daughter of Hugh Rankin.

Gen. 3. Colonel William Gregg, born in Londonderry on 21 November 1730, died on 16 September 1815 in Londonderry. He married three times, first Barbara Aiken, second to Agnes McClure and third to the widow Abbott. Five children.

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Another Gregg Family Lineage (this Gregg family lived in Nutfield (later Windham) but they were Irish in ancestry, not Scots-Irish like the other Gregg’s):

Gen. 1. John Gregg, son of David Gregg, born at Ballarynet near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He was killed with his parents during a raid on his homestead in April 1689, but his wife and children were safe inside the walled city of Londonderry.

Gen. 2. John Gregg, born about 1680, merchant in Londonderry, Ireland; married to Mary Guage.

Gen. 3. Children of John Gregg include:

     1. Samuel, b. about 1682, immigrated to Boston, had descendants in Windham, New Hampshire

     2. David, b. 1684 near Londonderry, Ireland. He settled first in Watertown, Massachusetts and then in the part of Londonderry, New Hampshire that is now known as the town of Windham. He married in Ireland to Mary Nevins.

     3. Rachel, b. about 1686; m. in Ireland to Solomon Walker, settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

     4. Andrew, b. about 1688, also settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

     5. Jacob, b. about 1710, removed to Groton, Massachusetts

     6. William, b. about 1715, removed to Pennsylvania

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo