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DANIEL HUTT (bef. 1630 -1674)
 

CHILDREN:
Anne Hutt (bef. November 20, 1663, Westmoreland Co., VA. - bef. 1683
        Westmoreland Co., VA.)
 

CHILDREN:
Gerrard Hutt, I

BIOGRAPHY:
Daniel Hutt's exact birth is not known.  Some Gedcomm data suggest his birth between 1630 and 1650.  Most likely it is prior to 1630 based on information presented here.

Daniel Hutt's first recorded existence in America comes in the 1650s, where land transactions in Virginia and a court proceeding in Maryland are recorded.   "Virginia Biographies" lists Daniel as "a merchant of London, England, and a master of the ship May Flower came to  Virginia in 1668."1

Northern Neck Historical Society's magazine states:

Daniel Hutt, a mariner and merchant, operated several ocean-going vessels between the Colonies and the Continent and was at one time styled a merchant of London. He lived for awhile in New England, inasmuch as at his settlement in Maryland, he was referred to as late of that section. Among his ships were the Mayflower of cherished memories, John's Adventure, and Pinke Adventure, and there are records of his ships sailing to Hamburg, London, the Barbadoes, and Newport, Rhode Island. His marriage to Temperance Gerrard occurred at her father's seat on Nomini Bay. His wealth and vastness of his Virginia estate can best be judged by a lien placed on 1,505 acres, 27 servants, and 100 heads of cattle. Hutt died in 1674, leaving a fruitful widow and two young children.²

It is important to note that this May Flower is not the same historical ship that sailed from England and the Netherlands with the Pilgrims aboard, bound for what would become known as the Plimoth Colony, Massachusetts.  The original Mayflower returned home beyond repair and most likely never made a second voyage.  The ship name Mayflower was a common one in 17th Century England.3  This does not stop sources from making that illusion, such as "he operated famous ships, including the Mayflower" as cited in the Northen Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine in 1951.4

The May Flower, however, is important for it was confiscated by Maryland prior to a criminal conviction won against Daniel Hutt for illegally trading with Indians.  On March 29th, 1659, Daniel is to have sailed up the Potomac River in an apparent guns-for-corn exchange with Indians living at Pamaunkey on the Piscataway River in Maryland.  Maryland Court proceedings claim he was not an inhabitant of the province and without license unlawfully traded with the "Indian inhabitants." Daniel's defense was he had not broken the laws or acts of the province, and if anything was committed was done in ignorance.  No less than five witnesses were called against Daniel Hutt to prove the case.  While none witnessed any actual exchange, the circumstantial evidence of a boat filled with guns returning with corn in exchange was enough for the court to convict him and forfeiture of the May Flower and her cargo.  On May 2nd, 1659, the May Flower was sold to Samuel Tilghman by the Province of Maryland.5

The Archives of Maryland also include two letters submitted by Daniel Hutt from William Brenton, who signs one letter with "your loving friend and employer."  The letters detail instructions from the latter on cargo that Daniel was to procure as Master of Ketch Johns Adventure, bound for Barbados and the Pinke Adventure, bound for Virginia.  The ports of call ranged from Virginia to Barbados to collect cargos of horses, tobacco, wool, sugar and rum.  William Brenton would become the President of Rhode Island in 1660 and later Governor in 1668. (citation forthcoming)

In a letter dated June 8th, 1660, Brenton asks Daniel to "procure these things as follows: 10 or 12 barrels of very good Rum, 10 barrels of Molasses, 3 or 4 barrels of Muscovado Sugar, for our own store, 100 weight of good white sugar [and] two good bags of very good cotton wool."  He was to deliver these goods to Brenton's Newport, RI house and to Boston.7

As early as 1656, Daniel Hutt is recorded in real estate transactions in Virginia.  On April 24, 1656, Governor Edward Digges of Virginia transferred 1000 acres in Westmoreland Co., VA on the upper side of the Mechoticke River to Daniel Hutt and Edward Griffith.  On June 20, 1656, three transfers occurred between Daniel, Jonathan Dodman and Edward Griffith.  Hutt acquired 100 acres "adjoining east of the Potomac and west into the woods and south upon his own land." [note: spellings and abbreviations adjusted] 8

With these real estate transactions and the Archives of Maryland court records, it shows that Daniel Hutt was quite active along the eastern seaboard of America during the middle and late 1650s.  It also shows that Daniel could not have been born after 1640, as it would be virtually impossible for someone under 20 to be master of several ships and acquire such acreage in Virginia.  The letters from William Brenton in Rhode Island, allows for the possibility that Daniel may have resided elsewhere in the Americas (perhaps New England) before settling in Virginia.  Clearly, these early records show an individual who is established in America and perhaps had left England sometime in the first half of the 1650s, if not earlier.  It is then more believable that Daniel was born prior to 1630 to have such experiences and wealth.

Westmoreland Court records from 1658-1661 show "Daniell Hutt" to be a "mariner" and had appointed Daniel Lisson of Appamatocks to be his attorney in a statement dated 9 March 1658/9.16

Between 1662 and 1666, Daniel again appears in real estate transaction records amassing nearly 3000 acres by 1666.  In 1662 he acquired 850 acres in Northumberland County, on the south side of the Potomac River and south side of Herring Creek, 500 acres in Nomini, and an additional 500 acres of George Read's property (granted to the latter in 1653).  Daniel acquired 250 acres in 1664 that  touched both the Nomini River and Coss Coss Creek, and 875 acres of adjoining land along the Coss Coss in June of 1666. The 1664 recording lists Daniel as a merchant.9

On June 1, 1669, Daniel marries Temperance Gerrard, daughter of Sir Thomas Gerrard, a notable figure in Maryland's formation .10  Gerrard is descended from King Edward II of England.  His great-grandfather had been captured and placed in the Tower of London for plotting to aid in the escape of Mary Queen of Scots.  As a reparation for his ancestor's pain and suffering, Gerrard was given a significant amount of land in Maryland, known as St. Clements Manor.  Here, Gerrard and his wife, Susannah Snow, raised their children.  Two of Gerrard's daughters would marry George Washington's Great-Grandfather, Lt. Col. John Washington, in succession, though neither were an ancestor of George.  {Gerrard's own page is forthcoming}   John Washington purchased 450 acres of land adjacent to Daniel Hutt (on south side of Potomac River in Nomini Bay, Westmoreland County).11

From a historical atlas of Westmoreland County, "Daniel Hutt patented 875 acres June 5, 1666.  He afterward patented other lands.  He built a mill on Cos Cos Creek. He married Temperance Gerrard in 1669.  His will was made 1674 (among the wills lost); had issue, daughter Anne and son Gerrard.   His widow married John Crabbe.  He was the Emigrant Hutt, and the family has frequently figured in the history of the county."  The atlas has land ownership maps that include Daniel's (click to view).12

Daniel Hutt's will: (courtesy of Greg Newton)

 The will of Daniel Hutt is dated March 3, 1673/74 and proven June 24, 1674 in Westmoreland Co., Virginia. "My deare wife Temprance Hutt my executrix. Unto Temprance all my personall
estate requesting that if she marries she would remember to be bountifull to my two children
Anne Hutt and Garrard Hutt, unto whose care under God I comitt them both. I have formerly given one third of my land by a deed of guift in marriage to Temprance Hutt, begining from the outward bounds of my land. Unto my deare sonne Garrard Hutt all my land, housing, orchards, them to possesse after the death of his mother Temprance hutt. In case of his mortallity to my deare daughter Anne Hutt for her naturall life but after her death to my deare brother Jno. Hutt of London, if my sonne Garrard Hutt should dye without issue. Unto my loving daughter Anne Hutt 5000 pounds of tobacco when she shall attaine to the adge of eighteen. My loving brother Jno: Appleton to be overseer of my will. In case my executrix shall dye before my sonne and daughter come of adge, the guardianship to my brother Capa: Jno: Appleton and in case of mortality of both my executrix and my brother Appleton, then the guardship to my loving brother-in-law Mr. Jno: Garrard.

[signed] Danll. Hutt."

After Daniel Hutt's death, Temperance re-married twice.  Her second husband, John Crabb, was also a merchant. Her third husband was Benjamin Branchflower.13 Upon her death in 1712, she left the balance of her estate to her grandchildren of sons Gerrad Hutt and Osman Crabb (of her second marriage) and a feather bed and furniture to an Ann Davis, who would receive it upon reaching age 17.14

What the will and other sources also shed is that Daniel Hutt had a  brother, Johnathan, who was in London at the time of Daniel's death.  The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1661-1699, states for the year 1671:

"16 September.  Deposition by John Hutt, citizen and girdler of London, aged 31, that his brother Daniell Hutt, now in Virginia, became indebted on 19 November 1668 to Christopher Bannister, citizen and haberdasher of London, for stockings sent to Virginia.  Edward Calthord Jr. of Southwark, Surrey, grocer aged 25 years, deposes similarly.  A letter of 5 June 1669 from Daniell Hutt to Bannister is produced in court (LMCD)."

From the preface key, LMCD = Lord Mayor’s Court of London Depositions.  Apparently
from this source: "Washington: National Genealogical Society, 1980."15

One Internet genealogy forum had an individual relay an unverified story of a family member regarding Daniel Hutt.  It stated that there were supposedly three Hutt brothers in England: one left to seek fortunes in New Zealand, the other (Daniel) came to the Americas and the third stayed in England.  Supposedly there is a Hutt statue of some sort in London, England.

Notes

1: Virginia Biographies, p.202

2:  Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 331

3: http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/Mayflower%20Ship/mayflower_ship_facts.htm

4:  Marriage of Some Virginia Residents, 1607-1800, Vol. I, Dorothy Wulfeck, p. 346

5: Archives of Maryland, volume XLI, pp. 288-289, 302-303

6: (forthcoming)

7: Archives of Maryland, volume XLI, pp. 410-411

8: Virginia Colonial Abstracts, vol. 23, Westmoreland County (1653-1657), pp. 49-50

9: Cavaliers and Pioneers, Nell-Nugent, pp. 500, 522, 563,

10: Maryland Genealogies, A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. I, pp. 478-503

11: Cavaliers and Pioneers, Nell-Nugent, Vol. 2: 1666-1695, "Abstracts of Land Patents and Grants,"

12: Historical Atlas of Westmoreland County, Va., David Eaton, 1942, p. 54

13: Maryland Genealogies, Vol. I, p. 497

14: Wills of Westmoreland County, Virginia,  Augusta B. Fothergill, (page unknown)

15: The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1661-1699, Peter Wilson Coldham, 1990; p. 182
BOOK SUBTITLED:  A comprehensive listing compiled by English Public Records of Those Who Took Ship to the Americas for Political, Religious, and Economic Reasons; of Those Who Were Deported for Vagrancy, Roguery, or Non-Conformity; and of Those Who Were Sold to Labour in the New Colonies.

16: Westmoreland County, Va. Records, 1658-1661, John F. Dorman, p. 38