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JOHN HUTT
(1763-1833)
| INFO | HUSBAND | WIFE |
| PERSON.
BIRTH. DEATH. |
John
Hutt
Sep. 5, 1763, Westmoreland Co., Va. Aug. 25, 1833, Chillicothe, Oh. |
Elizabeth
Crockwell
Feb. 18th, 1775 July 23, 1835 |
| MARRIAGE | March 3, 1799, Charles Town, Berkely [Jefferson] Co., [West] Virginia | |
| PARENTS | Gerard Hutt, III & Caty Spence | John & Mary Crockwell |
CHILDREN:
 |
Martha Maria Hutt (Dec. 8, 1799 - Aug. 3, 1800) |
|
William Hutt (Feb. 21, 1801 - Sep 2, 1801) |
|
Eliza Hutt (Dec. 3, 1802 - Sep. 17, 1825) |
|
Mary Constance Hutt (Sep. 15, 1805 - 1889) m. Charles Madeira, 1835, Ross Co. |
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Emily Hutt (Feb. 19, 1807 - Jan. 27, 1859) m. James Taylor, 1839, Ross Co. |
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Katherine (Kate) Spence Hutt (May 1, 1809 - Jan. 10, 1899) m. John Robinson, 1827 |
BIOGRAPHY:
Ross County Personally appeared
before me a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Ross,
State of Ohio, Nimrod Hutt of lawful age and of good standing as to
truth and verasity who was by me duly sworn deposeth and saith that he
recollects well that his brother John Hutt was for a very considerable
time from home at the time of the revolutionary war and that he the
said Nimrod recollects of hearing his Mother and the family often
converse about brother John being in the army during _____. What time
he enlisted I do not recollect but well remember when at schoolin the
year 1781 being then about eleven years of age I saw my brother
walking along the road to his mothers house... (illegible)... further
states that he believes from every circumstance he was honorably
discharged from the service having faithfully served out the time of
his enlistment and further this depreciant saith not. (signed) Nimrod Hutt John's pension file is well over 30
pages of microfilm, with correspondence after correspondence attempting to
prove his service to the nation. He was finally granted a pension
shortly before his death in 1833. John was not the first Hutt to come
to Ohio, but he certainly was the most public. In the first decade of the
1800s, John had numerous references noted in Chillicothe newspapers and
county histories. But the best source of John's life is his granddaughter,
Fannie Swayne, who in the late 1890s wrote letters to Chillicothe journalist
William McClintock during celebrations of the city's centennial. According to the series of letters,
John left Virginia on September 27th, 1801 and arrived in Chillicothe on
November 13th, 1801 "with a large company of neighbors and
friends." Fannie's brother, Major S. S. ("Sol") Robinson,
further discussed John's arrival in Chillicothe in a letter written to a
friend that was published in part by the Waverly News and Chillicothe
Gazette in 1894 as "Pioneer History":26 John was persuaded to come to Ohio
by his "great friend," Dr. Edward Tiffin.
Tiffin was elected as Ohio's first Governor and served as a U.S. Senator in
1807 and 1808. Tiffin and Hutt were both licensed preachers of the Methodist
church. The Hutts rubbed elbows with many of Ohio's founding fathers and
early political heavyweights. Fannie's letter recalls when William
Allen, Ohio's 31st governor (after earlier terms as U.S.
Representative and U.S. Senator), first came to Ohio from Virginia. John married Elizabeth Crockwell in
Charles Town, (West) Virginia in 1799. According to the book, Che-le-co-the,
a Glimpse of Yesterday, "John Hutt and his relatives the
Diblers" came to Ross County in 1796.27
This is proven false by a number sources, most importantly the recollections
of Fannie Swayne. The first two children were born (and shortly after birth
died) in western Virginia between 1800 and 1801. The third child was born in
Ohio in 1802 and other primary records place John in Ohio in the same
year. It has been hard to determine who the Diblers were and how they
were related to John, if indeed they were, as no records point to any
relationship. Ohio tax records placed John and his
brother William in Chillicothe between 1807 and 1818. John had eleven
entries spanning the "1st District" and Scioto Township. Brother
William had seven entries spanning the same areas. After his death and that
of his wife, daughters Mary, Emily and Catharine were listed as 1835
taxpayers in Chillicothe. However, the Probate Archives of Ross County do
not show either John Hutt or William Hutt as a land owners, nor is their any
existence of a will for John. It
is clear, however, that John and William Hutt lived in Chillicothe
via state tax records and a map found at the Ross County Historical
Society showing the exact location of the homesteads in the early
1800s. The map of the central town showed that John and William
lived next to each other on the south side Water Street,
approximately halfway between Paint and Mulberry Streets. William's
house was of a single-story frame construction, John's a two-story
brick. At some point between 1810 and 1820, Nimrod Hutt also had a
residence on Water Street, although no court records show property
ownership by any of the three.
TOP:
Map of downtown Chillicothe. BOTTOM:
Close-up of Hutt brothers notation at bottom of the map. LEFT:
Hutt brothers' homes (enlarged) With Chillicothe
being Ohio's first capital, there is an abundance of primary source
material available, many that include references to John Hutt. He
appeared 31 times in Chillicothe newspaper references between 1801
and 1816. These entries paint a man who was both a public figure and
prominent in the community.28 John was one of the first associate
justices in Ross County, who were seated promptly after Ohio's first Supreme
Court was created. Many of the newspaper references include legal references
to John. In the early 1800s primary sources showed him to be a Hotel Keeper
and Merchant. On April 1, 1802, John and Elizabeth
started a school for girls.29 This was
Ross County's first school for girls and perhaps one of the first on Ohio.
Education would be a key component of the Hutts in Ohio for the next two
centuries. In the early 19th Century girls primarily would stay at home, but
the Hutt school taught young ladies proper skills, as "Mrs. Hutt will
teach morals."30 While not a delegate to the Ohio
Constitutional Convention from Ross County, John Hutt certainly had the ear
of its members. One of the hotly debated topics for Ohio's statehood was the
issue of slavery. On September 2nd, 1802, the Chillicothe newspaper
reported arguments regarding Ohio's impending statehood and the role of
slavery. John stated that those in favor of slavery in Ohio wish
"to fix a poisonous dose in the very heart of our state, that will
inevitably produce lingering disease, consuming the vital flame of liberty
to all generations." Among those John was siding with are some of
Ohio's founding fathers: Nathaniel Massie, Thomas Worthington and Edward
Tiffin, all who freed slaves in Virginia prior to coming to Ohio.31 In a point of curious contradiction,
1787 Virginia Census and Virginia Tax Payer records between 1782 and 1787
show that Caty Spence, John's mother, owned 16 slaves in 1787. Caty
Hutt, John's great grand-niece, wrote that family legend had it that Nimrod
Hutt, John's brother, traveled to Ohio with his slaves in 1805.
Descendend from plantation owners, John would have been exposed to slavery
on the family plantation and may have owned slaves himself before leaving
for Ohio. While the idea of involuntary slave
labor was fading in the minds of northerners, voluntary servitude still
thrived as many poorer citizens either bound themselves or their children to
the service of others. Apparently John & Elizabeth Hutt were the
recipients of such service, as a Chillicothe newspaper reported on October
17th, 1810: "John Hutt regarding a runaway servant girl named Sally
Hill, age 10."32 John's status and wealth in frontier
Ohio is evident with the visit by statesmen Henry Clay to Chillicothe.
According to Fannie Swayne's letter, John volunteered to supply a feather
bed and wash bowl for Mr. Clay, as the standard amenities at the nearby
hotel of the Watson's had iron pumps out front for washing and the standard
bed of the time was a straw-filled mattress. These amenities,
according to Fannie's letter, were unacceptable for a guest of such
stature. John Hutt appeared to be one to
speak his mind and let it be known to all. Perhaps his background as a
preacher, as noted by Fannie Swayne, stirred him to voice in public
affairs. Thomas Worthington, then Governor of Ohio, was the recipient
of a letter sent by John in 1814 admonishing the lax security of a prisoner
of war situations in Ohio stemming from the War of 1812. John boarded a
British paroled officers in his home and in a letter dated February 2nd he
states,33 Elizabeth, his wife, was also a
significant member of the community. Aside from running the school for girls
from their home, Elizabeth and her daughters also ran a Milliner business in
1825. In the September 28, 1825 Chillicothe Times, "they still continue
to carry on the MANTUA MAKING & MILLINER BUSINESS -- particularly
whitening and altering Leghorn Bonnets in the best manner and most
fashionable style. Plain sewing will also be attended to."34 John and Elizabeth had considerable
agony in raising children, as the first two died before reaching one year of
age: Martha Maria (Dec. 8, 1799 - Aug. 3, 1800) and William (Feb. 21, 1801 -
Sep 2, 1801). The third child, Eliza, died at age 22 (Dec. 3, 1802 - Sep.
17, 1825). Emily (Feb. 19, 1807 - Jan. 27, 1859) married James Taylor in
1839. Their two daughters that lived
beyond middle age both married prominently in Chillicothe. John and Elizabeth are buried in
Grandview Cemetery in Chillicothe. It is a prominent cemetery that includes
the gravesites of many of Ohio's founders and first governors. At some point
during her later years, Caty Spence, John's mother, would come to
Chillicothe. She died in 1812 and is buried in Chillicothe. John is buried
in a section of ten graves owned by John Madeira, related to their
daughter's spouse, Charles Madeira.35
While the tombstone inscription book note Elizabeth and daughter Eliza as
buried with John, in February of 2000 there were no markers designating
their existence on the plot. John, William and Nimrod were but
three of seven children born to Gerrard and Caty Hutt. Two brothers
and a sister stayed in Virginia, while Ursula, the youngest, came to
Chillicothe. Surprisingly, John's mother, Caty, left the relatively
prominent surroundings of home and hearth in Westmoreland County, Virginia
to spend her final years in the rough-hewn Chillicothe countryside.
John Hutt
served as a private in the Virginia Militia (artillery) during the
Revolutionary War, entering service in 1778 as a 15-year old soldier.24
According to his own recollections, John was well developed for his age
and had a lanky, six-foot frame.
Years later he
would serve in the infantry. According to records built upon his application
for pension, John was present when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown
-- an event that led directly to peace negotiations ending the war.25
He was granted land in the Virginia Military District of Ohio as war
bounty. John applied for a pension after the war, but had to defend
his service in the Virginia militia. Among his petitioners was his brother,
Nimrod:
STATE
OF OHIO
John
Hutt... located and built, first, a hewed log house, on Water
Street, next west of the lot then occupied by the Scioto Gazette.
Soon he built a two story brick house, in which were born his
daughters, Eliza, Mary Constance,...Emily,... and Katy, my
mother,... That old brick house was a part of the early history of
your city. It was two stories high, about forty by eighteen feet. On
the ground floor it had two rooms separated by a hall, and the same
above. The back ell, or kitchen, was the old log house first built,
one story, weather-boarded.
He had
walked all the way from Lynchburg, and before calling on his sister,
he went into a tailor shop just below my grandmothers (Mrs. John
Hutt) to change his clothes. The tailor went into my grandmother's
(Mrs. John Hutt) and borrowed a wash bowl, towel, and comb for him
to make his toilet;
It is a
fact there is not a week but the paroles of the prisoners are
broken...the parole orders every prisoner at his quarters at nine
o'clock. It is formal, but no attention is paid to the hour. The
deputy marshal since the new arrangement has never visited my house.
Things are not conducted by no means right... rest assured there is
bad management, and very bad.
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Top: Madeira family plot, John Hutt in background. Right: John Hutt's marker (recently updated by Ross County Sons of American Revolution) |
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24 Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records, Volume 2, compiledby Patrick G. Wardell, p. 362
25 Ohio Daughters of the Revolution Soldiers Rosters, V. I & II, 1929-1938, p. 199
26 Waverly News, Friday, September 20, 1894
27 Che-le-co-the, a Glimpse of Yesterday, L.W. Renick (published ni 1896), p. 51
28 Pioneer Ohio Newspapers, vol 1. 1793-1810, vol. 2 1810-1818, Karen Mauer Green
29 State Centennial History of the County of Ross (Ohio) v. II, Henry H. Bennett p. 153
30 Pioneer Ohio Newspapers, v 1, 1793-1810, Karen Green, p. 194; Scioto Gazette & Chillicothe Advertiser, March 13, 1802, No. 99
31 State Centennial History of the County of Ross pp. 57-58
32 Pioneer Ohio Newspapers, v 1. 1793-1810, Karen Green, p. 316; Scioto Gazette & Chillicothe Advertiser, Oct. 17, 1810, No. 513
33 Raw Recruits and Bullish Prisoners, Ohio's Capital in the War of 1812, Patricia Fife Medert, p. 123
34 Chillicothe, Ohio, 1796-1996, Ross County Historical Society. p. __
35 Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, Ohio inscription book. Section 9C, Lot 4, p. 129
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