The Nutter family is one that left its mark on South Portland. We still have a Nutter Road (named for the family and the “Nutter Mansion” they built there). The Nutter family owned and farmed much of the land on which our high school and Community Center sit, and where Allen and Williston Roads are today. Many of the Nutter and Peary family members are buried in the Brown’s Hill Cemetery on Broadway. We’ll take a look over the next few weeks at this interesting family and the pieces of South Portland history connected to them.

Eben and Henry Nutter, brothers, were the first generation of Nutters to settle in Cape Elizabeth (now called South Portland). They were born in Porter, Maine, in 1815 and 1821, respectively, the sons of Charles and Olive Nutter. Their sister, Almira Nutter, married James Peary (their grandson was Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, the arctic explorer). As young men, the Nutter brothers moved around a bit, seeking their fortunes.

Eben Nutter was a cooper and entrepreneur. He married Martha Bryant Wiley in the mid-1830s and they lived in western Maine, in Porter and then in Stow. They had two sons and two daughters – Walter, Francina, Olive and Frank. Frank was the youngest, born in Stow in 1852. Eben then moved his family to Cape Elizabeth where they lived in the mid- to late-1850s before moving down to Pennsylvania, where they had settled by 1860.

As early as 1849, Henry Nutter had moved all the way out to Wisconsin. He married Emeline “Emma” Eastman in 1849 and on the 1850 census, the couple was living in Wisconsin and Emma’s dad, Caleb Eastman, was staying with them. Henry and Emma started their family while living there; they had four daughters – Ida, Lucy, Nellie and Minnie. By 1860, they had moved to Pennsylvania along with his brother Eben, and they were in the business of lumbering and making shooks (shooks are like barrel “kits” – they are barrels that have been built and then knocked down for efficient transport, so would need to be reassembled).

Edward C. Reynolds, who was the lifelong friend of Robert E. Peary, recounted his memory of Eben Nutter in a 1925 article in the Lewiston Journal, “… years ago the story begins, Eben Nutter, with his wife, Martha B., came to South Portland … After a while and just prior to the Civil War, Nutter moved to Cresson, Pennsylvania, to engage in the shook business, taking with him a little coterie of followers. In the group were two sons [Walter and Frank], two sons-in-law, and a brother, Henry Nutter … there was also one Charles N. Peary, whose wife was Mary W. Peary, a sister to Eben Nutter’s wife. In the little Pennsylvania town the men of the party worked industriously. Figuratively speaking, they filled the place with shook. Then came the war. For a long period they could not move their product. Things looked badly. Then there came a reaction; a turn in the tide of business.

“The situation clarified. Prices of shook advanced. These men had immense quantities of it. It stood them 50 cents a shook. They sold for $2.50 a shook! Because of the great amount of stock they had on hand, they realized substantial profits. Subsequently Eben Nutter and those of the little Maine community who had survived the years, returned to the Pine Tree State … Charles N. Peary died in Cresson, but his widow, Mary W. Peary, returned to the Cape with their young son, Robert E., or Bert as everybody knew him.”

With the windfall from the sale of the shooks in Pennsylvania, Eben and Henry moved back to Maine and built substantial homes for their families in Cape Elizabeth. Eben built his family home on what is today known as Nutter Road; the footprint is in the area where the high school parking lot is now located.

Henry Nutter built his home on what is today known as Evans Street, on a lot that is now on the corner of Romano Road (there was no side street at that time). Henry owned and farmed 30 acres of land with horses, a few dairy cows, a few head of cattle, chickens and pigs. He sold milk and butter, hay and oats, and produce such as potatoes and beans. Henry was also very civic-minded. In 1871, he represented Cape Elizabeth in the Maine State Legislature. In 1882, he was elected to the board of County Commissioners for Cumberland County; he served on that board for six years.

The Nutter families were all active members of the community and especially of the Brown’s Hill Church (later known as the First United Methodist Church). In 1867, when the congregation was trying to raise $13,000 to build a new church building, they fell far short of their goal. Eben and Henry Nutter donated $5,000 to complete the funding.

The new Brown’s Hill Church was completed in 1867 and the dedication ceremony took place on Jan. 29, 1868. Throughout their lives, the Nutter families were active in the church. Eben Nutter purchased and donated the famous Revere bell that hung in the Brown’s Hill Church; it was installed in the 55-foot steeple in July, 1871.

Eben Nutter was an entrepreneur, always looking for an opportunity, but he largely worked in the lumber and cooperage businesses and West Indies trade. In 1868, Eben entered into a partnership with George S. Barstow and his son George A. Barstow. Operating a cooperage known as Nutter and Barstow, they dealt largely in the sale of shooks. They were located on Widgery’s Wharf on the Portland waterfront.

On Aug. 16, 1871, Eben and his brother Henry, operating under the partnership name of Nutter Bros. & Co., purchased the existing business and store inventory of the Barstow Stove Co., on the corner of Congress and Center streets in Market Square (now known as Monument Square) in Portland. The daily store operation of Barstow Stove had been managed by Charles C. Tolman; Nutter Bros. retained Tolman to continue managing the daily operations for them, as Henry was busy farming and Eben was busy with his cooperage.

The Nutter Bros. store specialized in the sale of cook and parlor stoves, ranges, and hot air furnaces, but also sold a wide variety of other items such as marbleized mantels, galvanized gutters, tin roofing, ice boxes, vases for cemeteries, bird cages, and other tin ware and kitchen furnishings. The Nutters operated that business until 1880, when they decided to close the store and auction off the inventory.

At Eben’s Nutter and Barstow cooperage firm, the Barstows left the partnership in 1874. Continuing the business, Eben formed a new partnership with George L. Kimball and also brought in his son Frank Nutter. The new company was known as Nutter, Kimball & Company. They continued to operate from Widgery’s Wharf until 1882, then moved to 418 Fore St.

An April, 1884, article in the Portland Daily Press gives a look at the company at that point in time: “Messrs. Nutter, Kimball & Co … has been prominently identified with the trade for some years, and their house is one of the most reliable and best known in the city. In addition to the importation of sugar and molasses, they are also manufacturers and dealers in all kinds of cooperage, and pay cash for shooks and hoops. They are among the heaviest shippers of cooperage to the West Indies from this country.” Another news article from July, 1884, stated that “Messrs. Nutter, Kimball & Co. have shipped to the Cumberland Pulp Mill Company over 1,000 cords of poplar, via the Presumpscot river the present season. The poplar was cut in the town of Gray.” Yet another article from November, 1885, gives another glimpse of their business, when a schooner headed from Portland to Cuba went ashore in Massachusetts and was wrecked. The cargo on board consisted of shooks and potatoes, being shipped by Nutter, Kimball & Co.

The large brick home that Eben Nutter built was known by locals as the “Nutter Mansion.” He built it on a dirt road which was part of the Old King’s Highway. That section of road, when he built his home there, was called the Higgins Road by locals, because of the large farm that Reuben and Emerson Higgins operated on the eastern end of the road (in the area where the Church of the Narazene now sits – that farm would later become known as the Buck Bros. farm).

The Nutter farm and the Higgins farm operated just adjacent to one another. Street names didn’t matter much back then, since there was no home delivery of mail, so once Eben’s new home was established, the road name simply changed to the Nutter Road. Throughout their years on Nutter Road, Eben and Martha Nutter enjoyed hosting parties in their spectacular home, which was considered one of the finest homes in Cumberland County. It was considered an honor to be invited to one of their parties.

In the summer of 1887, when Eben Nutter was still working hard at the age of 72, he was reported as having been “stricken by paralysis” at his home on Nutter Road. From that point, health issues began to take their toll.

Nutter, Kimball & Co. had failed by the spring of 1888, a combined result of Eben Nutter’s health and several losses, notably the failure of a related lumber business (the Gray Lumber Company). The Gray Lumber Company had been jointly owned by Nutter, Kimball & Co. and H.W. Cousins & Co.

In an auction in October, 1888, the mill yard in Gray, where Nutter, Kimball & Co. had been manufacturing shooks, was sold off for the benefit of creditors, along with all of its equipment and inventory, as well as large amounts of timberlands which they had purchased where they had sourced their lumber.

After continued failing health, Eben Nutter died in January, 1892. He is buried at the Brown’s Hill Cemetery with his wife Martha.

His brother Henry died that same year, in December, 1892. Henry and his wife Emma are also buried at Brown’s Hill Cemetery.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE 2023: The South Portland Historical Society researches and documents local history. If you enjoy reading about South Portland history, please lend your support. A one-year family membership is only $25 and supports our mission of preserving local history. Donations can be made through our Online Museum website at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com, or if you’d prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to South Portland Historical Society and mail to us at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. Thank you. If you need to contact the society, we can be reached by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com or by phone at 207-767-7299.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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