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berland County, England, is situated on the left bank of the Tyne, and ten miles from its mouth in the North Sea. The situation of Newcastle, not far from the borders of Scotland, rendered it one of the principal frontier towns during the hostilities with the sister kingdom; and, since that unhappy time its extensive coal trade has become a consideration of general and national importance. Notwithstanding several strenuous efforts, a pedigree of the Cutters in Newcastle has not yet been obtained. If this were at hand, many matters of interest concerning the emigrants to New England might be more fully explained. Certain traditional facts, however, have been secured, and further knowledge of the family could be had by searching the records of the Newcastle churches. In 1862, a tourist found there only one gentleman of the name-John Cutter, butcher, Nos. 41 and 42 Butcher Market, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Since that time another visitor from the United States has gleaned additional facts, most of which are contained in the following communication.

*

"Mr. John Cutter, No. 28 Market Stall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, lives 29 Lovaine Place; has one brother and one sister, both unmarried. His father, Anthony Cutter, was clerk twenty-one years at St. Thomas Church, and he succeeded him. The clerk of St. John's Church said he could trace back the family two hundred years in the register. His great grandfather's uncle went to America. The family came from Morpeth, in Northumberland, and its neighborhood.† In Bolam Church, Northumberland, is a slab to the memory of Marmaduke Cutter, yeoman of about 1650, whose daughter married the rector of Morpeth. Bolam is eight miles west of Morpeth. The stone farm-house held by the Cutters three hundred years under the corporation of Newcastle, still stands near Sandyford Bridge, a short distance from Lambert's Leap.§ Cutters Fields,' south of Westgate, Westmoreland Street, Newcastle,

is now covered with buildings.

"The register of this church for births, marriages and burials, begins in January, A.D. 1587."-Brand's Hist, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (London, 1789), i. 111.

+ Morpeth, a place of considerable antiquity, is pleasantly situated on the northern bank of the river Wansbeck, among woody undulating hills, and distant some fourteen miles north from Newcastle. Its weekly cattle market is one of the largest in England. Population in 1851, 10,012.-Black's Picturesque Tourist of England (Edinburgh, 1861), 395.

The name of Marmaduke Cutter, Gent.," occurs as a lessee of the impropriated, or great tithes of Bolam Parish, in Northumberland, which belong to the Royal Free Grammar School of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.-Brand's Hist. Newcastle, i. 104.

$ "On September 20, 1759, a spirited Scotch galloway, on which Mr. Cuthbert Lambert, son of an eminent physician in Newcastle, was riding, took fright, and flying along Sandyford-lane, leaped the battlement of the bridge and fell about 37 feet to the bed of the rivulet. Mr. Lambert kept his seat, and the branch of an old ash tree broke their fall. The poor animal jumped up, and after running a few yards, fell down and expired; and its rider, from the violence of the shock, was for some time indisposed. On examining the body of the mare, all the joints of the back were found displaced. Lambert's Leap' was cut upon the coping stone of the battlement in commemoration of this remarkable occurrence." Mackenzie's Hist. Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Newcastle, 1827), 187, 188.

passes through the midst of the fields.* There is in Morpeth a family by the name of Cutter; one a wood-merchant. In Bolam Church is a slab in the aisle, upon which can be read with difficulty, 'Margaret, wife of Marmaduke Cutter, of Bolam White House.' "†

* The Newcastle Gazetteer was printed in 1751, Ly William Cuthbert, "Cutter's Entry,” Close.-Mackenzie's Newcastle, 727.

The Messrs. Richardson, of this town, are now preparing an elaborate and exceedingly minute history of Newcastle, in which I believe some of your ancestor's relations will figure. There are still Cutters in the town, and a Cutter's Field' in the vicinity."-Letter of R. M. Glover, M.D., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to Dr. B. Cutter, of Woburn, Nov. 17, 1846.

The town of Newcastle has more than doubled its size during the present century, and has undergone a most wonderful change during the last few years, having been subject to many noble and magnificent improvements. It is rumored in the United States that the Cutter "Fields," or "Farms," became immensely valuable as the city enlarged, and that this property was appropriated by the British government about 1850, on account of the nonappearance of the rightful owner or heirs.

Newcastle and vicinity is celebrated for the number of its tall men. Marmaduke Cutter, it is said, was unusually tall. He is reported to have been seven feet high.

Apropos to the above may be cited the following from the Boston (Mass.) Daily Evening Transcript, for Dec. 3, 1870.

Speaking and Singing without a Tongue. In the transactions of the Philosophical Society, published between 1742 and 1744, there is an account of MARGARET CUTTER, who when four years old lost her entire tongue from a cancerous affection; but who, nevertheless, afterwards retained the power of taste, swallowing and speech, without any imperfection whatever. She not only spoke as fluently and with as much correctness as other people, but also sung to admiration, articulating with distinctness all her words while singing. What is not less singular, she could form no idea of the use of a tongue in other persons. This remarkable case was brought before the Royal Society, under certificates of attestation from the minister of the parish, a medical practitioner, and another respectable citizen, well known in Suffolk, where she resided. On account of the extraordinary character of the case, the Society requested an additional report on the subject, and from another set of witnesses named by the Society for the purpose, and for whom they drew up the necessary questions and marked out the proper course of examination. The second report coincided with the first in all particulars, and shortly afterward the young woman was brought to London, where she confirmed the account by personally appearing, and speaking and singing in the presence of the members of the Royal Society and many other persons.

THE

CUTTER FAMILY OF NEW ENGLAND.

I.

Emigrant Ancestors.

ELIZABETH CUTTER.

ELIZABETH CUTTER, widow, came to New England about A.D. 1640. She was quite in years when she bade farewell to her native country. Her husband-whose name was Samuel, probably―died previous to her departure; and her emigration was accomplished during a season of sickness, and through many "sad troubles by sea."

A manuscript volume in the autograph of Rev. Thomas Shepard, who succeeded Messrs. Hooker and Stone, as minister of Cambridge, Mass., contains the relations of the experience of persons admitted as members of the church. Among these "Confessions of diverse p'pounded to be recieved and entertained as members," occurs an important statement of the "experience

"Old Goodwife Cutter."

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“I was born in a sinful place where no sermon was preached. Concerning my parents, I knew not my father; my mother sent me to Newcastle, where placed in a godly family (as I think), I heard the words, Fear God and keep his commandments:' two of which (the third and fourth commandments) I saw I brake. For six or seven years I was connected there, and then went into another family where the people were carnal, and there fell to a consumption [waste?], and afterward followed with Satan. And afraid he would have me away, Mr. Rodwell came to me, and was an instrument of much good to me. Afterwards the Lord's hand was sad on me. My husband was taken away, and I was sent to this place [Cambridge:] and I desired to come this way in sickness time; and the Lord brought us through many sad troubles by sea; but when here the Lord rejoiced my heart. However, when I had come I had lost all hope of salvation, and had no comforter. Hearing from Foolish Virgins† that Those

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*N. E. Hist. and Gencal. Register, xxiii. 369.

+"The Parable of the Ten Virgins Unfolded. Sermons preached in a weekly lecture, begun June, 1636, ended May, 1640." Vide Shepard's Works (Boston, 1853), vol. ii.

who were not sprinkled with Christ's blood were undone,' I saw I was a christless creature, and hence in all His ordinances was persuaded nothing did belong to me-durst not seek, nor call God, Father; nor think Christ shed his blood for me.

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"And afterward going to T. S. [Thomas Shepard] I found more liberty, and so had less fear. But hearing the Foolish Virgins were cast off-so should I be likewise, being a poor ignorant creature. Going to servants of the Lord I told them I could not be persuaded to live thus long; and hearing Mr. Shepard say, If I went as Abram

and had such gifts, the Lord would accept,' I sought the Lord the more-though still a poor creature. On a day of humiliation by sundry places in scripture He rejoiced my heart-Christ came to save sinners-Christ came not to save the righteous, but sinners '—and to find the lost and broken-hearted, Come unto me ye weary.'

"But still I thought I had no repentance; yet was encouraged to seek the Lord, and be content with his condemning will, and to lie at His feet, seeing my need of Him-not knowing whither else to go, and knowing that whosoever cometh unto Him He'll not cast away. And so I desired the Lord to teach me; and desire to submit."

This venerable matron "sojourned about twenty years" in the family of her "very loveing sonne" Mr. Elijah Corlet, the husband of her daughter Barbara, and the "memorable old schoolmaster in Cambridge." She rewarded these persons, whose "love and care, with continuall expenses for her support" were "very great," by appointing them her heirs, and bestowing upon them and their offspring her maternal blessing. Three of her children emigrated to this country-sons William and Richard, and the daughter above named; and possibly several married daughters likewise.

Elizabeth Cutter died at Cambridge the 10th of January, 1663-4, aged about eighty-nine years; and left at her decease a property which, according to her inventory, amounted to the sum of £19 4s. 6d. Her Will and the Inventory of her personal estate are found in the Registry of Probate for Middlesex County. Both are well worthy a careful perusal.

Will of Elizabeth Cutter.

I, Elizabeth Cutter of Cambridge in New England, widow, aged about 87 years, being throw the Lord's mercy as yet of sound judgement and memory, yet considering my age and weakness of body accompanying the same, and dayly minded of my latter end, and do therefore hereby declare my last will and testament in manner following, viz.:

All my estate now remayning, which is but little, but what it is, of what nature or kind soever, I do give and bequeath unto my very loveing sonne Mr. Elijah Corlet and to my daughter Barbere his wife, with whome I have now sojourned about twenty years, and whose love and care with continuall expenses for my support in this my long weakness have been very great, so that I must acknowledge myself utterly unable to recompense their great love towards mee otherwise

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