Ancestor Archives: Thomas Franklin Nutt (1870-1958)

 by Rocky Macy

Thomas Franklin NUTT was born to Miss Angeline NUTT, a single lady who lived at home with her parents, on September 20^th, 1870, in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri.  He married Etta Orvilla GRIFFITH in Neosho on March 31, 1893.    Tom NUTT passed away in that same city nearly nine decades later on May 14^th, 1958. 

Thomas Franklin NUTT was my great-grandfather.

Tom NUTT’s mother, Angeline, married a young man by the name of Isaac N. LAWS on February 16^th, 1873, and she had two children by him who were half-siblings of her older son, Tom:  William Henry LAWS was born in 1874 and Mary LAWS was born 1876.  Tom NUTT grew to adulthood in the home of his maternal grandparents, Henry and Celana (RUTLEDGE) NUTT of Neosho, and he referred to them as “father” and “mother” throughout his life, although he did know who his actual mother was and that William Henry and Mary were his half-siblings.
 
By the time of the 1880 census William Henry LAWS and Mary LAWS were both living in the household of their maternal grandparents, Henry and Celana NUTT of Neosho, along with their older half-brother, Thomas Franklin NUTT – and there was no further mention of Angeline NUTT or Isaac N. LAWS in the public record.
 
My paternal grandmother, Hazel NUTT MACY was Tom NUTT’s daughter.  I asked her many years ago about her family history.  She told me that she did not know who her father’s father was, but that Tom had told her that his dad had left for Texas with another man shortly after Tom was born, and that the other man eventually returned alone and said that Tom’s dad had been killed by Indians.  Maryruth NUTT, the daughter of Tom’s oldest son, Claude, repeated that same story in some personal correspondence with me years later, only in Maryruth’s version, the returning traveler said that Tom’s father had been killed “and scalped” by Indians.  
 
Tom NUTT’s father may have been an adventurer who was killed by Indians, or he may have just been a young man who hit the road and chose to keep traveling in order to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood.   Regardless of the father’s story, young Tom did have an independent streak and a strong personal drive that propelled him forward throughout life.
 
A few years ago I came across a some NUTT family history on the internet that incorporated what appeared to be a set of notes written by Tom’s granddaughter, Maryruth NUTT.  Cousin Maryruth was a skilled genealogist who was a member of several family and lineage societies and did extensive research on her own family lines.  She and I had exchanged a series of letters in the early1980’s, but during our information swap she had failed to mention a story that I found among her notes on the internet. 
 
I recounted that story in my blog on March 11, 2016.  The piece was titled “Tom Nutt;s First Trip to the Coast,” and it focused on a walking trip that Tom and another young man took from southwest Missouri to California sometime around 1890.  The following is taken from that blog posting:

 

“ . . . Tom Nutt and one of his Rutledge cousins decided to go on a walkabout and check out the land situation in other parts of the country.  The young men probably started walking west from Neosho, Missouri, in the very early spring of 1889, 1890, or 1891 – and they walked all the way to the Pacific Coast!"

 

“In later years Tom recalled segments of the trip including the wide expanses of prairie that gradually rose into the foothills of the Rockies, the beautiful Arkansas River Valley that was visible for miles, the groves of cottonwood trees along the river banks, and the glimpsed tribes of Indians and sporadic views of Indian encampments.  Tom found some land that he liked near Wichita, Kansas, and filed a claim on it, but after eventually returning to Neosho he decided not to “prove” his Kansas claim but instead to marry Etta and remain in Neosho near friends and family. His logic was that Kansas was still too wild and untamed, and Neosho was better suited to raising a family.”

 

Tom NUTT married his sweetheart, Etta Orvilla GRIFFITH of Sarcoxie, Missouri, on March 31^st, 1893, and their first child, Claude Franklin NUTT, was born less than six months later on September 7^th, 1893 – proving the old pioneer adage that the first child can come at any time, but after that they always take nine months!  Tom the wanderer had been tamed, temporarily, but his days of travel were far from over.
 
According to information provided by Maryruth NUTT, Tom and Etta found a piece of land on the Old Pineville Road near Neosho that they liked, and because of its location they assumed it was owned by the railroad.  They made inquiries with the railroad about purchasing the parcel, but learned that the railroad did not own that particular piece of land – and it was available to claim under the Homestead Act.  They quickly filed a claim on what was reportedly the last land available for homesteading in Newton County.  They erected a cabin on the property and it became their original family home.    Tom and Etta called their new home “Bonnie Crest,” and Maryruth related that most of their children were born there.
 
Tom and Etta had a total of eight children as well as a couple of still births..  The children who survived all reached adulthood and all outlived their parents.  The eight NUTT children were:  Claude Franklin (September 7, 1893 – July 19, 1980), Mable May  (September 20, 1896 – January 7, 1979)), Ethel Blanche (June 3, 1898 – May 3, 1968), Ina Eskil  (August 21, 1900 - September 18, 1980), Hazel Josephine (July 28, 1902 – October 29, 1975), Daisy Orvilla (February 13, 1904 – March 5, 1963), Robert Eugene (February 19, 1908 – April 14, 1998), and Lawrence “Earl” (August 27, 1911 – March 21, 1973).
 
Spouses of the children of Tom and Etta NUTT were as follows:   Claude (Jeanette A. CUSHMAN),   Mable (Charles SOUR),   Ethel (Walter “Jack” MACY),   Ina  (Lewis Eggleston JOHNSTON),   Hazel  (Charles Eugene MACY),   Daisy  (1. V. Desmond WHEELER, 2. E.T. LINDBLAD), Robert   (1. Verna Unknown, 2. Gladys Unknown), and L. Earl  (1. Isabel WOODWARD, 2.  Ruthella M. WADE).   Earl's first wife passed away at a young age in Riverside, California, and Bob divorced his first wife.

During the years preceding World War I, Tom and Etta's oldest child, Claude, bought a news stand in Nesoho.  His parents apparently helped out with the business.   Etta sold papers and was listed as the "collector," and Tom delivered some papers.  The news stand moved into a permanent location on the Neosho Square while it was being run by the Nutt family, and it remained on the Square until well into the second half of the 20th century.  The following article from "The Neosho Times" on January 25, 1917, (page 5), tells about Tom being robbed of sixty-one cents by vagrants  as he was delivering newspapers:

"Tom Nutt, carrier for St. Louis papers, was held up at the alley on Brook Street between Ed. Haas' residence and the Planing Mill Sunday night by two men who compelled him to give them the 61 cents he had in his pockets.  After the robbers had searched him they told him to go on down the alley while they went down Brook Street.  Mr. Nutt climbed the fence and went to Ed. Haas' residence where he telephoned officers.  The officers started at once on a search and in about an hour two men were arrested in a box car near the elevator by Night Watch Severs and Joe Pearman.  These men were identified by Tom Nutt as the robbers who had taken his money.  One of them, a short man, had a pair of scissors and said he was a tailor.  They did not have a gun and Mr. Nutt is sure now that the short man used the scissors for a gun in making him hold up his hands.  It was so dark he couldn't tell a pair of scissors from a gun and very discreetly "took no chances."  The two men were taken before Esquire Pence Tuesday and fined $25 each for vagrancy.  They are now in the county jail.

 
In the early 1920’s Tom and Etta took their four unmarried children – Ina, Daisy, Robert, and Earl – to Florida with plans to work in the groves picking fruit.   The Orlando, Florida, City Directory had Tom and Etta listed as residents of that city in 1923, with Tom's profession being that of a carpenter.  While they were in Florida, Ina caught the interest of a young Florida man by the name of Lewis E. JOHNSTON.  When the family returned to Neosho, Missouri, Lewis followed along.  He married Ina in Neosho on August 27, 1924.  Shortly thereafter Lewis took his bride back to Florida where they raised their family and spent the rest of their lives.
 
Tom NUTT worked as a carpenter and a concrete finisher.   He built a couple of rooms onto the small house that his daughter Hazel and her husband Charles Eugene MACY received from Charles’ parents.   During the 1930’s Tom was often employed by the federal government’s new Works Progress Administration (WPA) where his plied his construction skills.
 
I requested Tom NUTT’s employment records from the WPA and was provided with time sheets going back to late 1933, which was about a year-and-half before the WPA was even formed.  The pre-1935 work as listed as being for the Civil Works Administration, a forerunner of the Works Progress Administration.  In the early days with the CWATom cleared $19.50 for every 30 hours of work.  Later, as a foreman with the WPA he was working 120 hours most months and taking home $90 for his efforts.
 
During the time that Tom NUTT worked for the federal government he was involved in the construction of the new courthouse on the Neosho Square, improvements to the National Fish Hatchery in Neosho, and general street projects in Neosho.  The courthouse and fish hatchery are still in operation ninety years later.
 
Tom and Etta moved to the area around Los Angeles, California, where they remained for much of World War II in order to be near three of their children who lived and worked in that area:  Daisy, Robert, and Earl.  A brief article in the "Neosho Daily Democrat on April 4, 1941, had this to say regarding their move to California:

"Mr. and Mrs. T.F. Nutt, long-time residents of Neosho, have disposed of their property on Coler Street and have gone to Corona, Calif. with the intention of making their home there, where they have a number of relatives."

After the war Tom and Etta returned to the Neosho, but Tom was not done traveling..
 
Etta apparently suffered a stroke sometime in the late 1940’s and spent her last couple of years in a disabled state.  After she passed away from congestive heart failure on June 13^th, 1950, Tom began shuffling between the homes of some of his children.  In the early summer of 1955 he made his final trip to California.  I know about that journey because I was with him – at least for most of the trip.
 
I was seven-years-old and had just finished first grade.  My little sister Gail was four.  Our family was in the driveway of our home in Goodman, Missouri, loading our luggage and supplies for our first-ever vacation to see Dad’s relatives in California.  Just as we were about to leave, my Dad’s aunt, Ethel NUTT MACY came wheeling in with Grandpa NUTT in tow.   She announced that we would be taking him to visit his children in California.  After some discussion, Grandpa NUTT got in the backseat and sat between my sister and myself.  My mother, who was not happy with the situation or with my dad’s pushy aunt, did a slow burn most of the way to California!
 
It was a long, arduous trip that was done on the cheap.  The Macy’s would never waste money on things like motel rooms, and most meals were homemade sandwiches in the car.  It would have been a stressful trip without Grandpa NUTT, but his presence certainly made things harder to endure.
 
Somewhere in Arizona, I suspect around Yuma, our travel adventure came apart.  Grandpa NUTT became disoriented and decided that he was being kidnapped.  He began swinging his old cane around in the crowded car, striking all of the occupants – with Gail and I catching the brunt of his attack.  My parents left him at some sort of care facility in Arizona and phoned dad’s Uncle Bob in Los Angeles to come and collect his problem father.
 
Bob NUTT drove to Arizona and picked up his father and then took him to his home in the Los Angeles area.  Once he got him home, Bob looked for the old man’s wallet and couldn’t find it.  Grandpa NUTT told him that the people he was riding with were planning on robbing him, so he had hidden his wallet in a gas station restroom.  Poor Uncle Bob got in his car, drove back to Arizona, and was actually able to find the wallet where Grandpa NUTT said that he had hidden it!
 
Grandpa NUTT’s first trip to California had probably been on foot sometime around 1890.  His final trip out west had been with a carload of thieving kidnappers!  What a life that old man had led!

In handwritten notes that my father, Garland Eugene MACY, left, he described his grandfather, Tom NUTT, this way:

"My Granddad Nutt (Tom) was a carpenter, a little wiry guy with a good disposition.  He helped my family a lot.  He died when I was 34, so I got to know him pretty good."

 
Tom NUTT passed away in Neosho on May 14, 1958 and was laid to rest next to Etta at the Belfast Cemetery in rural Newton County.   His obituary ran in “The Neosho Daily News” on May 15^th.

 

“Thomas F. Nutt, Rt. 2, Neosho, died at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at Sale Memorial Hospital after a four week illness.  He was born in Neosho and had lived here his entire life.

 

“Mr. Nutt was a concrete finisher.  His survivors include five daughters and three sons.  Mrs. C.E. Macy Rt. 3, Mrs. Jack Macy, Sr. Rt.2, Mrs. Daisy Lindblad, Temple City, Calif., Mrs. Ina Johnston, Winter Garden, Fla., Mrs. Mable Sour, Joplin, Robert, El Monte, Calif., Earl, Riverside, Calif., and Claude, Wichita, Kans. 

 

“Funeral services will be conducted from the Clark Funeral Home Chapel at 3:30 p.m Saturday with burial in the Belfast Cemetery.”

I like to think that the old traveler, my great-grandfather, was preparing to set off on another adventure!