William Nutt William Nutt ( August 5 , 1836 – August 30 , 1909 ) was a colonel in the American Civil War , a representative to the Massachusetts General Court from 1871 to 1872 and again in 1901 , he was also the chairman of the board of the Natick Five Cents Savings Bank . Biography . He was born on August 5 , 1836 in Topsham , Vermont to Isaac Brewster Nutt and Sally Ann Munroe . His paternal grandparents were William Nutt and Mary Brewster . His grandfather ' s grandfather William Nutt was one of the first settlers of Londonderry , New Hampshire . Both his grandfather and his great grandfather Samuel served in the revolution and his father in the War of 1812 . His early education was limited to a few terms in the district school of his native town . As soon as he was old enough he began to work on the farm of his father and for neighboring farmers . In his sixteenth year , in 1852 , he moved to Natick , Massachusetts , where he began to work at the shoemaker ' s trade . He supplemented his schooling by much reading and study , and attended private schools when he had the opportunity . As a shoemaker , associated with Henry Wilson , who afterwards became vice - president of the United States , he became interested in the slavery question , and in 1857 took part in the Kansas movement , the result of which was to keep that state free from slavery . He ' squatted ' at Lawrence , Kansas . His first vote was for the Free Soil ticket , and he was one of the active organizers of the Republican Party . He returned from Kansas to his home in Natick , Massachusetts and followed his trade as a shoemaker until the Civil War broke out . He was a member of the militia company at Natick , but left the organization to enlist in Co . I . Capt . A . B . Underwood , 2nd regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia on May 15 , 1861 . He was made a corporal , and on August 11 , 1861 , he was promoted to sergeant . He was a very successful drill master , and was detailed early in the service to instruct officers as well as men of the 27th Indiana Regiment . Civil War . His first skirmish was October 22 , 1861 at Conrad ' s Ferry , Virginia . After the battle of Battle of Ball ' s Bluff , in which he was engaged , he was in the hospital sick for several weeks , and was , when convalescent , detailed , December 1861 to recruiting service in Springfield , Massachusetts . He returned to his regiment in Martinsburg , Virginia , after being assigned to the 12th Massachusetts Regiment , from April to June 1862 . The regiment lost nearly half its mend and more than half its officers in an engagement August 9 , 1862 , and from that time until he left the regiment in March 1863 , he was acting first sergeant with the special duty of drilling recruits . At the Battle of Antietam a third of the regiment was killed or wounded . He was commissioned March 5 , 1863 , second lieutenant , and May , 1863 , first lieutenant , in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw . He was afterwards made a captain in the 55th Massachusetts Regiment . He was the provost marshal of Jacksonville , Florida , in February , 1864 ; promoted major , November , 1864 ; lieutenant colonel June 1865 , and brevet colonel at the close of the war . He was with the regiment at the Siege of Charleston . He was mustered out in September , 1865 . Natick . He became a partner in the firm of David & Plummer , shoe manufacturers of Natick , but finding that business uncongenial , began to study law in December , 1866 , in the office of Walter N . Mason , Natick . In February 1868 he was appointed agent of the Freedmen ' s Bureau , and located at Halifax and Lunenburg Counties , Virginia . After six months of this service , and study of law , her returned to Natick and was admitted to the bar in Middlesex County , Massachusetts , August 9 , 1868 . He opened an office in Natick , where Colonel Nutt was as prominent in political and public life as in military affairs . He was always active in the Republican Party , serving for many years on the town committee , often as chairman ; frequently being delegate to the state and other conventions of his party . He was first elected moderator of the Natick town meeting , after a sharp contest in 1870 . He was particularly well fitted for this duty by parliamentary knowledge , experience in presiding , and knowledge of town business , and often served the town , the last occasion being 1896 . He was the tax collector in 1870 and 1871 ; representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1871 - 1872 , serving on the committee on labor in 1871 and on probate and insolvency and woman suffrage in 1872 ; chairman of the Natick board of selectmen 1874 , 1876 , and 1881 ; member of the board of health 1874 ; overseer of the poor for three years ; member of the school committee 1873 ; on many important town committees ; deputy sheriff 1877 - 1886 inclusive ; trial justice of the Natick Court 1886 to 1892 . He was elected state senator in 1901 by a vote of 7328 to 4204 for his opponent , in a district that had the previous year elected a democrat . He served on the committees on constitutional amendments , military affairs , and chairman of the committee on taxation . He was also on the important special committee which revised the public statutes . He was justice of the peace from 1867 and notary public from 1874 . Death . Colonel Nutt made a specialty of probate court practice , and has had the settlement of many important estates and trusts . He did most of the pension business for his locality . In his later years most of his practice was as attorney for the Natick Five Cents Savings Bank a very prosperous institution . He was a member of the investing board from 1869 until 1909 , and chairman of the board and first vice - president of the bank until his resignation , on account of ill - health , May 1 , 1909 , a period , of forty years . Nutt had been suffering from hardening of the arteries for a long time , his fatal illness having really begun many months ago , and when he retired from practice last December it was hoped that he might enjoy at least a few years of rest in his old age , but fate willed otherwise . His condition grew steadily worse and Saturday he became unconscious . The members of the family were summoned and were all at the homestead waiting for the end which came Monday without his having regained consciousness . Legacy . He married at Framingham , Massachusetts , April 25 , 1863 , Abigail Prentice Puffer , who died January 27 , 1906 . He leaves four sons ; William Harrison of Everett , Massachusetts ; Charles of Worcester , Massachusetts ; George of Natick , Massachusetts and Henry of Winthrop , Massachusetts ; three daughters , Nellie A . of Elwyn , Pennsylvania ; Mrs Ralph D . Sutherland and Matilda of Natick , Massachusetts ; two brothers , Isaac Brewster of Natick , Massachusetts and Samuel of South Haven , Kansas and one sister , Mrs . Nathan P . Rice , West Boylston , Massachusetts .