William Cutright

Other Events:

• Also Known As: The Bear Hunter

Notes:

JOHN ---- THE BEAR HUNTER

*1
We have not been able to authenticate the label "Bear Hunter"
attached to John's name. The legend has been handed down verbally by some
of his descendants. Although many early settlers did eat bear meat, if he
killed bears for meat, he would not necessarily be a hunter.
If he killed bears to protect his family he would not be a hunter.
There were probably many bears in the wooded areas in the early days.
A more likely theory is that he may have hunted bears for their
skins. Bear skins were used for rugs, covers, leggings and many other
things.
Who gave him this title? His family or someone else? How or when he
got his name, we will accept him as John - The Bear Hunter.

1. The book "CUTRIGHT FAMILIES" by Ellen Decker

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We have no exact location as to where John Cutright was born in
Virgina but records show that he lived in Hardy County which is now in
West Virginia. Records show that more than one Cutright leased land from
Lord Fairfax who owned many acres of land in Virginia. Augusta County
Virginia Court Records -- "9 August 1773 Fairfax to Henry Cutright Lot #
51 on East side of South Branch of Patomac 75 acres"; "3 August 1773
Fairfax grant lot #71 on East side of South Branch in Hardy County 50
acres"; "29 August 1787 Book 1 Page 90 John Cutright and wife Elizabeth
to Abrahm Shobe all of Hardy County Lot #71", names sons, Andrew and
Henry (land granted to said John in 1773). This sounds like our ancestor
John. This was probably after John and Elizabeth left Virginia for
Kentucky. Some believe that Henry was John's father.
History of Harrison County Virginia -- William Stuart, asignee of
John Cutright, 400 acres on the waters of Willis Creek, a branch of the
Potomac, adjoining his Excellency General Washington's Land, to include
his improvements made in 1773. (Extracts taken from certificates issued
in 1781 for land in Montgomery County.) Was this the same John? We have
no way of knowing. The first census was taken in 1790. In the 1790 Census
of Virginia there are several John Cutrights. Since only the heads of a
family were named (no wife or childrens names) we can't really tell which
one was our ancestor John.
We may presume that Elizabeth Subre was also born in Virginia as
Virginia had claim to all land westward to the Mississippi River at that
time. It is also presumable that they were married in Virginia. John was
on the Virginia tax list in 1782, but not on the tax list in 1784.
Records show that the family was in Kentucky in 1788. Sometime between
1882 and 1788 the family made the treck westward over the mountains into
Kentucky. Kentucky was not yet a state as it didn't become a state until
1792.
There were two ways to come from Virginia into Kentucky, one the
Wilderness Trail blazed by Daniel Boone coming through the mountains at
Cumberland Gap. However since living in Hardy County they probably
traveled north to Fort Cumberland, then west and north along Braddock's
Road, now Route 40 (The route Washington traveled when he was sent to
warn the French to Leave British territory) To Fort Duquesne (now
Pittsburg) where the confluence of the Allegheny and Monogahela Rivers
form the Ohio River. From there they probably traveled down the Ohio
River to where they embarked on the south shore and went to the
settlement in Kentucky.
In 1792 General Nathaniel Massie led a group of scouts from Kentucky
into Southern Ohio looking for settlement sites. From "Historical
Collections of Ohio, and Encyclopedia of the State, Volume II," by Henry
Howe, 1896; "After exploring in 1792 Massie and others gave glowing
descriptions of the beauty of the scenery and the fertility of the soil
in the Scioto Country. These reports circulated through Kentucky arousing
great interest in this region. This section of Ohio was in Virginia
Military Land Tract. After a short time in the revolutionary army, Massie
studied surveying and in 1783 went to Kentucky to seek his fortune. He
became an expert surveyor and was employed by Col. R. C. Anderson,
principal surveyor of the Virginia Military Lands. In 1791 Massie made
the first settlement within the Virginia Military district at Manchester.
In 1793 Massie was determined to atempt a survey tour on th Scioto River.
He and his party of about thirty men proceeded up the Ohio to the mouth
of Paint Creek. During 1793 - 1794 they explored different branches to
their sources, which run into Little Miami River. Withstanding many
hardships, they continued exploring and surveying during the Winter of
1794 - 1795. In the spring of 1796, about the first of April, a group of
forty or more met at Manchester to form a settlement at the mouth of
Paint Creek. They were from Mason and Bourbon Counties, Kentucky, and the
Cutrights were among the group. This was the first white settlement in
this region and was seven years before Ohio became a state".
The History of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio we find that John
Cutright came from Virginia with the Massie party in 1796 and settled at
station Prairie on the west side of th Scioto River. He remained at the
Station for a short time, then moved to the east side of the river on
land belonging to Nathaniel Massie". This section was the Military
District. Massie was a Virginia Military District Surveyor and found the
town of Chillicothe in 1796. By 1797 Massie's offer of free "in lots" and
"out lots" to the first 100 settlers had been fulfilled.
John Cutright served in the Revolutionary War from September 1778 to
March 1779. He was a private in Caption Machen Boswell's company of the
2nd Virginia State Regiment under Colonel Gregory Smith. He fought at
Camp Middlebrook, New Jersey.

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Obituary of John Cutright

Scioto Gazette -- December 29, 1830

On Friday last Mr. John Cutright of Springfield Township, Ross
county, Ohio died in the 83rd year of his age. The partner of this
vernerable man died only eight days before in the 73rd year of her age.
They lived together as man and wife 57 years, were the parents of 12, the
grandparents of 35 and the great grandparents of 54 children; numbering
151 descendants.
"Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thine
offspring as the grass of the earth." Thou shalt come tho thy grave in
the full age like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." Job V;
25, 26

(from the book CUTRIGHT FAMILIES by Ellen Decker)

John married Elizabeth Subre about 1773 in Virginia. Elizabeth was born in 1757 in Virginia; died on 16 Dec 1830 in Ross County, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]