John Nutting (14 January 1739, Cambridge, Massachusetts – 1800, Newport, Nova Scotia) was the Master Builder and Surveyor of Lumber for the King in New Ireland and later Nova Scotia. He fought for the British in the French and Indian War and worked as a Loyalist throughout the American Revolution. He contributed to the successful defence of New Ireland from a 21 day siege by the Penobscot Expedition. French and Indian War He was a member of Captain Fuller’s company of William Brattle’s regiment (1746). The next year he enlisted under Captain Aaron Fay in Col Ebenezer Nichols's regiment at Lake George in 1758. He fought with Abercrombie against Montcalm at Ticonderoga. He married Mary Walton 23 April 1761 of Reading, Massachusetts. They built a home in Cambridge, Massachusetts near present-day Epworth Church. He worked under his father-in-law John Walton as a master builder and was in the lumber trade. He built Lieut Governor Thomas Oliver’s house, later named Elmwood, currently the official residence of the Presidents of Harvard University. American Revolution On 1 September 1774, he was involved with the Powder Alarm, when tried to block those who wanted to prevent General Gage’s intention to move the Magazine of Powder to Boston. He was physically beaten by the patriots but escaped Cambridge to Boston. The patriots turned his home into a barracks. In Boston, Nutting built barracks and other fortifications under Colonel Cleaveland. He became to acting Lieutenant of the Cambridge company. Six weeks before evacuation day, under the orders of Captain Spry he went to Halifax with his wife, six children. He became the Master Carpenter and Superintendent of Mechanics. He participated in the failed attack on Machias. New Ireland He returned to England and was appointed the Chief Overseer of His Majesty’s works at Landguard Fort, which was under the direction of Lord Towshend. Through this work, he came to know William Knox. Knox was committed to planting British forces on the coast of Maine, to protect the Bay of Fundy and the coast of Nova Scotia. It would also form the nucleus and bulwark for a new province for loyalists. He was sent from London to rebuild the Fort at Penobscot. En route to Penobscot, Nutting travelled on the Harriet to Penobscot under the command of Sampson Sprague. En route they were attacked by the much larger American brigantine Vengeance, under the command of Wingate Newman.