Post by benotforgot on Feb 9, 2010 14:45:35 GMT -6
The settlement of Scarborough:
Charles Pine, hunter and Indian fighter
By
Augustus Freedom Moulton
Read before the Maine Genealogical Society
April 16, 1888
Charles Pine, hunter and Indian fighter
By
Augustus Freedom Moulton
Read before the Maine Genealogical Society
April 16, 1888
Of the origin of Pine nothing is known further than that he was an Englishman. It has been asserted that he came from London, but without proof so far as I can learn. The imperfect lists of emigrants who left England do not give his name. This is not remarkable, as by far the larger portion left without reporting to the authorities there. Pine was a reckless, daring young fellow, and he, with Richard Hunniwell, the famous Indian killer of Scarborough, were the heroes of the early settlement.
The same year that Pine removed to Scarborough, 1702, Queen Anne's war commenced, and the Indians were very hostile. There was no settled peace with them until aiter 1725. During these days the inhabitants remained conveniently near the garrison houses at Black Point and the Neck. The first garrison was built on the westerly shore of the Neck, between the West Point and Checkley Houses, as now located. Here, in 1703, the little company, numbering only eight persons, were besieged by five hundred Indians, with some French assistants from the Norridgewock settlement. The deadly accuracy of the settlers' guns kept the savages at bay, but creeping under the steep banks beneath and out of range, they began to undermine the fort. A violent rain caused the top of the mine to fall, exposing the workers to the fire of the fort, and the Indians abandoned their undertaking and withdrew. The ravine where the digging was done is still apparent.
For Pine and Hunniwell the Indians entertained a superstitious terror. Pine was aware of the feeling upon their part, and this accounts for actions of his that otherwise would seem utterly foolhardy. On one occasion, it is said, he went entirely alone and concealed himself in a deserted house some three miles from the fort, where the Indians were in the habit of holding nightly powwows. He carried, as was usual with him, two muskets. With the shades of night the band came in Indian file, and as they reached the door Pine fired, instantly killing two. The rest waited for no explanations, but disappeared in the darkness before he could bring his second gun to bear. Having stripped the dead savages of their equipments he took his solitary march back to his comrades in the fort.
Another story, handed down with some variations is, that the Indians were in the habit of coining out upon the beach beyond gunshot range from the fort, and there dancing and yelling and defying the whites with all insulting words and gestures to come out and fight them. Pine thought this had gone far enough, and one morning, before daylight, went out and concealed himself under a pile of seaweed and driftwood, within easy range of their parade ground. The Indians appeared as usual, and one burly fellow, turning his back to the distant garrison, placed his hands upon that portion of the body which my grandfather, who used to tell the story with much glee, named, in nautical parlance, his "stern." Pine, from his hiding place, sent his unerring bullet to the precise spot indicated, killing the Indian, and the rest of the band, with a howl of terror, fled from their solitary foe.
After the Indian hostilities had quieted somewhat, Pine moved to the place across the bay from the neck where the waters of the Scarborough River and the ocean have formed a sandy point. Here, for some years, he made his home, and from him it has its present name of Pine, or more properly " Pine's Point." He was living there probably in 1726, when he was made Constable of Scarborough.
As early as 1721 Pine had bought a tract of land above Dunstan, and from this time the records disclose quite frequent conveyances to him and by him. In these he is styled "housewright," "joiner" and "carpenter."
After the Indians were partially subdued, but still turbulent and dangerous, Pine built a house upon the southern bank of the Nonsuch River, some five miles from the coast, and removed there with his family. His hunting tramps had given him a good acquaintance with the lands about, and his location was upon one of the best farming spots in the town. Here he lived for about twenty years and acquired a large estate in lands and cattle. He is reputed to have been in the highest degree exact and honorable in his conduct and dealings; but, tradition states, was never in cordial relations with the church and it seems never joined it — a most remarkable thing in those days when the church was the source of all political rights and preferment. His wife Grace, however, and his daughters were devoted attendants.
In 1752 he made his will, describing himself as " aged and infirm, and sensible of the mortality of my body, but having the free and usual exercise of my mind and reason."
He died the following year, 1753, having seen the town increase from a little military station, garrisoned by seven fighting men to a prosperous and peaceful community.
The name of Pine's wife was Grace, and it would seem that she must have come from Salem soon after he arrived at the Neck. He had five children, Charles, George, Isaac, Mary and Grace.
- What became of Charles is not known. The report has been handed down that he went to England to claim a large inheritance there, which his father had refused to accept, and never returned. At all events he disappeared, and in Pine's will he leaves a trifling legacy to be paid to Charles, "if living."
- George married Mary Carter, December 7, 1738; he died soon after 1740, leaving one child, George Charles, who did not long survive him.
- The third son, Isaac, an active and promising youth, was drowned February 6, 1821-22.
- Of the daughters, Mary married William Deering, October 26, 1732, and lived on Blue Point. She came to a tragic end. Her husband, usually affectionate, in a sudden burst of passion killed her instantly with an ax. All accounts agree that she was an estimable woman, and that she gave no provocation for the deed. Deering was arrested but escaped, and, overcome with remorse, soon committed suicide. The murder was regarded by the community with unspeakable horror, and old residents at this day point out a stone, partly of rose-colored quartz, which they say was the doorstep of the house, and that the red streaks are the stains of Mary's blood which nothing can ever efface. She left seven children, three boys and four girls; most of the numerous and respectable families of Deerings in this region are her descendants.
- Grace married John Reynolds, or Runnels, and had by him eight children. From her have descended the Scarborough Carters, a branch of the Merrills, and of the Thurstons, and most of the Moulton families of Scarborough. Her daughters, Sarah, who married Benjamin Garter, and Grace, who married Daniel Moulton, received the greater part of their grandfather's lands.
Moulton, an adventurous youth, who had run away from learning a blacksmith's trade in Hampton, New Hampshire, was an especial favorite of the old hunter, and he attempted to entail upon the first-born sons of Moulton's descendants forever, after the old English fashion, a lot of his fertile meadow land.
Numerous as are the descendants of Pine, the name died with him, unless it be that Charles somewhere survived.
As has been intimated there are in all accounts suggestions of some mystery which hung over Charles Pine. It has been quite generally believed that he belonged to a wealthy English family, and that he chose to leave his ancestral home and adopt a hunter's life in the wilderness of Maine. It is said that every year remittances came to him from his English relations, and that this accounts for his large accumulation of property, which could hardly have been expected from a man devoted more to his rifle than to his plow. Many of his descendants now believe that somewhere in the city of London is one of those vast fortunes such as serve for a will-o'-the-wisp to the Burnhams and the Webbers, and which will yet materialize and make all of Pine's descendants rich.
Pine was a good representative of the strong, aggressive, Anglo-Saxon civilization that has conquered and taken possession of this continent. Near the place where he and his company made their lodgment has been lately found one of those mementoes which occasionally appear of the weaker race that yielded to their prowess. . . .
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Found online at Google Books . . .