Jeremiah Moulton
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Jeremiah Moulton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1688 |
| Died | 20 July 1765 (aged 76–77) |
| Spouse | Hannah Ballard m. 1711 |
Jeremiah Moulton (1688–July 20, 1765) was a New England militia officer and member of the Massachusetts Council. As a boy during King William's War, Moulton's parents were killed and he was taken captive in the Raid on York.[1]
Jeremiah Moulton was born in 1688 in York, Maine as the youngest son of Joseph Moulton and Hannah Littlefield. When he was four years old, York was attacked by the French and Wabanaki Indians in what was called the Candlemas Massacre.[2] Both his parents died in the attack; his mother was killed after being struck by a tomahawk in her skull. He survived by hiding underneath a bed.
After the attack he remained with relatives in York and learned surveying. He married Hannah Ballard of Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1711 and together they had eight children, one of them named Jeremiah Jr.[3] Around this time he joined the militia.[4]
His sister also survived the attack and later married Johnson Harmon.
Father Rale's War
During Father Rale's War, or Lovewell's War, then Captain Moulton and Captain Johnson Harmon led a force of 200 rangers to Norridgewock in an attempt to kill Father Sébastien Rale and stop the Native Americans from raiding British settlements. He led his men directly into the village and they succeeded in their objective winning the Battle of Norridgewock. After the war, he returned to his civilian life, remaining in the militia. He became a judge, sheriff of York County, and member of the Massachusetts Council, among other jobs.[5]
