This is the first of two family stories. It recounts a descendant remembered as a formidable fighter during early colonial conflicts with Indigenous peoples. – Rebecca Kashmer Davis (Eliot, Maine)
[Image Placeholder: Colonial Maine Map or Early York, Maine]
Thomas Moulton
Thomas Moulton was born around 1614 in Ormsby, Norfolk, England. He immigrated to New England in the early colonial period, first settling in Newbury, Massachusetts in 1637, then Hampton, New Hampshire in 1639, and finally York, Maine in 1654.
Thomas had seven children, one of whom was Jeremiah Moulton, born in 1656. Jeremiah married and raised a family in York, Maine. He and his wife were living there at the time of the Raid on York in 1692.
The Story Passed Down
This is where the family story, as told through generations, begins. During the winter of 1692, Abenaki warriors launched a surprise attack on the settlement at York. Many settlers were killed, and others were taken captive.
Jeremiah Moulton and his wife were killed during the raid while their young son, also named Jeremiah—approximately four years old at the time—was forced to watch. The child was taken captive and eventually sold to another Indigenous family.
Remarkably, after roughly seven years in captivity, the young Jeremiah was returned to York by the individual who had held him. The experience left a lasting mark. According to family tradition, Jeremiah grew up determined to take part in the colonial defense against the people he believed responsible for his parents’ deaths.
Captain Moulton
As an adult, Jeremiah Moulton enlisted in the colonial militia. In 1724, during one of the major military campaigns of the period, English authorities dispatched a force of more than 200 soldiers to confront an Abenaki village.
Captain Moulton commanded the expedition. He ordered his men not to fire until fired upon. The order was followed. When the fighting began, Moulton’s forces killed approximately half of the opposing warriors. The chief and many women fled toward the river during the engagement.
The colonial forces declared the campaign a victory, and Captain Moulton was credited with leading the successful attack. Within family memory, this event became central to his reputation as a fierce and determined military leader.
Our Relationship
Captain Moulton was the brother of Joseph Moulton and a second-generation descendant of Thomas Moulton of York, Maine. Through Joseph Moulton, the family line continues for eleven generations to Rebecca’s father.