On August 8, the daughters of the Pemaquid Chapter hosted special guest, D.A.R. Maine State Chaplain, Earlene Chadbourne. She discussed the state of the union during the lives of brothers Rufus and William King, two of Maine’s well-known statesmen and patriots in the mid-1700’s and early 1800’s.

William King was an American merchant, shipbuilder, army officer, and statesman from Bath, Maine. A proponent of statehood for Maine, he became its first governor when it separated from Massachusetts in 1820. He was born Feb. 9, 1768, in Scarborough, Maine and died June 17, 1852, in Bath. He was the youngest of three brothers and was not educated the way his brothers were, however, he distinguished himself in spite of this deficiency with much success in business and politics.

Rufus King, his older brother was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was educated at Harvard. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitution Convention and was one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born March 24, 1755, in Scarborough, Maine and died April 29, 1827, Jamaica, New York City, New York. He represented New York in the U.S. Senate, served as Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President (1804 and 1808) and President of the United States (1816).

Their youngest half brother, Cyrus King, was also a distinguished Maine son born Sept. 6, 1772. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated from Columbia College in New York City in 1794. Cyrus King served as private secretary to Rufus King when he was United States Minister to England in 1796. He served as major general of the Sixth Division of Mass. Militia. He was one of the founders of Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine. King was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses (March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817). He died April 25, 1817.

The Chapter is welcoming five new members in the coming months and is working on the 85th year celebration in November. We welcome visitors to our meetings the second Tuesday of the month. Please mark your calendar, for our special meeting in November which will be on Saturday, November 11.