Spotlight on a framer of the U.S. Constitution: Rufus King.

- Click here for the Wikipedia entry.

Early Life: 

He was born on March 24, 1755, at Scarborough, which was then a part of Massachusetts but is now in the state of Maine.[1] He was a son of Isabella (Bragdon) and Richard King, a prosperous farmer-merchant, "lumberman, and sea captain"[1] who had settled at Dunstan Landing in Scarborough, near Portland, Maine, and had made a modest fortune by 1755, the year Rufus was born. His financial success aroused the jealousy of his neighbors, and when the Stamp Act 1765 was imposed, and rioting became almost respectable, a mob ransacked his house and destroyed most of the furniture. Nobody was punished, and the next year the mob burned down his barn.[2] This statement proves true as John Adams once referenced this moment discussing limitations of the "mob" for the Constitutional Convention writing a letter to his wife Abigail and describing the scene as:

I am engaged in a famous Cause: The Cause of King, of Scarborough vs. a Mob, that broke into his House, and rifled his Papers, and terrifyed him, his Wife, Children and Servants in the Night. The Terror, and Distress, the Distraction and Horror of this Family cannot be described by Words or painted upon Canvass. It is enough to move a Statue, to melt an Heart of Stone, to read the Story....[3] It was not surprising that Richard King became a Loyalist. All of his sons, however, became patriots in the American War of Independence.

For more about his family

- Captain Richard King. 
- Mary King (Stowell).
- David Sowell.
- John King.

Also:

- FENDING CHAOS: THE EARLY YEARS OF RUFUS KING, FORGOTTEN FOUNDER.
- The King Family.
- Rufus King Family Tree.