PULSIFER Benedict (Jr.)

Notes:

One of the most interesting stories revealed in the old Ipswich court
records involves the conviction of Benedict Jr. in 1682 for burglary
aboard a sloop. This incident was a profound embarrassment to his
father. Benedict Sr. submitted a lengthy written petition to the
quarterly session of the court seeking to defend his son against
conviction in May 1682. Benedict Sr. was ahead of his time, in a way,
in his use of defense which, with some embellishments, has become
popular in the latter half of the 20th century, known as the
"diminished capacity" defense. The profile presented, quite a
lengthy, and written in the first person, is of a father persistently
concerned about the value of education for his son, despite the son's
apparent dull-wittiness. This account shows that Benedict Sr. was
quite literate in an age when education among Englishman was rare.
Benedict Sr. painted a picture of his son as a dull-witted lad
hopelessly unable to learn to read despite the extraordinarily
painstaking efforts of his father and who was innocently led into
mischief by a Negro slave who was more cunning. His pleas for mercy
was in convincing to the court. Benedict Jr. was convicted of
" being with Stephen Crose's Negro aboard Crose's sloop, stealing
wine, sugar, and biscuit to the value of 36s". The court ordered
Benedict to pay half the treble damages to Crose and also to be
whipped.
In the summer of that same year, Benedict Jr. again got himself into
trouble with the law. In August 1682, Benedict Jr. was convicted in
Salem court, along with two other youths of stealing 37s in silver
which they took from a box from the house of Nathaniel Treadwell to
finance their plan to runaway from home. In July of 1682, 19 year old
Benedict Jr. along with John Yell and James Dunaway made a secret
agreement to abandon their Failes and leave town. They also took a
boat from Thomas Clerk and "a sayle and oare from Robert Cross". The
youths left the boat at York and went by land to Black Point, where
they were apprehended by Andrew Birdsley and brought back to the
great island in Pascataquay, and from there returned to Ipswich.
Benedict avoided a public whipping by paying a fine and his share.
His restlessness continued, and in September of 1688, he had wandered
north to the banks of the Royal river in what is now the town of
Yarmouth, Maine, but then called Westcustogo. He became involved in
the first bloodshed in the state of Maine in what came to be called,
"King Williams War". This involved a number of bloody outbreaks
between white man and Indians. The abundance of fish and game and
large stands of timber attracted the white man to this region. Yet
the Indians resented the encroachment into their homeland and
considered it a violation of treaties. Benedict was among those
involved in building a stockade against the Indians on the west side
of the river. On one fateful morning in Sept 1688, Benedict and a man
named Larabee and a few others were sent over from the block house
before the rest of the workmen to make preparations for the days
work. The Indians were lurking in ambush. With their faces smeared
with war paint, the Indians sprung from the bushes to attack. One of
the Indians gave Larabee a violent push. Larabee immediately lifted
his gun and shot the Indian dead. While he fired, a second Indian
seized Larabee and Benedict struck the Indian squarely on his
shoulder with the edge of his broard axe and the Indian fell to the
ground. The fight now broke into general chaos. The Indians
ultimately retreated with two captive men who they put to death by
torture back in their camp. The settlers fled the region, and it was
not repopulated with white people until 1713.
Benedict continued his travels and in 1690 Benedict Jr. enlisted in
Sir William Phip's expedition to Quebec as a member of Captain
Abraham Tilton's company. It is quite possible he was killed or taken
prisoner in the unsuccessful attempt to take the Canadian stronghold.
No further records on benedict Jr. are available. He apparently died
unmarried and childless.