Monday, September 14, 2015

Pierre (Peter) LaBree, Revolutionary War Seaman


Dale and Harv have gathered bits and pieces about Pierre LaBree 1755-1851 - he being Nancy (LaBree) Dutton's great-grandfather. Pierre has an interesting story, and the more we discover the more interesting he becomes. The most recent finding is his application (submitted in 1845, at age 90) for pension for Revolutionary War service as both a privateer seaman and with the Massachusetts Continental Navy. During his service at sea he was a privateer on the Tyranicide, which was present, and provided a vital role, at Bagaduce  (Castine, ME) during the Penobscot Expedition. Our transcription of his application is below and a likeness of the original (two pages) is included in the "Maine Connections" slideshow in right column, along with other pictures of interest.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Page 1 (dictated to his son Lawrence):
I Peter Labree of Brentwood in the County of Rockingham and state of New Hampshire testify and declare that I was born in George Town State of Maine and there lived until I was twelve years of age and then moved to Mount Desert so called and lived there until the Revolutionary War began. When the War began I went in a smawl (?) schooner commanded by Agren Crabtree and took an old sloop bound from Annapolis to Halifax worth about three hundred dollars. From there I went to Salem and entered a Continental vessel commanded by Daniel Waters of eight guns four pounders. I was in said vessel for a term of eleven months, front of line off Cape Ann we took a wood cutter bound for Boston which was then occupied by British. Also took a schooner of 60 tons bound to the West Indies from Annapolis Isle and the remainder we were on a cruiser for the Gamueah (??) Fleet.
I was on the Brig called the Trianacides (Tyrannicide) commanded by Jonathan Haradin (??) of Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1781 until peace was declared and in company with another Brig. commanded by Capt. Fisk. We bring two Brigs of 15 guns 6 pounders and on a cruise off the Grand Banks we took a copper bottom Brig and put a firemuster (??) a board and order her to Salem but she was retaken and we then sailed towards the British Channell and on our cruise we took after a running action of three hours and a half with vessel of superior metal (??) to ours and they had two of their officers killed we had no one killed. From there we cruised in the English Channel off Cape Clear on the north side of Ireland Isle and there we took a vessel we called a Snow which the invoice of her cargo was twenty five thousand pounds sterling. Also we took a Brig with sixty Hessians and three women on board bound to Quebeck. Also we took a Brig loaded with provisions and salt bound to Newfoundland. Also we took off the Channel three other vessels making seven which arrived home safe. A seventy-four gunship gave us chase and drove us into France. I was out in this vessel for fifteen months. You will find my name on the ship’s records. Prior to this cruise I was out a privateering and taken prisoner into New York and there kept a little better than a year when I returned home. I have lived in Brentwood not far from sixty-five years but have been occasionally been to sea. My sea service including the Revolutionary War service has been not far from forty years. I have been a sea captain about twenty years. I am ninety years old.
Page 2 (dictated to his son Lawrence):
At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War I entered the service as a volunteer but after a service of eleven months I thought I should get more by entering a privateer which I did until I was taken prisoner and suffered so much at New York. I then thought if I was in the State service I should be exchanged sooner and it would be better for me and accordingly entered the State of Massachusetts service in 1781 and served for fifteen months and I was honorably discharged which discharge is lost but you will find my name on the payrolls of the Trianacides (Tyrannicide) during all of which time I served in the capacity of an able bodied seaman and he therefore prays that the Court to take order hereon to instill him to a pension agreeably to an act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. He being entitled to the provisions therein proclaimed to a pension for two years service.
March 19, 1845
Dictated to his son Lawrence LaBree
Pierre LaBree X (his mark)
Witnesses
Daniel W. Ladd
Nathan (?) Batchelder (?)

What about the Maine Dutton - LaBree Connection

Over the past year Harv and Dale have discovered new resting places for some Dutton-LaBree family members in Maine. As most of you know, Nancy LaBree Dutton followed two of her sons, John (Phillipsburg) and William (Avis) to Pennsylvania where she spent the rest of her days living with one or the other of them. Nothing more was ever known about the LaBree / Dutton family, that lived in Maine, until recently.
Through Dale's research it was discovered the original Dutton to come to Maine was John Dutton, who migrated from Billerica, MA to Starks, ME and he died there in 1818. Members of the Dutton family lived in other towns in that immediate area - Abbot, Parkman, Industry and Kingfield to name some. Our line of the LaBree family also migrated to that same area of the state - Cambridge, Abbot, Parkman to name three towns.


Last summer, as Harv and Dale were driving through Abbot from Moosehead Lake they stopped at an old cemetery on the main road to explore - not looking for anyone in particular. By coincidence Harv stumbled right onto Thomas Jefferson Dutton 1806-1863 (Nancy LaBree's father-in-law) and Thomas's mother Louis (Young) Dutton 1769-1853.
Later that summer they went to Industry and found the grave of Josiah Dutton 1770-1862 (Thomas Jefferson Dutton's father / Louis's husband). Pictures of their graves are in the slide show, right column. Josiah's grave is in an old cemetery located on a back road that is situated on the Industry / Starks town line. So happened a friend of Dale's has a camp on that road and she had actually explored the cemetery years before without realizing the connection. Josiah's father John Dutton 1738-1818 was the first to migrate to (Starks) Maine from Massachusetts before 1790. Suspect he was a Revolutionary War veteran but that remains to be seen.


Nancy LaBree Dutton's husband - Thomas Franklin Dutton - had been a BIG mystery for a long time as no one in the family ever really heard or knew what became of him. Dale found that he had entered the Civil War at age 19, left Nancy at home in Maine with five children, and never returned. He ended up in Thompson, CT with another family and is buried there with his 2nd wife. That explains why Nancy had to depend on her sons for support and also why she never talked about her husband Thomas. We are still searching for more info about Thomas and Nancy (LaBree) Dutton to determine if they were ever really married or divorced. Hopefully time will help unweave their story!


Harv and Dale are still hoping to find the resting places for John Dutton (the first to migrate to Maine) who died in Starks in 1818; and also plan to track down Thomas Labree, died 1871 in Cambridge, ME.; his father James who died 1831 in Wales, ME; his father Pierre LaBree who died 1851 (age 96) in Rockingham County, NH. By the way - Pierre LaBree was born in Georgetown, Maine and moved to Mount Desert Island at age 12 (then called Acadia, New France). He was aboard Capt. Eleazer Crabtree's brigantine ship the Tyrannicide that fought against the British at the Penobscot Expedition, Bagaduce Peninsula (Castine) - but that is another story for another time!!