Rufus Soule (July 16, 1785 – September 22, 1867) was a boat builder in Maine and served for several years in the state legislature.[1]
Rufus Soule was born July 16, 1785, in North Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Maine, the fourth son of Captain John Soule (1740–1814) and Elizabeth Mitchell (1747–1794).[2]
Soule bought the yard at Porter's Landing in 1834[3] and became one of the most eminent shipbuilders in Maine. He built eighty-five vessels during his career. His son, Rufus C. Soule, joined him in the trade.[4]
Soule served as a representative in the Maine Legislature from 1832 until 1838. A Democrat, he was a State Senator from Cumberland County in 1838.[5] He also served as a justice of the peace.[6]
Soule married Susan Mitchell on June 2, 1805, and they had eleven children together. After Susan died in 1853, he married Philomela Talbot and then married Hannah Bailey Small, a niece of his first wife.
He died in 1867, at the age of 82, and is buried in the Porter's Landing Cemetery, Freeport, Maine.[1][5]
The Soule family remains one of the prominent families in Freeport. The George C. Soule School existed in South Freeport until 1991, when students were transferred to the newly-built Mast Landing School,[7][8] where the Soule name was used for one of the education tracks for students.[9] The former Soule School location now houses the École Française du Maine.
In 2018, the Freeport Historical Society purchased a painting of Soule and his wife at auction.[6]