Rufus King, the first child of Richard King and Isabella Bragdon, was born in Scarborough in 1755. He graduated from Harvard College in 1777. In 1778 he served in the Continental Army, in 1780 he was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. In 1784 he was elected to represent Massachusetts at the Continental Congress. He was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States in 1787,

In 1788 he moved to New York City after marrying Mary Alsop of New York in 1786. While in New York he served in the United States Senate. While serving in the Senate he worked on the Missouri Compromise.
Rufus King was a "Orator, Statesman, and Patriot". He died in 1827 in New York.