Charles E. Pike

Charles E. Pike (1816–1899) bought the property — then part of a larger block — from Horace Cousens in 1854 for $2,588, and the 1855 map marks the house as C. E. Pike, making him the earliest documented occupant of the house itself.

According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission report, Pike was born in Calais, Maine, a son of Samuel T. Pike and Susanna Day, and graduated from Bowdoin College (class of 1837). A lawyer, he sat in the Maine legislature in 1847 and represented Newton in the Massachusetts legislature in 1856. When his wife Mary Bowles Pike’s health declined the family moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he helped found the Northwestern newspaper; he also served as Solicitor of Internal Revenue in 1865–66. He sold the Newton property to Andrew J. Wilkinson in 1861 for $10,500. His brothers were notable in their own right — the journalist and diplomat James Shepherd Pike, and Frederick A. Pike, a U.S. Congressman from Maine during the Civil War. Pike had earlier been listed among the 1836 Frontier Guards of Calais.

A note on sourcing. Pike’s death year is not settled: the MHC report and one genealogy give 1899 (at Oshkosh), while another printed sketch on his entry says 1886. Both scans are reproduced there so you can judge for yourself.