Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 98

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I > Part 98

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(IV) Nathaniel Paine, the fourth child of Na-

thaniel, (3), of Bristol, Massachusetts, (now Rhode Island) and his wife Dorothy, was born in Bristol, March 9, 1688. He was an active man, holding many town offices, and was also representative for five years. In 1723 he was a member of a court of admiralty, specially commissioned for the trial of pirates, of which William Drummer was president. In 1724 he was appointed judge of the inferior court of common pleas for Bristol county, and remained in office until his death. He married, June 25. 1713, Sarah, daughter of Timothy Clark, of Boston, by whom he had seven children: I. Edward, born in Boston, April 18, 1714, married. February, 1739, Mary Bosworth, daughter of Benjamin Bosworth, of Bristol. 2. Sarah, born August 17, 1716, married Thomas Drowne, March 24, 1736. They had a son, Nathaniel Paine Drowne, graduated at Harvard College in 1764. 3. Nathaniel, born June 17, 1719. 4. Dorothy, born January 20, 1723, married Hon. John Chandler, of Worcester, who was a loyalist, and one of six citizens of Worcester who in 1775 were banished from the country for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. 5. Samuel, born September 3, 1725, lied young. 6. Samuel Clark, born February II. 1727; he was a captain of a company at the re- duction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 7. Tim- othy, born July 8, 1730, at Bristol. Nathaniel Paine clied at Bristol, 1729. His widow married John Chandler and removed to Worcester, where she died, 1780.

(V) Timothy Paine, son of Nathaniel (4), of Bristol, and Sarah Clark, his wife, was born at Bristol. July 8, 1730, a short time after the death of his father. He lived in Bristol until the mar- riage of his mother, in 1739, to John Chandler, of Worcester, when he removed there and remained a citizen of that place until his death. He stood fifth in his class at Harvard College when he gradu- ated in 1748. After his college days he returned to Worcester and became one of the most active and influential citizens. In 1751 he was appointed clerk of the court for Worcester county, remaining in that office until 1774. He was register of probate from April, 1757, to 1767; register of deeds, 1761-77; special justice of the supreme court in 1771, and one of His Majesty's council from 1763-68. He was town clerk 1754-64; one of the selectmen of Wor- cester 1754-64, and 1766-75; and representative of the general court 1755-57, 1759-62, 1788-89. In 1789 he was a candidate for congress, but his opponents made use of the fact that he had been appointed one of the mandamus councillors before the revo- lutionary war, and this, with the general charge of loyalty to the English government, was pressed with such force by the newspapers that he lost his elec- tion, although a man of recognized ability and un- blemished character. He was a real estate owner at Worcester as early as 1751, and by 1767 became owner of a large tract of land on the "great road to' Boston," now Lincoln street. He was prominent in forming the second Congregational parish in Wor- cester (Unitarian), in 1785, under the pastorate of the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, father of George Ban- croft, the historian.

In 1749 Timothy Paine married Sarah, daughter of Hon. John Chandler and Hannah Gardner, his wife. Madame Paine was a most zealons loyalist. The Timothy Paine house is still standing (1905) on the west side of Lincoln street, a short distance from Lincoln square. She died at Worcester, ISII. aged eighty-five years. He died July 17, 1793, and was buried in the old burying ground on Mechanic street, Worcester, but later the remains were re- moved to Rural Cemetery. The children of Timothy and Sarah Paine were : William, born June 5,

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1750. 2. Timothy, born January 3. 1752, at Wor- cester, died December 29, 1775. unmarried. 3. Sam- uel, born at Worcester, August 23, 1753, graduated Harvard College, 1721, and like his father and brother was a warm supporter of the Royal govern- ment. The Paines and Chandlers had long held office under the Crown and therefore felt in duty bound to do so. 4. Hannah, born July 22, 1755, married, 1772, Ebenezer Bradish, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 5. Nathaniel, born July 22, 1755, died December 25, 1757. 6. Nathaniel, born January 5. 1759. died October 1840. 7. Anthony, born November 13, 1760, died July 8. 1788, was in the apothecary business at the corner of Main and Elm streets. 8. Jolin, born July 25. 1762, died unmarried, December 23, 1835. 9. Sarah, born March 28. 1764, married. January, 1786, James Perkins. Jr., of Boston, and died in that city, December. 1841. IO. Elizabeth, born January 12. 1766, married, February. 1786, Dr. Joseph Trum- bull: she died in Worcester, July 10, 1832, leaving one son, George Augustus.

(VI) William Paine, the first child of Timothy (5) and Sarah Paine, was born June 5. 1750, at Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated at Har- vard College in the class of 1768, his name standing second in the catalogue, according to the diguity of families. He studied medicine with Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, a physician of Salem. One of his in- structors, before entering college, was John Adams, afterward president of the United States, who taught in the Worcester school while studying law with Hon. James Putnam, a lawyer of great ability. He commenced his practice in Worcester in 1771, in connection with the business of an apothecary. In 1772, with Dr. Levi Shepard and Ebenezer Hunt, of Northampton, he opened the first apothecary store in Worcester county. Like his father and brother Samuel he was very friendly to the Crown, and took an active part in the politics of his day. In the spring of 1774 there was great excitment in Worcester owing to the objectionable acts of parlia- inent then lately passed, especially at the report of an effort to have the general court offer indemnity for the tea destroyed in Boston harbor. The loyal- ists of the town were much excited at what they considered the treasonable action of the Whigs in opposing the acts of parliament, and finally a pro- test signed by over fifty of them was presented at a town meeting held in June, 1774. This protest, which was the joint production of Hon. James Put- nam and Dr. Paine, was quite lengthy, and com- plained bitterly of the outrages perpetrated by the Whigs, alluding especially to "the teas of immense value lately belonging to the East India Co. not long since scandalously destroyed in Boston," and also protesting against the committee of correspondence then being formed and ending thus: "It is by these committees also, that papers have been lately published and are now circulating through the province, inviting, and wickedly tempting all persons. These and all such enormities we detest and abhor; and the authors of them we esteem enemies to our King and country, violaters of all law and civil liberty. the malevolent disturbers of the peace of society, subscribers of the established constitution. and ene- mies of mankind." These resolutions were spread upon the town records of Worcester. and when the opposition found it out trouble en- sued, they demanding of the selectmen that the clerk be ordered to strike and erase the same from the public records. The selectmen voted to so order the record erased, and thereupon the clerk, in open town meeting, with his pen defaced the pages on which

the obnoxious record was made, but this not proving satisfactory to the patriotic voters there assembled, he was made to dip his fingers into the ink and draw them across the records, so effectually accomplish- ing the object that the words have been utterly illegible, as may be seen by inspection of the volume in the hands of the city clerk of Worcester, at this late date.

Soon after this Dr. Paine went to England. where he remained until the spring of 1775, but as the war came on he was denounced as a loyalist, and, as he could not return to his family and home, he at once sailed for Liverpool. deigning to avail himself of the advantages and means of improvement af- forded by foreign institutions, until the war should terminate. After a year's attendance in hospitals, and having received the degree of M. D. from Maris- chal College, at Aberdeen, he was appointed to the office of apothecary to the English forces in America. Later he was admitted to the Royal College of Phy- sicians of London. He returned to America in 1782, landing in New York in March, and in October of the same year was appointed by Sir Guy Carle- ton physician of the army. He was ordered to Hali- fax and remained there on duty until the troops were reduced in 1783, when he was discharged on half pay. All of this is found in Lincoln's "History of Worcester." In the summer of 1784 Dr. William Paine took possession of La Tete, an island in Pas- samaquoddy Bay, granted him by the English gov- ernment for his "service in war." He wrote to his brother Nathaniel, in June, 1784: "I am going to move, bag and baggage, to Passamaquoddy. I have already erected a house on the island, which is the spot upon which I intend to reside." But ou ac- count of poor society, lack of schools, etc., lie re- moved from that point in 1785 to St. John, where he began to practice his chosen profession again. He was appointed by Governor Thomas Carleton one of the first board of aldermen of St. John, and in 1786 was unanimously elected alderman from Sid- ney ward. He was elected to a seat in the assembly of New Brunswick, and was appointed clerk of the house. He was afterward chosen speaker of the as- sembly, but as he soon after left the province re- tained the office but a short time. In October. 1785, he was appointed "Surveyor-General of Woods in the Province of Nova Scotia, all other His Majes- ties Territories in America," by Sir John Wentworth, with orders to "carefully survey and diligently make and register such white pine trees as may now or hereafter be fit for the use of the Royal Navy." He retained this position until the summer of 1787, when, the act of banishment having been repealed, he, by permission of the war office, went to Salem, Massachusetts. After the death of his father, in 1793, he returned to Worcester and occupied the paternal estate until his death. Until 1812 he was on half pay as a British officer, when he was called utnon by the British government for service, but rather than act against his countrymen he resigned his commission. In June of the last named year lie petitioned the legislature of Massachusetts for consent to his being naturalized as a citizen of the United States. Dr. Paine was one of the founders of the American Antiquarian Society, and its first vice-president. He died in Worcester, April 19, 1833, the anniversary of the fight at Lexington.

Dr. Paine was married September 22. 1773, by Paine Wingate. to Lois Orne, of Salem, by license of his friend, Sir John Wentworth. Their children were: I. Esther Orne, born August 18, 1774. 2. Harriet. born November 13. 1778. died December 20. 1778. 3. Harriet, born November 21, 1779. 4. William, born November 2, 1783, died. unmarried,

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July 21, 1834. at Batavia. 5. Elizabeth Putnam, born at St. John, New Brunswick, June 26, 1786, died at Worcester, Massachusetts. 6. Frederick Wil- liam, born at Salem, Massachusetts, May 23, 1788. (VI) Nathaniel Paine, sixth son of Timothy (5) and Sarah ( Chandler) Paine, was born in Worcester, August 5. 1759. He graduated at Harvard College in 1775. read law with Hon. John Sprague, of Lan- caster, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar of Worcester county in 1781. After five years prac- tice in Groton, Massachusetts, he returned to Wor- cester. He was a representative of the general court 1798-1800 ; county attorney for a similar period of time; and was appointed judge of probate, Janu- ary 24, 1804, holding the office thirty-five years, re- signing in 1836 on account of failing health. He was one of the founders and a councillor of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society. The late Governor Levi Lincoln in a paper read before the Worcester Fire Society, of which Mr. Paine was one of the founders 111 1703. says of him: "He was of bland and courteous manners, an inquiring and observant habit, rare colloquial powers and a memory so singularly retentive as to become a perfect store- house of historic fact and personal anecdote: he was a most instructive and delightful companion."

He married, December IS, 1785. Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Gardiner Chandler, of Worcester. Judge Paine died at Worcester, October 7, 1840. Their children were: I. Nancy Leonard, born November 25. 1786. died January 8, 1802. 2. Charlotte, born in old Paine house in Worcester, August 9. 1788. 3. Nathaniel Anthony, born November 19. 1791, died February 9, 1819, unmarried. 4. Sarah Chandler, born November 29, 1794, died Worcester, October 15, 1840. 5. Gardiner, born May 23. 1799. 6. Henry, born August 12, 1804, entered Yale College. 1820, but left on account of failing health. 7. Charles, born August 12, 1804.

(VII) Frederick William Paine, the sixth child of Dr. William Paine, removed to Worcester with his father in 1793. He entered Harvard College in 1803. but left after a stay of nine months to engage in commercial pursuits. In 1806 and again in 1809 he made a voyage around the world, visiting China and the northwest coast of America. In 1818 he went to Europe, remaining there about four years, during which time he was connected with the com- mercial house of James and Thomas H. Perkins. He finally became a permanent resident of Wor- cester about 1816, and for the remainder of his life was actively interested in the local affairs of the place. He was a member of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1829, one of the selectmen of Wor- cester 1827-31, and most of the time from 1838 to 1849, at which time the town was chartered as a city. He was an assessor of taxes for the town most of the time from 1829 to 1848, and his judg- ment as to the value of real estate was much es- teemed. He early manifested an interest in horti- culture, his garden on Lincoln street being noted for its flowers and fruit. For many years he was an active and influential member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, serving most of the time as treasurer. He was a valuable member of the American Antiquarian Society, contributing largely to its library, also serving as one of its councillors. Mr. Paine was a man of literary tastes. spending much of his time in reading. His library, at the time of his death, was considered as among the largest private collections in the state, number- ing several thousand volumes, representing every branch of literature. When but fourteen years of age he was employed to correct the proofsheets of the first Greek Testament published in North Amer-

ica, and issued from the pen of Isaiah Thomas, "the patriot printer of the Revolution." Mr. Paine died at Worcester. September 16, 1869. He was mar- ried May 5. 1822, to Ann Cushing Sturgis, daughter of Hon. Russell Sturgis. Their children were: I. William Russell, born January 26, 1823. 2. Eliza- beth Orne, born March 27. 1826: 3. James Per- kins, born Worcester, December 16, 1827. 4. Mary Pickard, born March 13, 1830. 5. George Sturgis, born June 4, 1833. 6. Annie Cushing Sturgis, born March 5, 1836, died November 19, 1873.

(VII) Esther Orne Paine, born August 28, 1774. married (first) Joseph Cabot, of Salem, September, 1795; married (second) Ichabod Tucker, of Wor- cester. November 5, 1811. Two children were born to them: Joseph S. and William Paine Cabot.

(VII) Harriet Paine, born at Newport, Rhode Island. November 21, 1779, married, March 7, 1802. Joseph Warner Rose, and died June 29. 1860. They had nine children, among whom were: Harriet, born February 5, ISO4, married John C. Lee, of Salem: Josephine, born February 13, 1815, married, May 4, 1842, George Chandler.

(VII) Charlotte Paine, second child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Paine, was born August 9. 1788. She married, September 25. ISIS, Timothy Paine Brad- ish, of Natchez, Mississippi. She died at Worcester, December 3, 1866. They had one child, Walter Burling, who died without issue.

(VII) Gardiner Paine, fifth child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Paine, was horn May 23, 1799. He married, October 11, 1831, Emily Baker, of Dedham, Massachusetts. Two children were born to them Nathaniel and Anne Elizabeth. In 1826 Mr. Paine was major of the Sixth Regiment, First Brigade, Massachusetts Militia, under Col. Samuel Ward, of Worcester, and was in command of a regiment at the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill mon- ument. He was in business for several years in partnership with Daniel Heywood, in a dry goods and general store located on the west side of Main street, about halfway between Pearl and Pleasant streets. Worcester. He died January 27, 1854.

(VIII) George Chandler and Josephine (Rose) Paine had two daughters that attained years of womanhood. 1. Mary, born at Concord. New Hamp- shire, February 17. 1845; she married, October 4, 1871. A. George Bullock, of Worcester, and had issue : Chandler, born August 24, 1872; Alexander Hamilton, born November 7. 1874: Augustus G., born April 20, 1880, died April 20. 1880: Rockwood, born - 2. Fanny, born Worcester, Massa- chusetts, January 5, 1852: she married Waldo Lin- coln, of Worcester, and had issue: Merrick, born May 25, 1875; and Josephine Rose, born February 28, 1878.

(VIII) William Russell was born July 26. 1823. He married, April 12. 1855, Frances Thomas Choeker, of Taunton. They had five children-four daughters and one son, Frederick William, born February 22, 1866.

(VIII) James Perkins was born in Worcester, December 16, 1827. He married, May II. 1865, Sarah Turner, of Boston. They had four children -three daughters and one son, Russell Sturgis, born June 6. 1874.

(VIII) Mary Pickard was born March 13, 1830. She married, May 3, 1851, Allyn Weston, of Dux- bury. One child, a daughter, was born to them.

(VIII) Nathaniel Paine, son of Gardiner and Emily (Baker) Paine, was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, August 6, 1832. He was educated in the public schools and academy of his native city. By the above family history it will be observed that he came of ancestors of prominence in revolutionary

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days in town affairs, and that his grandfather was many years judge of probate in Worcester county. When seventeen years of age, having clerked for a time in a leather store, he entered the Mechanics' Bank as a clerk. In 1854 he was made the assistant cashier of the City Bank, and three years later was promoted to cashier, which office he held until De- cember 12, 1898, when he was elected president. When the banks were merged into the Worcester Trust Company, a short time since, he became vice -. president and still holds the position. He has been connected with many of the financial concerns of Worcester. He was vice-president of the Wor- cester Five Cent Savings Bank, and chairman of the Clearing Association.' The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Harvard College in 1898. He was from young manhood pos- sessed of a literary taste, and is especially fond of history and art. He has written much of local his- tory, and many articles from his pen have appeared in different publications. Among the papers pre- pared by Mr. Paine were "Early Paper Currency of Massachusetts," "Historical Notes on the Town of Worcester," "The Drama in Worcester," and "Early American Imprints in the Library of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society." He also edited with notes the "Diary of Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Li- brarian of the Antiquarian Society." He is also con- nected with many other societies. He was one of the founders of the Worcester Art Society and has been its president, and is director of the Art Mu- scum Corporation, also was a director of the Free Public Library for eighteen years. He served in the common council one term. He is a great lover of good books, and possesses a fine library. The follow- ing list will explain his prominence in society mat- ters: Treasurer American Antiquarian Society ; treasurer Worcester County Horticultural Society ; treasurer Home for Aged Men; treasurer Devens Monument Association; president Worcester Ly- ceum ; president Worcester Natural History Associa- tion : director Free Library, and secretary for more than a dozen years; and director of the Worcester Art Museum. He holds membership in the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, New England Historic and Genealogical Society, American Society of Ad- vancement of Science, Colonial Society of Massa- chusetts, American Historical Association, Folk- Lore Society of Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Monu- ment Association, Worcester Society of Antiquity, Worcester Art Society, honorary member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. He is also a corresponding member of the Long Island Histori- cal Society, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, La Société Numismatipue of Mon- treal. Canada, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Melrose, Scotland, and the Georgia Historical Society. He was one of the original members of the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston. His has been a husy life, and many public institutions have felt the touch of his literary influence.

Mi. Paine was married June 14, 1865, to Susan M. Barnes.

JUDGE HENRY CHAPIN, son of Elisha and Sarah (Wood) Chapin, was born in Upton, Massa- chusetts, May 13, 1811. Soon after entering his teens his father died and the boy Henry was forced thus early to care for himself. Having improved the opportunities granted by the public schools of his native village, he began to learn the trade of a carpenter, but a brief trial at that occupation proved to his own mind he was not intended for a carpenter. He then turned his attention to study, and fitting for college entered Brown University and graduated from that institution in 1835.

After teaching school for a time in Upton hie began the study of law with the late Emery Wash- burn, and also at Cambridge. He was admitted to the bar in 1838, and at once began the practice of his profession in the town of Uxbridge. Eight years later he removed to Worcester and became a part- ner of the late Rejoice Newton. In that city he grew rapidly into popularity, and his legal practice became extensive. He was industrious, faithful and efficient, consequently highly successful in his pro- fessional undertakings, and within three years of his coming to Worcester the people felt such confi- dence in his integrity and ability that they elected him to the office of chief magistrate of the city, re- electing him in 1850, but he declined a third nomi- nation. In 1855 the courts of probate and insol- vency, hitherto distinct, were united, and Mr. Chapin was appointed to preside over the new court, a post- tion which he held at the time of his death. It has been said that during the twenty years he held the office of judge of probate and insolvency more than half the estates in Worcester county passed under his jurisdiction in one or the other side of his court, and that he was brought into official relations with a larger number of persons in all conditions of life than any other public officer of the county. His patience, fidelity and impartialty have been univer- sally admitted, and his kindly nature, courteous manner and keen preception of justice to all parties gained for him the confidence and respect of the people of the county.

Judge Chapin was not an aspirant for political office, and although entertaining firm political con- victions was not an offensive partisan. He repre- sented the town of Uxbridge in the general court in 1845, and received the nomination for congress in 1856 by the Republican convention, but declined the honor. In 1870, although he had served as mayor of the city of Worcester two terms, he accepted the office again when chosen by the council to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Mayor James B. Blake, but retired after serving a few months, as soon as a successor could be provided by a popular election. In 1848 he was appointed by Governor Briggs commissioner of insolvency, and in 1855 by Governor Gardner commissioner under the "personal liberty law" of Massachusetts. designed for the pro- tection of persons charged with being fugitive slaves. For many years he was a member of the state board of education, and for fifteen years one of the trus- tees of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital. He was for many years president of the People's Fire Insurance Company, a director of the City National Bank, vice-president of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and for thirty years served as a director of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. Judge Chapin was possessed of a kindly and highly sym- pathetic nature, always ready to do a benevolent act, and was active in helping to organize institu- tions through which charity could be wisely dis- pensed to the unfortunate and the needy. The Old Men's Home of Worcester was one of the institut- tions conceived and aided by him.

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Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 98

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 824

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824