Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I, Part 20

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I > Part 20

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last acts of Payne's life was a petition to the legislature to open negotiations with the Dutch- government for free navigation of the river to New York. William Payne was very intimate with the governors, Winthrop and Dudley,. fathers and sons of Massachusetts and Con- necticut, and a numerous correspondence be- tween him and the Winthrops is preserved. After the death of Governor Dudley, Mr. Payne became the principal owner of the mills at Watertown, which had been the first milling enterprise in New England. It was at first a corn mill only, but was afterwards enlarged so as to embrace also a fulling mill. In course of time Mr. Payne became the owner of three- fourths of the Lynn Iron Works, through his connection with Governor Winthrop. This was the first undertaking of the kind on this continent. He was also interested in a similar enterprise in Braintree, and the inventory of his estate showed he died in possession of three-fourths of it. He was also interested in the iron works at New Haven, of which Gov- ernor John Winthrop, junior, was an owner. While Mr. Payne did not become an owner, he was for many years interested in the opera- tion of its business. He was also a part owner in five vessels at the time of his death, and in the lead mines at Sturbridge. He was an extensive owner of lands in various parts of the country, including the famous Thomp- son Island, in Boston Harbor, now the loca- tion of the farm school. He was interested in trade at Portsmouth and other points, and his farm lands were extensive in Topsfield, Rowley, Salem, and a mill privilege in Exeter. He was not only interested in manufacturing and farm- ing, but during the last few years of his life was an active merchant in Boston, having a large credit and conducting business on a very extensive scale. The inventory of his estate shows that he carried an immense stock of every variety of goods that could be desired in the new country. He appears to have been very liberal in giving credit to his neighbors and customers, and his estate at death in- cluded many doubtful and worthless accounts. It is not alone as a business man that Mr. Payne was distinguished. He was a sincere professor of religion as indicated both by his character and his writings. His property was ever treated as a means of advancing public weal and it would seem that his investments were made with an eye to that object. He was public-spirited and a liberal contributor to the cause of education. In the promotion of this he was one of the most active of the small number of men who at that early day took

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measures to establish and endow a free school at Ipswich. This has continued to exist, and is to-day working upon the fund thus estab- lished two and one-half centuries ago. In his will he made a bequest of a lot of land at the mouth of Ipswich to be held inalienable for- ever, and this land is still occupied by an old school house on Payne street, which has for more than two centuries been devoted to edu-

cation. Mr. Payne died October 10, 1660, leaving a will executed about one week pre- viously. He was evidently very weak at this time, as the signature is very illegible. In it a donation of twenty pounds is made to Harvard College, and various bequests to clergymen in the vicinity of Boston. His wife Ann sur- vived him, but he outlived all his children ex- cept one. They were: Susan, William, Han- nah, John and Daniel.

(II) John, second son of William (2) and Ann Payne, and the only one who left pos- terity, was born 1632, in England, and was three years old when he accompanied his pa- rents to America. He resided many years in Boston, and carried forward the enterprise be- gun by his father. He was active in promot- ing commerce, and received large grants of land for his service in seeking open navigation of the Hudson river and for other public ser- vices. These lands were on the Hudson river. His service to the English government in re- building Fort James, at the foot of Manhattan Island, secured him great favor with the local governor and the powers at home, in expres- sion of which he was made sole owner and governor for life of Prudence Island, in Nar- ragansett Bay, with courts and other machin- ery of a free state, in which religion was made free. This grant was alleged to conflict with previous Indian grants, and he was arrested by the Rhode Island authorities and convicted of setting up a foreign government, but was al- lowed his liberty on giving up his claim. He died at sea in 1675. It is probable that he lost his property in litigation, as no record of an estate is found. He was married, in 1659, to Sarah, daughter of Richard Parker, and re- ceived a tract of land from the last named as portion of his bride. She probably died before her husband. Their children were: William, Sarah, Hannah, Anna and Elizabeth.

(III) William (4), only son of John and Sarah (Parker) Payne, was born March 15, 1664, probably in Boston, and passed most of his life in Malden, where he died April 14, 1741. He married, March 9, 1691, Ruth Grover, born 1667, died April 11, 1722. They had sons: William and John.

(IV) William (5), elder son of William (4) and Ruth ( Grover) Payne, was born No- vember 16, 1692, presumably in Malden, and died January 29, 1784, in Norton, Massachu- setts. He was a man of strong constitution and great vigor of mind, determined and ob- stinate. Some authorities give him credit for living one hundred and five years, and the date of his birth is not absolutely certain, but the above is approximately correct. When Wash- ington's army was stationed in front of Bos- ton he was eighty-three years old, and when asked why he visited camp, he replied: "I come to encourage my son and grandsons, and see that they do their duty to their country." He resided in that part of Norton which is now Mansfield, at a time when it was infested with wild animals, and slaughtered many wolves. He married (first) April 18, 1717, Tabitha Waite, born 1692, died April 7, 1721, leaving a son William. He married (second) November 6, 1722, Elizabeth Sweetsir, a widow. Three of their children are recorded in Malden: Elizabeth, Edward and Thomas, the latter born 1726. No record appears of the others except that family tradition gives two, Ruth and Susannah. It is probable that there were two others.

(V) William (6), son of William (5) and Tabitha (Waite) Paine, was born in Malden, June 25, 1720, died July 17, 181I, at over ninety years of age. He married Mary Bull, of Foxboro, in 1743. She died February, 1810. They had a married life of sixty-seven years, and had twelve children. William was a man of great industry and perseverance, of great firmness and independence, zealous in religious matters, and a loyal patriot. He marched with his aged father and two or three of his own sons to Boston at the outbreak of the war. It is said several of his sons at one time and another were engaged in it. It is said of him : "He did more with his own hands to make this wilderness blossom as a rose than any other man in town, and notwithstanding his extreme old age he continued to work till within a few days of his death." His wife is described as a "woman of remarkable strength of mind and body, strong mentally and physi- cally, strong in her friendships and strong in her prejudices, a woman of superior judgment, but somewhat of a tyrant, of great personal in- dustry, and yet a great reader. Her personal appearance was prepossessing, with impressive eyes, bright and sparkling to the last." The children were: William, November 13, 1743; Mary, died in infancy ; John, August 20, 1746; Lemuel, April 4, 1748; Jacob, February 7,

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1750; James, September 8, 1753; Abiel, No- vember 20, 1754; Isaac, died in infancy ; Asa, 1758; Jerusha, March 10, 1760, never mar- ried; Hannah, August 9, 1763, never married.

(VI) Lemuel, son of William (6) and Mary (Bull) Paine, was born in April 4, 1748. He married Rachel Carpenter, born January 31, 1757, died September, 1828. Lemuel died at Foxboro, December 22, 1794. Children : Lemuel, born December 2, 1777, a famous at- torney of Maine, and father of Henry W. Paine, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Otis, August 16, 1779, an inventor and mechanical genius; Asa, July 28, 1781, died in boyhood ; Frederick, October 25, 1785, father of Albert W .; Lucas, February 28, 1785, died same day ; Rachel, August 2, 1789, Mrs. Harvey Part- ridge. After the death of Lemuel, his widow married (second) Deacon Isaac Platt, by whom she had three children.

(VII) Frederick, son of Lemuel and Rachel (Carpenter) Paine, was born in Foxboro, Massachusetts, November 21, 1785, died March 12, 1857. He married, September 21, 1809, Abiel Ware, born in Wrentham, Decem- ber 6, 1787, died January 12, 1852. Frederick removed to Winslow, Maine, with his brother Lemuel, and there resided the remainder of his life. He was a cooper by trade, but he de- voted a large portion of his time to agricul- tural pursuits. In 1815 he was appointed postmaster of Winslow, a place he held for thirty years. He was for many years treas- urer of the town. In 1808 his wife and an- other couple alone joined to form a church of the Congregational order, and were both ever afterward active members. Their house was always open for the entertainment of all min- isters. They were constant churchgoers, their pew being long never vacant and seldom less than full. Their religion was free from bigotry, liberal in practice, and charitable toward all. They had eight children: Charles Frederick, Albert Ware, Benjamin Crowning- shield, Caroline Matilda, Harriet Newall, Tim- othy Otis, the learned restorer of Solomon's Temple ; Charlotte Elizabeth; Sarah Jane.

(VIII) Albert Ware, son of Frederick and Abiel (Ware) Paine, was born at Winslow, Maine, August 16, 1812. He was graduated from Waterville College, class of 1832. He studied law with Hon. Thomas Rice and Gov- ernor Samuel Wells, and was admitted to practice as an attorney at law in 1835, open- ing an office in Bangor, Maine. Here he ever afterward resided. Was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States at

Washington, February 16, 1853, and continued without any intermission busily engaged in the practice of his profession until his death, De- cember 3, 1907, aged ninety-five years three months seventeen days. July 9, 1840, he mar- ried Mary Jones Hale, a descendant of Rev. John Hale, the early pastor of the church in Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts, who had so much to do with dispelling the Salem Witchcraft delusion. She was born May 8, 1816, and died April 10, 1901, after a most lovely married life of sixty-one years. She was a woman of great intelligence, charming manner, beautiful in face and expression, re- taining the charm and freshness of youth un- til the last in an unusual degree. Four daugh- ters were born to Albert W. and Mary J. (Hale) Paine: Mary Abby, April 1, 1841 ; Selma Ware, December 24, 1847; Lydia Au- gusta, January 10, 1850, and Eugenie Hale, May 1, 1853. Three of the daughters re- mained at home with their parents, where they still reside. Lydia Augusta married, October 29, 1872, Henry H. Carter, of Boston; they have two children: Albert Paine, December 13, 1873, and Martha, January 1, 1876.

The passing hours of December 3, 1907, marked the closing scenes of the life of Albert Ware Paine, the most remarkable man of that bright galaxy of legal stars who gave to the bar of Maine such a commanding position in judicial history. For seventy-two years since 1835, he had been in the practice of his loved profession, and for at least seventy of those years in constant, active, untiring practice be- fore local, circuit, state, supreme and United States supreme courts. Even the last two years were not spent in idleness. He retained a seat in his old office and looked after the interests of a few old clients (principally es- tates), attended to his own personal affairs, wrote and published a work on "Mt. Hope Cemetery," and wrote often for the newspa- pers and periodicals to which he was a wel- come contributor. Only a very few days be- fore he laid down his pen forever, a letter written by him appeared in a Boston paper, in which he called on President Roosevelt to ac- cept another term. His capacity for work was enormous. Said one of his contemporaries, "I do not see how he can accomplish so much; how does he do it?" Not only in the applica- tion and the administration of law was he great and skilful, but deeply interested and useful was he in the enactment of new laws which would tend to a better application of the principles of justice, for to him law meant

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justice, and the statutes of not only Maine, but the whole world are enriched by one enact- ment, the product of his brain and pen.

Mr. Paine was the author of many laws and amendments. Among others he drafted, had presented and effected the enactment of the following statutes: An act to abolish the dis- tinction between counsellors and attorneys at law; an act to exempt stockholders of cor- porations from personal liability ; an act pro- viding for compulsory fire inquests; acts re- lating to saving banks law ; an act relating to taxation of insurance companies; an act to establish an insurance department; an act to exempt insurance policies from United States bankruptcy proceedings; an act to, protect family burying grounds.

Mr. Paine was also most largely instru- mental in originating and passing a beneficent law-that allowing criminals to testify in their own behalf. Before 1864, no criminal' could utter a word in his own defense in any court of law in the world. But it must be, where the injustice and the need of reform are so great, that more than one would independently recognize that need, and strive or wish to re- form it; and, as the authorship of this law is .claimed for another, Mr. Paine's connection with it should be simply and exactly stated. Its history extends over many years.

During his early life in Winslow he became cognizant of the case of a boy who had been unjustly accused, convicted and sentenced for a theft which he had not committed, but the proof of it was not found until he had lived a .convict for three years, and had died with the shadow of disgrace upon him. It could not have happened had the criminal been al- lowed to testify in his own behalf. This, then, was Mr. Paine's inspiration; a most painful and impressive experience before his college life was ended; a deep conviction that justice was not justice under such conditions-a con- viction, however, which he allowed twenty years of legal practice and constant advo- cacy to assure before he thought the time ripe for the accomplishment of reform.

In 1859 Mr. Paine drafted his bill, carried it to Augusta, and caused it to be presented by Mr. A. G. Lebroke, a former law student of his, and a member of the House of Rep- resentatives. There he labored hard for its passage only to see it go down in defeat. Nothing daunted, he returned in 1860, 1861, 1862' and 1863, causing the subject to be introduced again and referred to a committee before which he argued the case each year ,anew. Again he went in 1864. During that

session the proposed law became a matter of much interest, and met the support of the pub- lic quite generally. Other friends also had been raised to favor the bill (among them Mr. Vinton, of Grey, whose name has since been used in connection with it), and, although not without strong opposition, it was passed at that session. After six years of labor, dating from the time the first bill was intro- duced, a law was passed providing that no person in the state of Maine could be sent to the gallows or to prison without having the right to tell his story to the jury.

After the success in Maine, Mr. Paine brought the subject before the people by cor- respondence with the Boston Daily Advertiser, and John Quincy Adams requested him "to write out an ideal statute containing the pro- vision of the Maine Criminal law." He com- plied. Mr. Adams immediately presented to the Massachusetts House what had been writ- ten, urging upon it the need of such a statute. It met with instant favor, and, with an addi- tion, was carried the very forenoon of its presentation. Here ended Mr. Paine's direct service in the cause, but the law itself spread to other states, to the Canadian Provinces, and on to England and France.

The authorship of this law is claimed for Chief Justice Appleton. Judge Appleton was Mr. Paine's deeply honored friend, and it must be that the advocacy, in written and spoken words, of one of Judge Appleton's eminence and character, wide influence and judicial ex- perience, one so universally esteemed and trusted, was a very potent factor in forming that public opinion on which is based the pas- sage of a law.

Mr. Paine was also working to procure an act to legalize voting by proxy in public elec- tions. He had also agitated and had inter- ested such men as Senator Hoar, of Massa- chusetts, in an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, providing for the suc- cession to the Presidency in the event of the death of the President elect before Inaugura- tion Day. The joint resolution for this con- stitutional amendment, in which Senator Hoar embodied the resolution originated and sent him by Mr. Paine, and which he, in commit- tee, amended only to make it apply also to another closely allied defect to be remedied, passed the senate May 4, 1898. In the House of Representatives it was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary, May 5th, but was never voted on in the House itself, and Mr. Paine, with his customary persistency in such matters, did not cease to urge its passage on

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senators and representatives, to his very last year.

The public offices held by Mr. Paine were: Bank and Insurance Examiner, 1869-70; State Insurance Commissioner, 1871-73; Tax Commissioner, 1874; and he was alderman in Bangor in 1861. While holding these offices, Mr. Paine prosecuted his law business, labor- ing harder and longer. He neglected neither his public nor his private business. While his life was chiefly devoted to his professional duties, he varied them by contributions from his pen to magazines and periodicals. He wrote a great deal on current and legal topics, varying this by an occasional book. He was a Swedenborgian in religion, and a volume writ- ten and published by him, entitled "The New Philosophy," is a book of religious views, especially showing the author's belief in the intimate and close relations existing between the inhabitants of the material and the spirit- ual worlds. Other works were: "The Paine Genealogy," "History of Mount Hope Ceme- tery" (This being written in his ninety-fifth year ) ; various Bank and Insurance Commis- sion Reports, Insurance Commission Reports, and Tax Commission Reports, and he was the only correspondent of the Aroostook War. Aside from his official reports, his writings were his recreation. In his profession, he argued cases before the Supreme Court in Washington, also before the Circuit and Dis- trict Courts of the United States, and before the State Courts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Minnesota. The whole number of cases he argued was in ex- cess of five hundred, more than three hundred of which are reported in the "Maine Reports." He tried or argued cases before every Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the District Court and the Supreme Court of Maine, who has been seated on the bench since Maine be- came a state, excepting only one who left the bench before Mr. Paine's admission. His cases were notable, and the decisions given were of the greatest importance. He tried causes involving question of title respecting almost every dam or mill privilege on the Penobscot river. In fact, all questions of more than ordinary importance found him en- gaged by one side or the other. Early in life Mr. Paine resolved to seek or accept no office that would interfere with his work as a law- yer, and this explains why he never held pub- lic elective office. For over forty years he was one of the directors of the Maine Tele- graph Company, and in 1876 was elected presi- · dent. In 1852 he was elected treasurer of the

Mt. Hope Cemetery Corporation, holding that position for fifty years. He was senior mem- ber of the Penobscot bar, and president, and since 1859 its treasurer and librarian for many years. Many parcels of land in Bangor were in his professional care, and he laid out and named many of the city streets. The Soldiers' Cemetery and Monument were the result of his suggestion. While attorney for the Land Office, Mr. Paine performed a service to the citizens of Maine that cannot be overestimated, when he secured from a refuse heap in the State House at Boston, Massachusetts, the early records, documents and plans of lands in all parts of Maine. These records involved the titles to lots in Bangor and other towns, and descriptions of early surveys. Two large drygoods boxes of these valuable maps and papers were recovered, but only after legisla- tive and legal steps had been taken to compel Massachusetts to surrender them. They have since been bound into volumes and preserved in the Maine Land Office-a rich inheritance for the citizens, the titles to whose homes is there largely to be found. But for Mr. Paine's zeal these valuable papers would have been irrevocably lost.

Much could be said concerning Mr. Paine's professional life, but the greater part must be left unsaid. Suffice it to say that he always believed in the justice of his cause, and the in- tegrity of his client, and his services were sought and obtained by the very best class of men and corporations. His business was not to tear down and defeat the purpose of exist- ing laws, but to upbuild and perfect where he saw weakness. His life was open and above reproach. One said of him: "I preach Albert W. Paine to the boys." No grander eulogy could be uttered. His home was his haven of rest, and "a constant source of happiness and refreshment." He left professional cares at the office, and in his home and garden (of which he was very fond) obtained social recreation and healthy rest for the duties of the morrow. None ever saw him angry, yet none could intimidate him. "By common consent he was an honest, honorable man, an upright member of society, a model head of a family, a loyal citizen of the Republic, of simple tastes and high ideals." "Without that bright spark we call genius, he accomplished results by indefatigable labor and industry, what others of a higher order of talent to do." An oil portrait of Mr. Paine hangs in the library of the Supreme Court of Maine. He was a man of most temperate habits in everything. A strong supporter of Maine's prohibitory

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law, and a total abstainer himself, he was not fanatical in his views nor intolerant of the rights of others. A most independent thinker on religious and political questions, he ac- corded cheerfully to others the same inde- pendent freedom of thought and action. In early days he was anti-slavery in his views. As a Whig, he joined the Republican party at its formation, and always remained true to that party. He was of a most sunny, gen- ial disposition, of a witty and humorous turn of mind, and one who inspired warm friend- ships. In the latter respect, he gave freely from the depths of a loving heart, and in return received the love and affection of men, as well as the unvarying respect of his col- leagues and acquaintances. The character of his age was remarkable (even five years be- fore his death it had become customary to call him the oldest practicing lawyer in the United States, although the truth of such statements cannot be proved absolutely-and the practice was not active), yet that character was but the culmination of a long, fruitful life, true to its own principle of thought and action. While the years greatly impaired his hearing and slightly lessened his memory of unimportant names, they left his step quick, his voice and hand firm, and his eye strong to serve him in reading and writing all day long if need be. He and his pen were very intimate, and they worked with wonderful ease and harmony together. He talked a great deal with thought and wit and sense, and had the unfailing courtesy of his kindli- ness and his smiling countenance. Yet he usually had, within, some serious project he was brooding. His judgment and mind seemed to strengthen with his rich experience and practice of a lifetime, and he had always a conscious, grateful joy in life itself, and the promise of the life to come. On being wished a centenary, he said: "Providence willing, I hope for that favor." In all his fourscore and fifteen years, the day never came, unless in temporary illness, or to the last week, when he did not rise to meet the morn, full of en- ergy and enthusiastic interest for what he had planned to bring to pass that day. He did not load himself with resentments of any kind. He condemned no one, and he always found some well-reasoned allowance for the delin- quent. He reserved all his resentment for un- just laws. His ideal of happiness to all eter- nity was useful service ; and, very useful, faith- ful and full of faith, and joyous-he helped to make the world better for ninety-five years.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I, Part 20

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe Publication date: 1909 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 802

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 802