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Public expressions of opposition to British tyranny were adopted in the town of Eastham as early as 1773, and at different periods from that time to the breaking out of hostilities, his name appears upon the committees for adopting and carrying out the principles of freedom. In 1776 he was appointed a Magistrate of the Colony. His uncle, James Paine of Barnstable, was the grandfather of Robert Treat Paine, a judge of the Supreme Court and one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence with whom Thomas Paine held an occasional correspondence. (Letters are also preserved written by William Payne the father of John Howard Payne, the author of Home Sweet Home, also his kinsman.)
Thomas Paine was a man of intelligence and piety; in his diary kept during the latter years of his life frequently appears, as its ruling sentiment, the following verse:
"This day be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the Sun,
Thou knows’t, if best bestowed or not –
And let Thy will be done!"
He removed to Boston about 1781, and subsequently resided in Maine, having lost most of his property by the reverses of the war. Thus, and by the death of their beloved mother the family was broken up; and the sons were thrown upon their own resources and widely scattered though continuing to maintain by correspondence, the bond of family union. One of these, Josiah, was an early volunteer in the Continental Army, and another (Enoch) was twice taken prisoner on board a privateer during the Revolutionary War.
At the age of 14, Clement went into Mr. Draper’s printing office in Portland Me. (then Falmouth) (Draper was in Boston) and subsequently into Mr. Wait’s, publisher of the Falmouth Gazette. A large volume of this paper, in part the work of his own hands at that early age, is still preserved. Owing probably to too close confinement at Mr. Waite’s office his health and spirits seem to have suffered, and a feeling of diffidence prevented his enjoyment of social recreation. He conceived a dislike to the printing business and his desire was to engage in agriculture, two of his brothers, David and Josiah, having purchased a piece of land in Maine and engaged in its improvement. He evidently devoted much thought and study to the subject and in a letter of several sheets he explains his plans to his brother Seth, who was also engaged in the printing business at Boston. In reply the latter addresses him a well written letter of eight pages of large foolscap, dissuading him from the abandonment of his occupation, in a very kind and sensible manner. He insists on his accompanying him on a proposed visit to Eastham, with a view to his health. But Clement replies that Mr. Waite cannot spare him and that he has not suitable clothes. To the latter objection his brother replies (evidently referring sarcastically to his agricultural aspirations). "P.S. Perhaps you would choose to appear among your friends in the character and dress of an American peasant: if so, you will only want a striped woolen frock and leathern apron."
Mr. Wait(e) was probably in the main a good man, but appears to have been rather a severe master. The circumstances of a difficulty which finally arose between him and his young apprentice, according to a written and apparently candid statement by the latter, seem to manifest this plainly. Clement left his office and found employment elsewhere; and Mr. Waite no longer after write to him, wishing him to return, which in accordance with the advice of his brother Seth, he concludes to do. In connexion, Seth writes: "Cultivate in all events, my friend, if not the friendship, at least the good will of every person your may happen to be connected with, in business or otherwise. As you have now become, under God, your own guardian, you will find the above maxim very useful and necessary to your welfare. Tis merely the good fortune I have had in obtaining the friendship of those persons whom I chanced to be connected with, that has enabled me to subsist decently and respectably, thro’ a tedious and severe illness – which I barely survived, and which has hoisted me, in the money way, more than 20 pegs below zero."
Some letters written by Clement to his father at about the age of 17, giving his views and reflections on the subject of religion and the character of the Supreme Being, display a considerable degree of original thought and reflection.
In 1788-9, Seth Paine was engaged with Andrew Browne, publisher of the Federal Gazette at Philadelphia, where as he writes, "Genteel board, lodging & washing costs $2.00 per week." It was in the spring of 1789 that he suffered a severe fit of sickness at Philadelphia, and subsequently was engaged with A. McLean at No. 41 Hanover Square, N.Y. He writes to Clement who proposed coming to N.Y. to find business "Clothe yourself only decently: money is a better traveling companion than redundant clothes."
1791, the two brothers projected the establishment of a press at Katskill on the Hudson. Type and other material for that enterprise was ordered by them from London, but the brig Betsey, in which it was sent, was lost at sea, and the report of their brother David, contained his journal meanwhile, as he canvassed the territory to ascertain the prospects, seems not on the whole to have been favorable. The project was therefore abandoned, but from their subsequent correspondence, we find that in 1793, the field was occupied with good success by Crosswell & Co., as publishers of the "Catskill Packet."
For nearly two years, in 1791 and 1792, Clement Paine was employed in the office of Claypoole’s Phildelphia Advertiser. The city was the seat of the General Government, under the administration of Washington and Adams. He often saw in the streets of the city, the First President, the dignity of whose person and demeanor make a lasting impression on the mind of the young printer, who always spoke with admiration of the person and character of Washington.
It seems to have been continually for many years an object which the brothers kep in view, to establish themselves in business together, especially Seth, Clement, & David. The two last however were the only ones to carry the ide fully into effect – David in 1787, was with Capt. Blodgett at Bennington, engaged in a land office there some two years. He then formed a partnership with Goldsmith, in trade, at Canaan, Conn. About 1792, Seth remarks at this time "David possesses a very good knack at letter writing and the perusal of his letters generally affords me a good deal of pleasure. The account of the Shaking Quakers which I perceive Claypoole (Advertiser) has copied from McLean’s was taken from a letter I received from him."
It was in September 1792 that David and Clement associated themselves in trade at Rensselaerville near the Hudson river. They erected a store and two potash factories at that point; the business at first promised well, but did not prove in the event, a success. Clement remained there about two years, the whole interest having devolved upon him by the withdrawal of David. In March 1794 the latter writes him from "Owago" on the Susquehannah, then a station of the "Far West" (at this period Geneva consisted ot two or three log houses being the "Ultima Thule" of settlement in interior and Western New York.) "Williamson is at Philadelphia; as he is the person who owns the largest tract of land at the Westward, I think it necessary to tarry and look around till his return." Soon after he writes from Tioga Point, where he soon became connected with William Bingham in the purchase & sale of lands under the Connecticut title. In August 1794 he writes, "I am now informed that Brockway (of Catskill) has established a post, to ride weekly to this place." In October, he refers to his opening a land office, with very flattering prospects, & says "I have never been acquainted with a better country for a young man to acquire property." After settling up his business at Rensselaerville, Clement arrived at Athens toward the end of the year 1794, and the brothers became again associated, in land operations and trade at that point.
In December 1795 Clement went to Charleston, S.C. where his brother Seth, in connexion with Peter Freneau, Secretary of the State, and brother of Philip Freneau (well known as a poet and political editor of that period) was engaged in the publication of the City Gazette (from 1st January 1795) – the first daily paper ever printed in South Carolina. It had at the time reached a circulation of 1500 copies daily. Some friendly correspondence between Seth Paine and Philip Freneau the poet of still preserved. Clement took charge of his brother’s business during the absence of the latter Eastward, and returned to Athens in the following June, with pleasant impressions of Charleston and its society.
It was in 1796 that David and Clement Paine commenced the erection of the two story frame house, which was for so many years the home residence of the latter. It was in part built by Dan Elwell father of the present Judge Wm. Elwell of Bloomsburg, and at the time of its destruction by fire a few years since, was probably the oldest frame house in Athens. Among its earliest occupants were the Avery’s, who for some time kept a public house.
In 1796 Clement thus writes to his father, "Our present residence is at Athens on Tioga Point, County of Luzerne; as a beautiful, healthy situation, it is superior to any I have ever seen; and as a place of business it will doubtless be great, being at the head of navigation on the Susquehanna, and a place of great resort for gentlemen concerned in new lands. The title of our land is growing in repute; many persons of respectability and influence have purchased and interested themselves in the business – among others Leffert Lefferts, a capital merchant of New York, who owns a township of land adjacent to our own…It is remarked by strangers that we have the most genteel collection of young ladies and gentlemen to be found within at least a hundred miles. We have made arrangement for the completion of our buildings the ensuing summer, and a number of others are soon to be erected, particularly a handsome edifice intended for an Academy beneath, with an elegant arched Hall in the upper story." (This building was not however occupied for the purpose intended until 1814. It was the same old Academy building, standing on the public square, which was destroyed by fire in 1842.) In 1809, Clement Paine was requested by the Trustees to repair the building and put the same in a good state of preservation.
In 1797, Clement Paine after giving an account of the conflicting titles under Connecticut and Pennsylvania, thus writes: "Many people are of opinion there will be violence made us of before the dispute is finally settled; but I can hardly persuade myself that this State will attempt a thing so perfectly and amazingly absurd as it would be under the present circumstances to send on troops to dispossess the settlers here, who by estimation amount to 1200 to 1500 people. We shall continue regularly to prosecute our business notwithstanding the hostile intentions of our enemies; and such is the general intention of the people." Later in the same year he writes: "A great stagnation of mercantile and speculative business is the universal complaint throughout this northern country. The sale of new land in any situation seems entirely suspended and it is difficult to obtain money for any kind of property."
In reply Seth Paine writes from Charleston in regard to the general embarrassment of the times and the prospect of war, and says further, "I am rather surprised at your policy in increasing your risk of eventual loss or ruin by continuing to purchase and build in the centre of the disputed territory. I am glad you have turned your attention to the study of law. The vicissitudes of life stamp a high value upon those acquisitions which afford a livelihood through the mental faculties. Those who at the same time retain their manual powers have thus a double security of independence through life." This idea Clement acted upon, and for several winters toward the close of the century we find him resuming the occupation to which he was bred, in the city of Philadelphia. The venerable Burr Ridgeway (still living in 1875 at Monroe in this county), a native of that city, and a publisher of one of the earliest public journals of Bradford County, recalls to mind his own acquaintance with him, as it chanced, in the days of his boyhood at Philadelphia.
In 1799, referring to the success of the Charleston City Gazette, Seth Paine writes: "The amount of our business increases greatly. We are now printers to the State, and to the United States. We have had the remarkably good fortune to succeed in keeping up the character of our paper without prostituting it or our own principles to either of the two great prevailing parties, which is quite a singular instance in the United States, at least in the great towns."
The ideas and usages of French Republicanism prevailed in those times to a considerable extent among the Republicans of America; besides the greeting of "Health and Fraternity", Clement frequently addressed his letters to "Citizen Seth Paine". The latter, in pursuance of the system of neutrality to which he thought it best his paper should adhere, and its publisher as well, cautions him against this mode of address, les me might be stigmatized by the invidious "as a Jacobin".
David Paine in 1799 received the appointment of Magistrate from Gov. Mifflin.
It was in the 1800 that the brothers united in erecting a monument in the old church yard at Eastham to the cherished memory of their departed mother (Clement saw to this; we have his receipts for the job). This testimony of filial affection, recently repaired (by C.C.P.) has for many a year outlived those who erected it.
Seth Paine to Clement Paine: "At the last election here I had the honor of being elected June Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of S.C.; a body so respectable as to have at present forty five lodges under its control." The Eulogy, written and delivered by Seth Paine before the Grand Lodge of the State, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Washington, was a production of merit of which some copies are still in existence. About the same time Clement Paine was chosen to prepare and deliver an Oration on Masonry before St. John’s Lodge of rural Amity at Athens of which he acted for many years as Secretary. This was also published.
In March 1801, Clement Paine, on a passage Eastward from Philadelphia, met with a shi9p wreck on the Southern coast of Long Island. The vessel went to pieces in the storm, and he and his fellow passengers came near losing their lives. He found a hospitable shelter at the house of Dr. Prentice at Sag harbor, to which he gratefully alludes in a letter written to the Doctor many years after. This was a son of Doctor Amos Prentice who was an esteemed citizen of Athens and died there in August 1805, his obituary notice being written by C. Paine.
In October 1801, Seth Paine died at Charleston of yellow fever. Being on a pleasure excursion in the harbor in an open boat, a storm suddenly came up and a lady of the party being destitute of an umbrella, he furnished her with his. The consequent exposure brought upon him the fever soon after reaching his home and he died within a few days after. He was a man of close application and industry, benevolent disposition and sound discriminating judgment. His letters evinced an excellent faculty of expression and cultivated powers of composition as well as a warm interest in the welfare of his brothers who evidently regarded his judgment and advice with a great degree of deference & respect. He was accumulating property rapidly in his publishing business at the South, yet it was his favorite idea eventually to settle at the North and engage in business with his brothers. In a letter written to his father on the occasion Clement Paine manifested a deep feeling of sorrow at the sudden loss of so beloved a relative.
Soon after hearing of the event, he went with Josiah Paine to Charleston, and the settlement of the estate was undertaken by him at the request of his brothers. A considerable part of each year till 1804 was accordingly spent by him at the South in this business, and he succeeded in realizing for the heirs a much larger amount than was at first deemed practicable, most of the business in those days being transacted on a system of long credits. On Return to Athens in 1804, the business interests of the two brothers were separated. Clement in the division taking the house they had built together. David removed for a time to Cowanesque (or Lindley town) where in January 1803 he had been married to Phebe Lindley of whom during her life, his letters allude with warm attachment. She was the sister of Mrs. Ebenezer Backus and of Mrs. Dr. Hopkins, two of the representative women of Athens in its early days.
Athens was for many years after its settlement, the centre of trade of a great portion of the county. Clement Paine for many years purchased goods for his tore of Dr. Croswell and Orren Day at Catskill, whence (as afterwards from Philadelphia, as late as 1830) he had them brought in wagons, a te4dious and expensive transportation.
In Nov. 1802, David Paine writes to C.P. at Charleston, "Sheshequin fever prevailing at Athens. Benj. Decker and Anna Mathewson have died. Master Kingsbery just a going. It baffles the art of our great physician Dr. N. The latter has procured a license to keep a hotel. He has raised such an abundance of hay oats wheat & the last season, he thinks he can dispose of the surplus only by tavern keeping. ‘Tis very still times – no dancing, no social parties, no John Miller to tell fat stories. At neighbor Welles’, I spend an hour, social as ever. Prentiss gone to court. Ross in the dumps, H. Welles the only cheerful lad about the streets."
In July 1806 Clement Paine was married at Salem, Wayne Co. Pa. to Anne Woodbridge, a native of Glastonbury, Conn., and the daughter of Major Theodore Woodbridge, an officer of the Revolutionary Army. His commission signed by John Jay, Secretary of Congress, and also a portion of his Journal kept during the war, in which is an account of the execution of Major Andrew (at which he was present being then in command of the Water Guard at Dobbs Ferry) are still preserved. His daughter Anne inherited a share of his virtues and her piety and Christian benevolence still shed a luster upon her memory.
In 1810 Clement Paine writes, "The country about us is growing and improving rapidly. The principal articles of produce for market have been wheat cattle and lumber of which very considerable quantities are annually sent down the river. Lately the manufacture of potash has been introduced into the adjacent towns. I have endeavored to promote this branch of business by furnishing the necessary implements & c and we shall the present year receive about 100 barrels of the article, whereas three years ago there was none made." This manufacture, carried on amid the native forests of Bradford County, involved a destruction of timber that would now be looked upon as deplorable –great quantities of the finest trees being cut, piled and burned merely to gather up the ashes for boiling down into potash and pearlash. The potash was worth in those days about 20 to 25 dollars per barrel; and being an article easy of transportation it soon afforded an important item of industry and income.
The same year he writes, "A turnpike road direct from Philadelphia is already commenced and expected to be extended thro’ this place to the State Line and thence to the head of Cayuga Lake. This when accomplished will be attended with important advantages to the country in general and our village in particular. I have for about two years past been attempting to introduce various kinds of the most valuable fruit and have now about 100 choice varieties of the most esteemed kinds known in the United States or England." A number of these were from the nurseries of Dr. Priestley at Northumberland. Many of the earliest orchards in Bradford County were supplied with grafts from Clement Paine’s orchard at Athens.
During the war of 1812 when a call was made for volunteers, he was active in procuring them and in subscribing for arms and supplies. For many years he drew the pensions for a considerable, but rapidly decreasing number of revolutionary soldiers throughout the county, who, frequently with their wives, assembled annually at his house, taking dinner and exchanging reminiscences of the "times that tried men’s souls" The last survivor of these was Major Zephon Flower of Athens.
Clement Paine was of very decided political sentiments, a Republican of the Jeffersonian school. Dr. (James) Paine (his brother) in 1805 writes him as follows (quoting current anti-Jefferson propaganda): "You Republicans say, ‘Liberty and Jefferson forever.’ So said the French not long since – Liberty and Bonaparte – down with Kings! – but this same Bonaparte, this enemy of Kings, this friend of liberty, of Man & Equality, now sways the scepter in great pomp, magnificence and grandeur. So may Jefferson not many years hence reign as King of America." To which he replies: "I regret that any Christian man should entertain such direful apprehensions as you suggest in relation to our worthy President. That he, whose administration has been so truly patriotic; who by abolishing many useless offices has freely relinquished, instead of assuming, undue influence or power; whose moral character is so pure that his most bitter enemies must despair of substantiating a single serious charge against him; who has already intimated his determination to retire to private life after the close of the term to which he is now elected, and indeed whose age alone would preclude the idea of any views so absurdly ambitious; I say, that such a character should even be suspected – nay more, that he should be charged with designs so monstrous, is a prodigious solecism and in my opinion, clear evidence against his enemies, not only of their total want of charity, but also of their extreme and unbounded depravity."
Seldom an aspirant for political honors, he was in 1812 a Presidential Elector, casting the vote of his district for James Madison and Elbridge Gerry. In after years he was a warm admirer and a strenuous supported of Andrew Jackson, and in May 1828, was Chairman of a large and enthusiastic meeting of his supports at Towanda, Gen. Jos. Kingsbery and Burton Strait being Vice Presidents.
Clement Paine was naturally of a much more slender constitution than his brother David. At the age of about 50, his health became seriously impaired and his physicians recommended a change of residence, at least for a time, to a milder Southern climate. It was a few years previous that the Missionary Station at Brainerd, near the Tennessee and Georgia line, had been established among the Cherokee Indians. Mrs. Paine had a strong inclination to be personally engaged in this work and after some correspondence with Dr. Saml. Worcester and other officers of the ABCFM, it was finally decided that the family should remove thither, in the fall of 1820 – a long journey to undertake at that period and season of the year. From Fredericktown, Md., Mr. Paine returned to Athens to complete some business arrangements, before going himself to Tennessee, while the rest of the family under the escort of Francis Tyler, proceeded to Brainerd. A portion of Mrs. P.’s journal on this expedition is published in "Early Times", by Mrs. Perkins, her esteemed friend. The family spent the winter at Brainerd but returned in May to Pennsylvania. Instead of a change of climate, Clement Paine adopted for the improvement of his health a regular system of diet, exercise & c, to which for the remaining thirty years of his life he strictly adhered and with the best results. Even business matters were not allowed to interfere with his daily exercise in the open air, before meals, and thro the summer he took his daily bath in the Chemung. His semi-annual journeys to Philadelphia for the purchase of goods, and more frequent ones to the Western townships of the county when business frequently called him, were invariably on horseback; and seldom indeed did he allow himself to be weather bound, as it is called, on or during any trip he proposed.
Among the clerks employed by Clement Paine in his business was Constant Mathewson, a brother of Capt. Elias Mathewson. He was with him some years about 1808 to 1812 or 14; was afterwards himself engaged in trade at Athens and was a Representative to the State Legislature. Orrin P. Ballard was also with him from Nov. 1816, some four years, and then came to Troy and opened a store, procuring goods at first on commission of C.I. Hopkins of Athens. He subsequently accumulated a large property by trade, and died at Troy, about 1872.
The strong taste which he manifested at an early age for agriculture, was retained through life and during nearly the whole of his residence at Athens the cultivation of the soil afforded him great satisfaction, even of with but moderate profit. The lots which for a long period he owned and cultivated were located on both sides the cross street (still known as Paine Street) from the Elmira Road to the Owego Road, and along the West side of the latter to the "Mile Hill", including the site of the Railway Station of the Lehigh Valley Road; there remains but little however, besides the large Lombardy poplar at the side of the Carriage road, to mark the locality as it was during his lifetime.
He was at different periods the owner of considerable real estate in various parts of the county. In 1818 he sold to Francis Tyler the farm on which the latter resided until his death, & which had formerly been the Stephens’ property. In 1807 he bought of Silas C. Perry the mill property near Esq. John Shepards, but sold it again at a heavy loss to M. W. Wheelock, who built a woollen factory there and established a profitable manufacturing business. He also for many years owned a woollen mill near Troy and another with a farm attached, at the village, the site of a foundry built afterwards by S. W. Paine (C. P.’s son, C. C. P.’s brother). He purchased some 1200 acres of wild land on the South fork of the Schrader branch of Towanda Creek, where a settlement was commenced by his son James, in the year 1844. About 1835 he purchased several lots in Towanda and built several dwelling houses there on what was called Paine Street, now Lombard Street; each with a capacious fire place in the chimney, and other peculiar features corresponding with his own ideas of health & utility rather than with the requirement of the average renter.
In 1834, he and his family suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his wife, at the age of 50 years, of apoplexy. For ten years subsequently he continued to occupy his old house; until the infirmities of age rendered necessary his removal to the residence of his son at Troy, just half a century having elapsed since his first coming to Athens. During the latter years of his stay there, he made the mark "I remember well when there (were) but few individuals in the county whom I did not know by name, but at this time I hardly know half of those I meet in the streets of the village."
Clement Paine died at Troy Penna. on the morning of March 1st 1849, in the 81st year of his age. His remains were taken to Athens for interment near those of his wife. Rev. Mr. Corss of Smithfield delivered his funeral discourse from Habakkuk III 2d.
David Paine’s commission as a magistrate signed by Gov. Mifflin was issued in 1799. In 1803, he married Phebe Lindley of Lindleytown in Tioga Co. Their married life seemed to have been a happy one tho’ not of many years duration.
In 1804 he was engaged in the construction of a mill which he claimed to be "the best ever built on these waters." He was also connected in trade & the purchase of grain with his brother Enoch Paine who had recently come to Tioga Point from Baltimore. Enoch in his early years during the war of the Revolution was on board a privateer and was twice taken prisoner. At one time he was a resident of Charleston S.C. And for several years at Baltimore and on the Eastern shore of Maryland. He made several voyages to Europe & the East Indies, and it sometimes happened that his brothers were for years together without knowledge of his whereabouts or whether he was living. He came to Athens about the year 1803 and died there unmarried in 1816. (The inscription composed by David Paine for the gravestone of his brother Enoch runs:)
"This stone, what few vain marbles can,
May truly say, Here lies an honest man."
David Paine was for many years Postmaster at Athens and was the first Burgess of that Borough. The planting of the beautiful shade trees which adorn its main street originated under his direction.
It was about 1823 that having lost his first wife by death several years previously, he married Anne W. Harding of Portland, Me., an amicable and highly accomplished lady, still surviving at an advanced age. (She subsequently married again, & died at Waverly, N.Y., 1879.) For some years subsequent to his second marriage he made Portland his occasional home and in 1825 was connected with his nephew Seth Paine (Seth W., son of Clement, Seth, son of Josiah, or Seth, son of James?) in the publication there of a weekly journal, the "Gazette of Maine". Returning finally to Athens, his home for the remainder of his days was a small but tasteful residence occupying the present site of the Episcopal Parsonage at Athens. The grounds were ample and a beautiful grove and lawn extended from the main street to the Susquehanna river, while the place was adorned with a charming variety of fruit, flowers and shrubbery which it was his delight to cultivate; as regards the interior, there were few homes that presented more of refinement & social enjoyment. With the aid of an assistant, lessons in Music and other accomplishments were here for some years given by Mrs. Paine to a limited number of young ladies.
David Paine, like his brother Clement, was rather short in stature, though of a more robust build than the latter. His manner and appearance were eminently dignified, gentlemanly and social: he commanded alike the respect and esteem of those of mature years and the love of a younger class which he seemed much to prize. To them gifts of flowers from his garden and of candies from his pocket were the daily incidents of his life, though he sometimes complained that he had thus incurred the designation from them of "their sugarplum Uncle".
"Died on the 7 September 1851 at his residence in Athens, Penna., David Paine Esq., aged 83. He was a native of Eastham, Cape Cod, Mass., and settled at Athens early in the year 1794. Few indeed of his old associates in the settlement of the country now remain, yet in the early annals of the beautiful Susquehanna valley which for more than half a century he made his home, his name will be remembered as one of those identified with its history and improvement. His warm heart and social disposition ever won the esteem and love of those who knew him; and although traits like these naturally strengthen man’s attachment to life, yet the increasing infirmities of age warned him of approaching dissolution, he was accustomed to look forward to it as a happy release, evincing at the same time a spirit of meek resignation to the will of his heavenly Father. (Published in the Paine Family Register, No. 3., 1858)
2. The Children of Thomas Paine, son of Deacon John Paine & Alice his wife (these notes are now, in 2001, almost undecipherable, written by C. C. Paine in his old age with very poor ink, at the back of the booklet containing the foregoing account of Seth, Clement and David (Paine).
3. (From Charles Clement Paine’s Miscellany: An account of Clement Paine, his father, written in 1869 by C. C. P. from notes taken at or near the time of C. P.’s death in 1849)
Clement Paine Esqr the father of six sons four of whom grew up to manhood, and three of whom are now living (March 1869), was born at Eastham, County of Barnstable, Massachusetts in August 11th 1769. He was the son of Thomas & Phebe Paine, being the youngest of seven sons (of whom 6 grew up to manhood). He had a sister younger, Phebe, afterwards McDougal.
Acquiring a knowledge of the printing business at Portland, Maine, he afterwards was engaged in it, at Boston, N.Y., Philadelphia. About 1791 or ‘2, in connexion with his brother David Paine, he engaged in the mercantile business (at Renssellaerville, N.Y.), in which for the time they proved unsuccessful.
In the summer of ’94, David Paine came to Athens, Penn., and late in the following fall was joined by Clement. They formed again a connexion, in the Land business, and became interested in the Connecticut claim. The house afterwards occupied by Clement in Athens was built by the brothers, soon after their settlement at that place. Clement sometimes spent his winters in Philadelphia in the pursuit of his trade. In 1797, he spent a part of the year in Charles S.C. in the office of Freneau & Paine, his brother Seth, a member of the firm (which carried on a publishing establishment) being absent on a visit to the East. He often spoke of his residence at Charleston with pleasure. In 1801, Seth Paine died at Charleston of yellow fever. His business there, owing to his prudence & good management, had been successful in a pecuniary point of view; sufficiently so to enable him to settle himself independently in some location more suited to his taste. This intention he frequently intimated in his letters written a short time before his death.
Clement went to Charleston in the capacity of Administrator of the Estate of his deceased brother, found the affairs of the partnership complicated, and embarrassed by the reluctance Mr. Freneau manifested to co-operate with him, Freneau displaying as he believed a wish to discourage him. By dint of perseverance and attention, together with no little decision, he however succeeded in an investigation & settlement of the Estate: collecting many debts, of a considerable amount, which had been considered worthless by Freneau, who was a brother of Philip, the poet: between whom & Seth Paine, a friendship & literary correspondence existed.
In 1806 (20 July), he married Anne, daughter of Major Theo. Woodbridge, then of Salem, Wayne Co., Penn. – formerly of Glastonbury, Conn. & an officer of the Revolutionary army.
The mercantile business had now for some years been his main occupation, tho’ he had constantly to some extent connected agriculture with it. At that period, and for a long time after, "Tioga Point" was a central place of trade from all parts of the county & some of the country adjacent. During the latter years of his residence at Athens, speading of the influx of strangers, he remarked to me, "I recollect well when there were but very few in the county whom I did not know by name. At this time, I hardly know half of those I meet in the village."
At Madison’s nomination (1812) to the Presidency, he was chosen Elector for his district.
His residence at Athens continued thro’ a term of fifty years, from November 1794 to December 1844, with but occasional interruptions, in the former part of it. His business career was characterized by an uncommon degree of system, punctuality, & perseverance, and was attended with a reasonable degree of success, as was that likewise of his brothers Seth, David, Josiah & Enoch (the latter for most of his life was unsettled: he made several voyages to sea, and sometimes was unheard of by his relations for years – lived some years at Baltimore, and finally located himself at Athens, where he died, unmarried, in 1816)
In October 1834, my father sustained a severe loss in the death of his wife – who departed this life at the age of 50 years.
Although not naturally of a strong constitution, the regularity of his habits, and his undeviating attention to the rules of health, kept his faculties for business unimpaired to an advanced period. He took daily exercise on foot & on horseback; in which way he always traveled when on business pursuits, finding it conducive to health, and agreeable to his inclination. Seldom was it indeed that he allowed any kind of weather to detain him, when he had made his arrangements for a journey. When bordering on three score & ten, he would for several days in succession make his forty miles or upwards, each day: riding ten or a dozen miles frequently, before breakfasting, this too sometimes in cold & stormy weather. His journeys on business he continued until 1843 – in March of this year his health suffered from an attack of paralytic nature, from which however he partially recovered. In December 1844 (21st Dec.) he was with much difficulty persuaded to leave the home of half a century & to remove to Troy, which step his failing health rendered indeed necessary.
He rode thither in a carriage, and the fatigue of this mode of conveyance, for some time unusual to him, seemed to be severe; although he expressed his satisfaction on arriving, that he had ventured finally to come.
The first summer after his removal to Troy, he rode out occasionally on horseback, unattended. One day on returning, as he was being assisted to alight, it was observed that he looked somewhat pale & harassed. He remarked that his horse had behaved ill, kicking & prancing when meeting a wagon. This was his last ride on horseback – though he sometimes rode a short distance subsequently in a sleigh or carriage. For the first year or two of his residence at Troy, he derived much satisfaction from reading; but his sight failing, it was still a comfort to him to hear news read, & to discuss political matters. But within the last year of his life, his hearing was so much impaired, that it was with but little satisfaction he could join in conversation – though his interest in what was going on within his observation appeared to continue strong.
In 1845 his daily walks were about a mile going & coming, & he would sometimes ascend the hill on a Sabbath to the Episcopal Church (this church, on a step hill in Troy, was later sold to the Catholics – the perhaps less determined and vigorous Episcopalians of the next generation preferring a site for their devotions on level ground.) In the following summer however this seemed to great a fatigue for him, and his daily exercise was obliged to become more limited in its extent. He was obliged to depend upon another’s arm when he went out. Shorter & shorter every season were his outdoor excursions – yet he would still persist, during the last winter of his life, in walking out every day (when it was practicable from the weather) though alas! his strength was now equal only to a few steps. That capacity for endurance, that unceasing activity which had for so many years been his, was drawing nigh to utter extinction. Is not this gradual failure, so steady and so sure, operating upon vital powers that have remained so active during a long and eventful, as well as highly energetic career, quite as affecting to behold & to meditate upon, as the sudden extinction of the faculties of life? Even in their noonday vigor.
Yet in the contemplation of the failure of abilities which seemed to constitute the essence of his being but a few years before - he appeared calm & resigned, & spoke with composure of his approaching dissolution. Throughout his life, a resignation to the decrees of Providence in either storm or sunshine, was a characteristic of his temper; which was at the same time, of a somewhat impetuous nature (family tradition held that he had a violent temper, which supposedly surfaced again in his youngest grandson, David Paine). During the last few weeks of his life, his mind at times seemed to wander, and he would frequently imagine himself in some place away from home – sometimes in the night would think he was on the road to Athens & hail some wagon he thought to be passing in that direction. Soon alas! was he to return there – to the place where beside his deceased partner, he had chosen, previous to his departure from Athens, a final resting place.
On the afternoon of the 23 Feby (Friday) he seemed rather silent, and did not call so frequently upon his attendant for the little services the feeble state of his health had long rendered necessary. Something in his demeanor was so different from what it had been, that as the individual who was with him expressed it, "it seemed really solemn". It was evident on his going out to supper he was more feeble than usual, altho’ in the course of the day (a thing which for some time had not occurred) he walked alone from his room to the other part of the house and conversed for sometime with the female part of the household (I do not know who this would have been, unless servants; CCP., now 31, may have had his own household – as opposed to sharing one with a brother or other relative – but was not yet married, and seems to have been doing some part of the nursing care himself.)
In the evening his intellect was evidently a little affected – he retired early, but in the course of the night he became worse. The attack was deemed to be congestion of the brain & partial paralysis – particularly evident in its effect upon the muscles of the throat & tongue, which rendered it almost impossible for him to articulate, or to swallow anything more than two or three spoonful of broth. Owing to the utter prostration of his system, he did not rise from his bed next day. Notwithstanding the debility from which he so long had suffered, this had never before occurred within my recollection. It was of rare occurrence that he had been induced to be down during the day at any time.
I returned home in the evening, having been absent for two days. He evidently recognized me, & replied, tho’ with apparent difficulty, to my greeting. Two very evident changes appeared in what had been his wants. He had for three years found it necessary to keep a woolen mitten upon his right hand (perhaps because of paralysis from his earlier stroke?), and to take water into his mouth frequently. Both these he now declined. His appetite had as a general thing, been regular, but he now displayed but little inclination and less ability to take the simplest nourishment. He sometimes would call myself & sometimes my brother; with this exception he could articulate scarcely anything, tho’ his countenance & the movements of his lips seemed to denote that he wished to say something. His strength gradually declined & he seemed to sleep a good portion of the time, though his breathing apparently was difficult at times. He was taken from his bed into a ……he was about bidding adieu forever!
Up to the evening before his death, his eyes expressed intelligence, & he appeared to notice somewhat of the circumstances that transpired about him. At a little after two o’clock in the morning of March 1st, 1849, he breathed his last. No violent struggle of course marked his departure; it was a gradual sinking of nature into the arms of the common enemy of mankind – a wearing out of those engines that had shown so great & so protracted an exercise.
On the 2d, March 1849, his remains were conveyed at Athens, & the funeral took place on the 3d. (from the house of his brother David), at the Presbyterian church. A discourse was delivered by Rev. Mr. Corss of Smithfield, from Habakkuk III.2d. "O Lord, I have heard they speech and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."
His wanderings, his cares are o’er; his voice is silent forever: his long & active life is terminated, with whom my own for so long a time has been spent. May he rest in peace!
4. (The wife and children of Clement Paine) Clement Paine…settled in Athens, Penna., Nov. 1794… (on) 20th July 1806 he married Anne Woodbridge, daughter of Theodore Woodbridge of Glastenbury Conn., Major 7th Conn. Regiment Revolutionary Armuy. Their children were:
i. Thomas Edward: born 16 Aug 1807. Graduated at Hamilton College, 1828: Civil Engineer Pa. Canal. Admitted to the bar of Bradford Co. 1838. Editor Democrat & Troy Argus. Pastor of Ep. Church Princeton Ky & Palmyra Mo. Professor of Mathematics & Nat. Philosophy, Cumberland College Ky 1839, ’40, ’41. Died at Woodville Mississippi, 19 Feby 1843. Married Charlotte Birdsall of Norwich N.Y. Apr. 19, 1831. Their children were: 1. Isabella, born 1832, who married Alexr. H. Saltonstall of Fremont Ill, by whom she had one son, Thompson J. 2. Frances who died in early childhood at Louisville Ky.
ii. Seth Woodbridge: born 28 May 1810. Major in the Militia. Married
Sarah Jane Forrest of Milton Penna. July 9, ’34. Their children were: 1.
Clement Theodore, born Sept. 4, 1835. 2. Seth, born May 8, 1838, died Jan.
9 1841. 3. Charles, born Sept 12, 1841. 4. Anna Catherine, born Jany 24,
1844. 5. Josiah Edward, born Aug 17, 1846. 6. Sarah Jane, born May 16,
1849. 7. Mary Forrest, born Oct. 2, 1852. Mrs. Sarah J. Paine died Dec.
6, 1852. S. W. Paine & Jane Farnsworth were married Oct. 1856.
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| Charlotte Eliza Pomeroy - First wife of Charles C. Paine | Lucy Bothwell - Second wife of Charles C. Paine |
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| Alice Mayo Paine - Child of Charlote E. Pomeroy and Charles C. Paine | Charlotte Eliza Paine - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine | Ann Laura Paine - - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine |
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| Paul Mayo Paine - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine | Lucy Theodora Paine - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine [a.k.a. Dora Paine] |
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| David Paine - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine | Katherine Bothwell Paine - child of Lucy Bothwell & C. C. Paine |
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