Robert Treat Paine papers
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215-3695
Contact information: phone number
01 (617) 536-1608 (general)
01 (617) 646-0532 (library staff)
01 (617) 646-0532 (library staff)
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
reference@masshist.org
Reference number
Ms. N-641
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (official language of the state)
Robert Treat Paine papers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Robert Treat Paine
Date(s)
1659/1916
Language(s)
eng
Extent
19 microfilm reels
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises the papers of Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814), a Massachusetts lawyer, politician, member of the First Continental Congress (1774), signer of the Declaration of Independence, and justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It includes letters; account books (1751-1814); business and legal papers kept by Paine as a lawyer, attorney general, and judge; minutes of trials; and documents related to his work as a local and state politician. Earlier papers include his sea journals/logbooks (1750-1754) kept on trading voyages to Cape Hatteras and North Carolina, the Azores, and Cadiz (Spain) and on a whaling voyage off Greenland; diaries (1745-1814); and sermons given in Massachusetts and as chaplain on the Crown Point Expedition during the French and Indian War (1755).
The collection contains materials related to legal cases involving Aaron Lopez, a Portuguese Jewish merchant based in Newport, Rhode Island, who stood out in the Atlantic trade before the American Independence. These materials are the following:
Reel 2: Aaron Lopez to Robert Treat Paine. Newport, August 29, 1763.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Abial Peirce of Middleborough. August 23, 1771.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Thomas Gilbert of Freetown. March 22, 1773.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Thomas Gilbert of Freetown. August 28, 1773.
Reel 18: Judgment fees and costs in Aaron Lopez vs Israel Barney, Robert Treat Paine as justice of the peace. October 1771.
The collection contains materials related to legal cases involving Aaron Lopez, a Portuguese Jewish merchant based in Newport, Rhode Island, who stood out in the Atlantic trade before the American Independence. These materials are the following:
Reel 2: Aaron Lopez to Robert Treat Paine. Newport, August 29, 1763.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Abial Peirce of Middleborough. August 23, 1771.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Thomas Gilbert of Freetown. March 22, 1773.
Reel 16: Writ of attachment: Aaron Lopez of Newport, R.I. vs Thomas Gilbert of Freetown. August 28, 1773.
Reel 18: Judgment fees and costs in Aaron Lopez vs Israel Barney, Robert Treat Paine as justice of the peace. October 1771.
Archival history
The first items in this collection (two manuscript sermons by Thomas Paine) were donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society on April 12, 1888, by Robert Treat Paine (1861-1943) from the estate of his late cousin Robert Treat Paine (1803-1885). The first substantial group of papers came from John B. Paine, Helen P. Kimball, Georgina P. Fisher, Mary A. Winsor, and Frank C. Paine in 1940. An addition containing printed material and more manuscripts was added in 1954. In 1972, the Massachusetts Historical Society purchased an allegorical letter from Robert Treat Paine to Mr and Mrs George Leonard, Jr., dated January 1, 1760.
Administrative / Biographical history
Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814), son of Thomas Paine (1694-1757), was born in Boston. He attended the Boston Latin School and graduated from Harvard College in 1749. Paine worked as a merchant in the southern trade, travelling to the Azores and Spain and on a whaling voyage to Greenland. In 1755, he served as chaplain for the Crown Point campaign. Paine returned to Boston in 1756 to continue his law studies, which he had begun informally two years earlier in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He was admitted to the bar in 1757. Initially burdened with the settlement of his father's insolvent estate, Paine moved to Taunton in 1761, where he developed his legal practice, following the circuit of courts through Massachusetts and the province of Maine. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1763, served in various local capacities, and was eventually elected to represent Taunton in the state legislature beginning in 1773.
Paine's involvement in provincial politics began in 1770 when the town of Boston asked him to assist in prosecuting the Boston Massacre trials. A member of the Massachusetts delegation to the First Continental Congress in 1774, he served in Philadelphia as chairman of the ordnance committee. He was among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He represented Taunton in the three Provincial Congresses and returned to the state legislature in 1777 when he was chosen Speaker pro tempore. Elected attorney general that same year, Paine supervised the condemnation of Tory estates, prosecuted the insurgents of Shays' Rebellion, participated in the Commonwealth's Constitutional Convention, and served on the committee to revise the laws. In 1790, he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and served on the bench until his retirement in 1804. He died in Boston in 1814, aged 80.
Paine's involvement in provincial politics began in 1770 when the town of Boston asked him to assist in prosecuting the Boston Massacre trials. A member of the Massachusetts delegation to the First Continental Congress in 1774, he served in Philadelphia as chairman of the ordnance committee. He was among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He represented Taunton in the three Provincial Congresses and returned to the state legislature in 1777 when he was chosen Speaker pro tempore. Elected attorney general that same year, Paine supervised the condemnation of Tory estates, prosecuted the insurgents of Shays' Rebellion, participated in the Commonwealth's Constitutional Convention, and served on the committee to revise the laws. In 1790, he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and served on the bench until his retirement in 1804. He died in Boston in 1814, aged 80.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
The consultation of this collection is restricted. Select items are available as colour digital facsimiles. Black and white microfilm is also available in the library, P-392.
Finding aids
An unpublished "Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Robert Treat Paine Papers" (1991) is available in the Massachusetts Historical Society library.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
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