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THOMAS PAINE (by 1632–1706)

MARY SNOW (say 1630–1706), daughter of Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins

Thomas Paine was born by 1632, as he must have been of age when he was appointed constable in 1653. He died on 16 August 1706. He married Mary Snow about 1651. [1]

Paine says that Thomas's son John's journal is still extant and says, "On this 16th day of August, 1706, my aged father Thomas Paine departed this life. I am now left fatherless and motherless, as to my natural parents, but my God is a Father of the fatherless upon whose Providence I cast myself." [2, 8]

Mary, the daughter of Nicholas and Constance (Hopkins) Snow, was born about 1630. [1][3] She died on 28 April 1704.

Mary's son John wrote, "On the 28th day of April 1704, my honored mother Mary Paine, departed this life, being suddenly taken and struck by death. She having been in reasonable health all day was taken ill about sunset so that she never spoke reasonable; but gradually decaying gave up the ghost about the dawning of the day." [2, 8]

Nicholas Snow called Thomas "my son" in his will of 14 November 1676. [1]

There were other men named Thomas Paine in New England at the time. On Cape Cod, there was an older man, usually referred to as Thomas Payne, from Yarmouth. However, our Thomas is the only Thomas Paine (Payne) on the 29 May 1670 list of freemen in Plymouth Colony, where he appears in the Eastham section. [4, 5: 265]

Paine suggests that Thomas of Eastham might be the son of Thomas of Yarmouth. She relates—without suggesting that we should accept this as truth—that there is an old family tradition that Thomas of Eastham came to New England with his father as a young boy and that he had lost an eye to an arrow before he left. [2, 6]

Thomas Paine was chosen constable in Eastham on 7 June 1653. [4, 3:31]

Thomas Paine was admitted a freeman on 1 June 1658. [4, 3:137]

On 2 June 1662 Thomas was a surveyor of highways in Eastham. [4, 4:15]

A Thomas Paine was on the Grand Enquest on 8 June 1664 and 7 June 1670. [4, 4: 61; 5:36] On 24 December 1667 Thomas was on a coroner's jury that reported their conclusion about how three men had died on Cape Cod. [4, 1:176] He was on a jury on 3 June 1668. [4, 4: 187] He was on a jury on 7 March 1675. [5] These jury records do not specify that Thomas was of Eastham so it is not entirely certain that all of these records refer to our Thomas.

On 28 November 1664 Thomas had brought five quarts of liquor into Eastham. [4, 4: 100]

A Thomas Paine, no town given, was a deputy on 5 June 1671, 5 June 1672, 3 June 1673, 1 November 1676, 5 June 1678, 1 June 1680, and 7 June 1681. [4, 5: 55, 90, 114, 214, 256; 6: 36, 61] Thomas Paine of Eastham was a deputy on 3 June 1690. [4, 6: 240]. He was a selectman for Eastham on 5 June 1671, 5 June 1672, 7 June 1681, and as Thomas Paine, Sr., on 3 June 1690. [4, 5: 57, 92, 59]

Thomas was the water "bayley" on Cape Cod and an inspector of ordinances on 5 June 1671. [4, 5: 60, 62] Apparently, the water bailiff regulated fishing on Cape Cod. He was one of those who purchased fishing privileges at Cape Cod on 13 July 1677. [4, 5: 265]

At the 5 July 1678 court:

Thomas Paine, of Eastham, doth acknolidg himselfe to stand vnto the Gov and Court of Plymouth in the penall sume one hundred and twenty pound sterling; for the payment whereof well and truely to be made, hee heerby acknowlidgeth himselfe, his heires, executors, adminnestrators, and assignes, feirmly by the psents.
There is no explanation for this extraordinarily high fine. [4, 5: 265]

Thomas's sons Thomas, Jr. and Samuel were admitted freemen on 5 June 1684. [4, 6: 180] Thomas, Thomas, Jr. and Samuel are on the Eastham section of a 1689 list of freemen in Plymouth Colony. [6, 208]

Thomas Paine of Eastham, "aged & weak," made his will on 12 May 1705. He named his son Nicholas; his daughter Mary, the wife of Israel Cole; his children Samuel, Thomas, Elisha, John, Nicholas, James, and Joseph Paine; Dorcas Vickerie, the wife of Benjamin Vickerie. He also named the three eldest children of his daughter Mary Cole: James Rogers, Mary Cole, and Abigail Yeats. Probate was on 2 October 1706. Inventory was taken on 30 August 1706 and amounted to £409 -05-10. His executors were his sons Captain Thomas Paine and Samuel Paine. [7, 3: 235–6]

Children of Thomas Paine and Mary Snow:

i. Mary Paine married first James Rogers on 11 January 1670 in Eastham. [6, 58] He died in 1678. She married second Israel Cole, the son of Daniel and Ruth (Chandler) Cole of Eastham. [8] He died, a widower, in 1724. [8]

ii. Samuel Paine died in 1724. He married Patience Freeman on 31 January 1682. [8][9, 6:12]

iii. Captain Thomas Paine was born about 1656 probably in Eastham. He died on 23 June 1721 in Truro, Barnstable, Massachusetts. He married first Hannah Shaw. He married second Elizabeth Ayers.

iv. Eleazar Paine was born on 10 March 1658. [8] He probably died before 12 May 1705, when he was not mentioned in his father's will.

v. Elisha Paine died on 4 February 1735 in Canterbury, Connecticut. [8] He married Rebecca Doane on 20 January 1685. [8][9, 6:16] Alden says that she was the daughter of John and Abigail Doane of Eastham. [8] But, she was probably the daughter of John Doane and Hannah Bangs. She died on 19 December 1758. [8] Elisha lived in Eastham, Barnstable and Canterbury.

From [10]

vi. Deacon John Paine was born on 14 March 1660/1. [8] He died about 1731 in Eastham (now Orleans). [8] He married first Bennett Freeman. He married second Alice Mayo. [8] Alice might have been the daughter of Nathaniel Mayo and Elizabeth Wixam, born on 29 April 1686. [11] She died on 12 October 1748. [8]

vii. Nicholas Paine died in 1733. [8] He married Hannah Higgins. [8] Hannah, the daughter of Jonathan Higgins and his wife Elizabeth Rogers, died on 24 January 1731/2. [8]

viii. James Paine was born on 5 July 1665. [2] He died on 12 November 1728 in Barnstable. [2] He married Bethiah, the daughter of Hon. John and Rebecca (Winslow) Thatcher of Yarmouth and the granddaughter of Josiah Winslow, brother of Governor Edward Winslow. [2] She died on 8 July 1734. [2]

James Paine was admitted a freeman in Barnstable in June 1689. [6, 207] He was a school teacher, miller, cooper, and clerk. [2]

James and Bethiah were the grandparents of Hon. Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. [8] Paine [2] has a sketch of James's life.

ix. Joseph Paine died of a fever on 1 October 1712. [8] He married Patience Sparrow on 27 May 1691 in Eastham. [8][9, 7:235]

x. Dorcas Paine married Benjamin Vickery of Hull about 1689. [8] She died of childbirth on 30 October 1707. [8]

References:

1. "Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1630, Vols. I–III" database with images, AmericanAncestors, 1702–3.

2. Sarah Cushing Paine, Paine Ancestry, Charles Henry Pope, ed. (Boston: printed for the family, 1912).

3. Timothy Hopkins, "Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower and Some of His Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 102 (1948): 47.

4. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, vol. 1, 1633–1640, vol. 2, 1641–1651, vol. 3, 1651–1661, vol. 4, 1661–1668, vol. 5, 1668–1678, vol. 6, 1678–1691 (Boston: William White, 1855, 1866).

5. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, Judicial Acts, 1636–1692 (Boston: William White, 1857), 197.

6. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, Miscellaneous Records, 1633–1689 (Boston: William White, 1857).

7. "Barnstable, MA: Probate Records, 1685–1789," database with images, AmericanAncestors > volume 3: 235–6.

8. Mrs. M.L.T. Alden, "The Snow Genealogy," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 102 (1948): 47.

9. "Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620–1850," database with images, AmericanAncestors > Eastham-Orleans, records from the Mayflower Descendant.

10. Edwin Crowell, A History of Barrington Township and Vicinity (Yarmouth, N.S: n.p., n.d.), 472.

11. Susan E. Roser, Mayflower Births and Deaths, vol. 1 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992), 214–5.

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04-Aug-2023