Holbrook line: Stephen Paine 1686-1745

 Stephen Paine, one of our Rhode Island ancestors, was born in several different places, apparently.  I've seen his place of birth listed as Glocester and Providence, Rhode Island and as Rehoboth and Swansea, Massachusetts.  We can eliminate Glocester because it wasn't formed until 1732, and our Stephen was born in 1686.  His parents didn't move to Providence until about 1718, so one of the Massachusetts towns will have to claim bragging rights for him.  Stephen was born June 3, 1686 to John and Elizabeth Belcher Paine.  

I've seen several genealogies attempting to give the Paine family French roots, way back when, and have always thought "Yeah, right".  However, my lack of documentation skills doesn't mean that there isn't a connection.  It seems a little more credible to at least consider the possibility when we learn that his wife's name was Sarah Valett.  That is quite probably a French name, so possibly Paine (seen in its most extreme form as de Payen) may be French, too.  That is outside the scope of my blog and beyond my research capabilities at the present time.  My tentative, unresearched tree puts the Paine family in England all the way back to 1350, so I'm not convinced.  

We know Stephen's childhood must have been filled with laughter and joy, as he had as many as ten siblings.  Stephen was the third child and second son of the family, so he would have had quite a bit of responsibility in helping his parents during his childhood years.  Stephen married Sarah Vallett, who may have been the daughter of Jonathan Vallett (or Vallette) on October 13, 1715 in Providence.  Stephen's father moved the family to Providence about 1718, so Stephen may have been assigned the task of scouting for a good location for them.  The most likely reason for folks to move from Massachusetts to Rhode Island would have been for religious freedom, but we don't know whether or not this was the Paine's reason, nor whether they were Baptists, or possibly Quakers.  We do know they were married by Richard Waterman, who was a grandson of Roger Williams and a kinsman to our family, so perhaps they had Baptist leanings.  

Stephen and Sarah had a least three children together, but she was dead by December 31, 1737 when Stephen married Martha Smith. Sarah's last known child was born in 1729, but that and the date us her husband's remarriage are our only clues to her date of death.  Stephen had apparently moved from Providence to Glocester at some point during his lifetime, as he died in Glocester, which is in the northwest corner of Rhode Island.  From this, we can guess that he didn't make his living from the sea.  He most likely was a farmer, but since his will if he had one is not recorded, nor is his inventory, we are left guessing.  

We don't know his religion, nor his occupation, so why should we expect to know whether he served in the military?  Again, I'm not locating records, and there were several military expeditions undertaken during his life time.  He was just 59 when he died.

I like to be able to give more facts about an ancestor when I write about him, but my sources are turning up empty.  So it's up to the few facts we have, and our imagination, to fill in the "dash" of his life.  I like to think of him as a hard working man who stayed out of trouble, and who spent time grieving the loss of his wife.  I like to think he had stories to tell of the events he lived, and I like to think he would have been proud of his son, who became an officer in the Revolutionary War.  I'll write about that another time.

The line of descent is:

Stephen Paine-Sarah Vallet

Stephen Paine-Sarah Thornton

Nathan Paine-Lillis Winsor

Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy

Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants