The good news is that there is a lot of information about John and his family. The bad news is that much of the "information" is conflicting and some is clearly incorrect. First clue is that John was born in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts to Stephen and Anne Chickering Paine in 1658. He spent some time in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts, and died in Providence , Rhode Island in 1718. Any attempt to locate him elsewhere, I believe, is likely to end up a dead end. His wife, the mother of his children, is Elizabeth Belcher, the daughter of Josiah and Urania Rainsford (various spellings) Belcher. Elizabeth died in 1709. As far as I can tell, he did not remarry. Our John is not the John Paine of Eastham, Massachusetts, who has ties to the Mayflower. (Rats!)
Our John Paine has a lot going for him, though. He was a respected member of each town that he lived in, and he and Elizabeth have a very large family of 10 children and I'm not sure how many grandchildren. Once again, there are a lot of John and Stephen Paines in the list of grandchildren. There are also a lot of connections to others in our family lines, which is to be expected when the towns they lived in were so small.
John and Elizabeth were married in 1680 and their first son, John, was born in 1682. He married Martha, who may or may not be Martha Smith, who may or may not be a widow Smith. Their children are William, Abijah, Ezekiel, and Lemuel or Samuel. (Distinguishing Le from Sa in handwriting of the time can be quite challenging.) John seems to have died about 1704, but I'm not sure of the location.
Elizabeth was born in 1683 and died in 1727 in Tiverton, in what was then Massachusestts but is now Rhode Island. (All of the towns mentioned in this post are quite close together.) She married Thomas Waite, the son of Thomas and Sarah Cooke Waite. They had at least four children-Sarah, Thomas, John, and Mary.
Stephen was born in 1686 and died in 1745 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island. He married Sarah Vallett, who was likely the daughter of Johnathan and possibly Mary Vallett. Their children are Stephen, Naomi, Dorcas, and Rebecca. He may or may not have married a second time, to Martha who may or may not be Martha Smith, who may or may not be a widow. So many dates are assigned to Martha that at this point I am throwing up my hands, as I'm pretty sure she was not eleven years old when she was married. I'll be writing more or Stephen's family in my next blog post.
Josiah was born in 1687 and died in 1763. He has two potential wives. I lean toward Elizabeth Chaffee or Chaffe, the daughter of Joseph and Annis Martin Chaffe. Others are convinced that he married Sarah Leach. It's possible that both women were his wives, but I'm not sure of the order. I find no record of children for him.
Joseph was born in 1693 and died in 1717/1718 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. I don't knows if he married, but he apparently had a son, "Jon". Was this a John, or a Jonathan? I'd love to hear from someone who knows this family!
Rebecca was born in 1694 and died in 1718. She married Abel Potter, the son of Abel and Rachel Warner Potter. There children include Benjamin, Anne, and Mary.
Solomon was born in 1696 and died in 1752 in Providence, Rhode Island. He married Abigail Owen, the daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah Belcher Owen. (Elizabeth Belcher Paine and Hannah Belcher Owen appear to be first cousins). Their children include Hannah, Ebenezer, and William.
And then there's Benjamin. He really deserves a whole post to himself, probably, but he's not our direct ancestor so this will have to do, at least for now. Benjamin was born in 1699 and died in 1784 (or possibly 1752?) in Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island. He is reported to have been married four times. His first wife is Elizabeth Owen, also a daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah Belcher Owen (see above; siblings married siblings). Their children are Priscilla, Dorcas, Nathan, Benjamin, and John. His second wife is Ann Arnold, the daughter of John and Hannah Packard Arnold. they seem to have had just one child, Arnold or Arnie. Next he married Amie Mowry, the daughter of John and Mary (or possibly Margery Whipple) Mowry. Amie traces back to our Nathaniel and Johanna Inman Mowry.) Benjamin and Amie's chldren are Anne, Amie, Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, John, Abigail, Margery, Joseph, and Benoni. After losing three wives, Benjamin still wanted another, or at least he needed another to help with the younger children. His final wife is Jemima Esten, the daughter of Henry and Jemima Salisbury Esten, and their children are Abi, Abel, Jemima, and Bela. Another list, less well documented, also includes Jonathan, Abraham, Obedience, Bealey, Abel, Ladon, Bezaleel, Abdon, Zeriah, and Cyrus. This gives Benjamin at least 21 and perhaps as many as 30 children. I believe 30 would be a record for any one man that I've reviewed in 20 years of research!
Gideon was born next, about 1703. He died in 1756 in either Smithfield, Rhode Island or Swansea, Massachusetts. His wife is Rebecca Corser, the daughter of John Corser and a so far unknown mother. Their dhildren are Freelove, Gideon, Sabine, and William.
Finally, Urania was born, in 1706. She died in 1772 in Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island. Her husband is Uriah Mowry, the son of Henry and Mary Bull Mowry (yes, Henry also traces back to Nathaniel and Johanna Inman Mowry). Their children are Martha, Nathan, Stephen, Philip, Gideon, Wanton, Jonathan and Mary.
I have seen other names attached as children of John and Elizabeth, but either the dates or the locations, or both, make it highly unlikely. Elizabeth died in 1709, at 45 or 46 years of age. John may or may not have married Martha, who may or may not have later married Abel Potter, the widower of John and Elizabeth's daughter Rebecca. The birth dates I have seen for Martha don't work, so I leave that question to others. You wouldn't want me to give you ALL the answers, would you?