The family of Stephen Paine 1686-1745

 We are now in the fourth generation of Paines who helped build America, and particularly Massachusetts and then Rhode Island.  Three of the men I've written about, including this one, are named Stephen, and following tradition, there are several men who are siblings, cousins, etc who are also named Stephen, which makes it rather difficult to keep them all straight.  I believe that some of the trees our there have confused the various men named Stephen, particularly in the lists I've seen of children of these men.

This particular Stephen Paine, the son of John (!) and Elizabeth Belcher Paine, was born in 1686 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts and died in 1745 in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island.  He married Sarah Vallett or Vallette, who may or may not be the daughter of Jonathan Vallette of Glocester.  I have seen three other wives for Stephen.  One, Sarah Thornton, is definitely not correct because she was married to Stephen's son named (what else?) Stephen.  That leaves Sarah Leach, who did marry a Stephen Paine in 1727, and Martha Smith, who married a Stephen Paine in 1737.  The marriage to Martha was in Glocester, and the one to Sarah Leach was in Pomfret, Connecticut.  I think the Stephen who married Sarah Leave was not this Stephen Paine, but I believe that Martha Smith was indeed his second wife, although no children were born to this marriage.  I don't know who Martha's parents are.

Three children are usually attributed to Stephen Paine and Sarah Vallette.   There may be a fourth.

The first child, Stephen, was born in 1716 and died in 1797 in Glocester, Rhode Island.  He married Sarah Thornton, the daughter of Benjamin and (possibly Mary)Gurney Thornton.  Their children are Nathan, Stephen, Sarah, Mary, Benjamin, and Moses.  I will write more of this family in my next blog post.

Naomi (Neomy) was born in 1718 and died in 1763.  She married Robert Saunders, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Howland Saunders.  (Don't get excited about the Howland name; it doesn't appear to be part of the Mayflower Howland family.) Their children are Sarah, Othniel, Robert, Abiah, and Jeremiah.

Then there seems to be about an eleven year gap between children.  Was Sarah ill, or were there unsuccessful pregnancies and infant deaths we know nothing about?  Perhaps Dorcas was a bit of a surprise.  She was born in 1729 abd died in 1810 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island.  She married Captain Stephen Keech, the son of Jeremiah and (spouse unknown) Keech.  Their children are Rhoba (Rhoda?), Urana, Jeremiah, Stephen, Freelove, David, Martha, and Nicholas.   

Some family historians think that Rebecca, born about 1716, is also the child of Stephen Paine, and perhaps an unknown person who could be a spouse, or a one night stand, or something in between.  Since her records are of Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts, I am leaning fairly strongly to the idea that she is not the child of this Stephen Paine, but perhaps someone has seen records that would prove or disprove this.  As of now, I am not pursuing Rebecca but I wanted to bring her to your attention.

I'd like to know more about Stephen, and about his life.  How many wives did he have, really? Is Rebecca actually his child? Did he serve in any military actions (he died before the French and Indian War began)? But mostly, I'd like to acknowledge him as another part of our family, and as a builder of America.     

 

The family of John Paine 1658-1718

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?

The family of Stephen Paine 1629-1678

 We are going to be talking about or at least mentioning several men by the name of Stephen Paine in this series of posts about the Paine families.  I am not 100% convinced that the facts are necessarily attached to the correct Stephen Paine.  For instance, Stephen Paine was involved in King Philip's War.  Generally, I see that service attributed to the Stephen Paine born about 1600, the subject of my last blog post.  However, that Stephen would have been roughly 75 years old at the time.  Perhaps it is this Stephen that should be credited with that service.  He would have been 46 or 47, a much more likely age for service.  Or perhaps it was even the second Stephen's son Stephen, would was have been 21 years old or older.  So there are reasons to tread lightly when filling out the details of the lives of these men, but we do have records that at least give us the vital information for most of this particular family.  

Stephen was born in 1629 in Great Ellingham, England, and came to America with his parents, Stephen and Neele Adcocke Pain, in 1638.  He settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts and married Anne or Ann Chickering, the daughter of Francis and Anne Fiske Chickering.  Stephen died in early 1678 in Rehoboth.  His father and an uncle died within months of that date, but I don't know whether this is coincidence or whether there was an epidemic going on.  I do know that the years 1678-1680 have been associated with a smallpox outbreak but I don't know whether it affected Rehoboth, so at this point, the cause of death(s) is undetermined.

Stephen and Anne had at least nine children.  Some of the children were married more than once, and several of the children also had what we would consider large families.  So there were a lot of Paines in the general area of Rehoboth by the time that Stephen and Anne's grandchildren became adults.  

Their first son was named Stephen, born in 1654 and died before April, 1710 in Rehoboth.  He married twice.  His first wife is Elizabeth Williams, the daughter of Samuel and Theoda Parke Williams.  There seem to have been no children born to this couple.  After Elizabeth's death, Stephen married Mary Brintnell, the daughter of Thomas and Esther (maiden name not yet found) Brintnell.  Stephen would have been at least 54 when his first son, another Stephen (!) was born, and older yet at the birth of Edward.  I can only imagine his joy at the birth of two sons.

Rebecca was born in 1656 and died in 1699 in Rehoboth.  She also married twice.  Her first husband is Peter Hunt, the son of Peter and Elizabeth Smith Hunt.  I find no record of children for them, and he died young.  Her second husband is Samuel Peck, the son of Joseph and (unknown) Peck.  Their children are Noah, Jael, and Rebecca.  

John was born in 1658 and died in 1718 in Providence, Rhode Island.  He married Elizabeth Belcher, the daughter of Josiah and Urania Rainsford Belcher.  (Urania leads back to royalty; her father is one of our gateway ancestors.)  Their children are John, Elizabeth, Stephen (!), Josiah, Joseph, Rebecca, Solomon, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Gideon, and Urania.  I'll follow this family in my next blog post.

Mary was born in 1660 and died in 1707 in Rehoboth.  She married Enoch Hunt, the son of Peter and Elizabeth Smith Hunt.  Their children are Enoch, Peter, Elizabeth, a second Elizabeth, Stephen, Ann, and Nathaniel.   

Samuel was born in 1662 and died in 1735 in Woodstock, which was then in Worcester County, Massachusetts but is now in Connecticut.  His first marriage is to Annie Peck, the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Hunt Peck.  Their children are Samuel, Anne, Seth, Sarah, Judith, Noah, and Stephen (!).  After Anne died, Samuel married Abigail Bartholomew, the daughter of William and Mary Johnson Bartholomew.  (Mary Johnson is our relative through another line.)   They had two children together, Rebecca and Ebenezer.  Abigail has a fascinating side story.  As a four year old, she was kidnapped (apparently with at least some others) by natives, and taken to Canada, where she was held until 200 pounds ransom was paid for her and other captives eight months later.  

Elizabeth was born in 1664 and died before August, 1714.  I'm not sure where she was living at the time of her death.  She married Jacob Pepper, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Johnson Pepper. (Elizabeth and Mary Johnson, mentioned above, are sisters.)  Their children are Jacob, Robert, another Robert, Elizabeth, Joseph, John, Stephen, Rebecca, Anna, Mary, Stephen, and Benjamin.  

Sarah was born in 1666 and died in 1711 in Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.  She married Daniel Aldis, the son of John and Sarah Eliot Aldis.  Their known children are Sarah, Daniel, Ann, and Sarah.

Nathaniel was born in 1667 and died in 1718 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.  He married Dorothy Chaffee, the daughter of Nathaniel and Experience Bliss Chaffee. Their children are Dorothy, Abigail, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Rachel, and Elizabeth.  

Finally, Benjamin was born in 1670 and died in 1698.  I have been unable to locate much information about him.  He may have married Anne or Annie Aldrich, and possibly died soon after his marriage.  If someone has further information about Benjamin, I'd love to hear it.  

Stephen died in 1678 and Ann in 1679.  Perhaps the older children helped care for the younger ones, as at least the four youngest would have needed guardians.  Although the Paines did not live long enough to know many of their grandchildren, nevertheless, the family continued to grow, with deep roots in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

 

 

Holbrook line: The family of Stephen Paine 1602ish to 1678

 Tracing people who immigrated to North American almost 400 years ago is tricky.  So I can only say with confidence that Stephen, our immigrant ancestor, was born likely between 1599 and 1603, most likely 1602, if I had to place a bet, and likely born in or near Great Ellingham, Norfolk, England.  His parents are given as Dann and Margaret (possibly Williams) Payne, unless his father is Thomas, or maybe Thomas Daniel, or...you see the difficulties here.  Plus, there are numerous spellings of Pain/Paine/Payne to work through.  So I'm not totally confident until we see him arriving in 1638 on the ship Diligent, along with his wife, recently identified as Neele Adcock, and four children.  Except, we don't know that all four children arrived.  It's possible that one or two did not arrive in America, or perished so soon after arrival that there are no records for them.

Stephen and Neele, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Eldred Adcocke, were married probably by 1627, when their first son, John, was born.  Or maybe John was not born until 1633.  John died in September of 1638, at Hingham, Massachusetts, where his parents had first settled.  He was no more than 11 years old at the time of his death.

Their next child, or possibly their first child, was Stephen, born in 1629.  He died in 1678 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.  He married Ann Chickering, the daughter of Francis and Anne Fiske Chickering.  Their children are Stephen, Rebecca, John, Mary, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Nathaniel, and Benjamin.   I will write more of this family in my next post.

Next was Nathaniel, born in 1631 and died in 1678 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He married Elizabeth, not yet further identified, and they had at least one child, Nathaniel.  Unlike his brother Stephen, Nathaniel seems to have not left much of a paper trail and this is as much as I can relate about Nathaniel.  

Finally, there is Rebecca, a daughter born in 1637 who is thought to have died on the voyage to America.  What sadness there would have been on that ship!

Stephen was apparently somewhat well to do, as he brought four servants, not yet identified, to Massachusetts with him.  After Neele died in 1660, Stephen married Alice Parker, a widow.  His will mentions wife Elizabeth, which some genealogists think is Alice, but my mind is not made up on that yet.  Might he have had a third wife named Elizabeth?  His estate was valued at 535 pounds so he did have assets, which I haven't yet traced.   It looks like Stephen and possibly Nathaniel had preceded him in death, although all three died within months of each other.

This once again is a short post, with lots of questions and not many answers.  There is more to be learned of our immigrant ancestors, and I hope additional information is still out there, somewhere.