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Signer of the Decloration of Independence
Robert Treat PAINE

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949
Biographies H page 1646

PAINE, Robert Treat, a Delegate from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., March 11, 1731; attended the Boston Public Latin School, and was graduated from Harvard College in 1749; studied theology; was chaplain of troops on the northern frontier in 1755; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1757 and commenced practice in Boston; moved to Taunton in 1761; delegate to the State convention at Boston in 1768; member of the colonial house of representatives in 1773; delegate to the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1778; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; member of the State house of representatives in 1777; attorney general of Massachusetts 1777-1790; member of the Governor's council in 1779 and 1780; delegate to the constitutional convention in 1779; moved to Boston in 1781; judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Court 1790-1804; died in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1814; interment in Granary Burying Ground.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans:
Volume IIV P
page 174

PAINE, Robert Treat, signer, was born in Boston, Mass., March 11, 1731; son of the Rev. Thomas and Eunice (Treat) Paine. His father was pastor of the church at Weymouth, Mass., a merchant in Boston after 1730 and the author of several published sermons and lectures. His mother was the granddaughter of Gov. Robert Treat of Connecticut and of the Rev. Samuel Willard, vice-president of Harvard college. His grandfather, James Paine, was a member of the expedition against Canada in 1694; his great-grandfather, Thomas Paine, emigrated to Cape Cod with his father, Thomas, and subsequently settled in Eastham, Mass., and was a representative in the colonial court. Robert Treat Paine was graduated from Harvard college, A.B., 1749, A.M., 1752. After his father's loss of property in 1750, he taught school one year, made three voyages to North Carolina as master of a vessel, calling on one voyage at Cádiz and Fayal, and next was master of a whaler to the coast of Greenland. He studied law and theology; was chaplain of a northern frontier regiment at Lake George, 1755; preached at Shirley, Mass.; was admitted to the bar in 1757 and practised in Boston, 1757-61, removing to Taunton, Mass., in 1761. He was a delegate to the convention of 1768 held at Boston to consider the condition of the country, and conducted the prosecution against Captain Prescott and his soldiers for the Boston Massacre of 1770. He was married in 1770 to Sally, daughter of Thomas Cobb and sister of Gen. David Cobb. In 1773-74 he was chairman of the Taunton committee to remonstrate against public wrong, writing the address for the governor's removal, and was chairman of the committee on the impeachment of Chief-Justice Peter Oliver. He was a delegate to the first Continental congress, 1774; to the second Provincial congress at Cambridge, 1775, and one of the committee on the state of the Province; a delegate to the 2nd and subsequent Continental congresses, 1775-76, where he served on many important committees and as chairman on the committee of supplies, and voted for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, of which instrument he was a signer. He was re-elected to the Continental congress for 1777 and 1778, but did not again attend. He was a member of the committee of three that visited Gen. Philip Schuyler's army on the northern frontier; was elected a representative in the Massachusetts legislature in 1777, being part of the time speaker, and was unanimously elected attorney-general of the state. He was a member of the committee appointed from Massachusetts to confer with members from the other colonies on the regulation of the price of labor, provisions and manufactures in 1778; of the executive council of Massachusetts, 1779-80, and a delegate to the convention that adopted the state constitution. He was attorney-general of Massachusetts, 1777-90, covering the period of Shays' rebellion; judge of the supreme court, 1790-1804, and a member of the executive council in 1804. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Harvard in 1805. He was one of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780. He died in Boston, Mass., May 11, 1814.

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