Robert Treat Paine

Robert Treat Paine
Robert Treat Paine by Edward Savage & John Coles, Jr. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
Born	(1731-03-11)March 11, 1731 Boston, Massachusetts, British America
Died	May 11, 1814(1814-05-11) (aged 83) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Cause of death	Poor health
Resting place	Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence	Taunton, Massachusetts
Education	Harvard College
Occupation	Lawyer
Known for	Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Spouse(s)	Sally Cobb (m. 1770-1814; his death); she died in 1816
Children	8
Signature

Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was a Massachusetts lawyer and politician, best known as a signer of the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state's first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.

Robert Treat Paine was born in Boston, Massachusetts, British America on March 11, 1731. He was one of five children of the Rev. Thomas Paine and Eunice (Treat) Paine. His father was pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Weymouth but moved his family to Boston in 1730 and subsequently became a merchant there. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Treat, whose father Maj. Robert Treat (later a Governor of Connecticut) was one of the principal founders of Newark, New Jersey. The Treat family in particular had a long history in the British colonies dating back to the Mayflower.

Paine attended the Boston Latin School and at the age of fourteen entered Harvard College, from which institution he graduated in 1749 at age 18. He then was engaged in teaching school for several years back at the Boston Latin and at Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He also attempted a merchant career with journeys to the Carolinas, the Azores, and to Spain, as well as a whaling voyage to Greenland. He began the study of law in 1755 with his mother's cousin in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Paine was unsuccessful in gaining an officer's commission in that regiment and so volunteered to serve as chaplain. When he returned from a brief military campaign to Lake George (the Crown Point Expedition), he did some occasional preaching and returned to his legal studies. In 1756 he returned to Boston to continue his legal preparations with Samuel Prat, and he was admitted to the bar in 1757. He first considered establishing his law practice at Portland (then part of Massachusetts but now in Maine), but instead in 1761 moved to Taunton, Massachusetts, then back to Boston in 1780.