Elisha Paine

Elisha Paine was born 29 Dec 1693 in Easton, Barnstable, MA. He was the 2nd of five children born to Elisha Paine and Rebecca Doane. (1) At the age of 27 he married Mary Johnson on 24 Nov 1720 in Canterbury, CT. (2)
In 1740 at the age of 47, Elisha Paine was a well educated lawyer in Canterbury, but got caught up in the rebellion against the established religion. From that point on religion was his exclusive concern. His brother Solomon and his sister Abigail were also part of the revival, but Elisha was the leader. Canterbury was newly settled and not very civilized. Schools and churches were few and poor, so Elisha and many people in Canterbury were ripe for a religious revolution. Unfortunately the Connecticut government sanctioned any dereliction from the established religion with the threat of a £100 fine and jail.. Elisha Paine was peacefully singing the twenty-third Psalm and was arrested on 16 Dec 1742/3 and taken to Worcester and confined in a filthy prison. There were so many visitors and petitions for his release that the he was allowed to preach from the jail yard. He was held for three months. (3)
By 1749 the separatist churches were losing popularity. He deeded some land to his son-in-law, "Aaron Cleaveland, and his wife Thankfu." (4) He then moved with his family to Bridgehampton, Suffolk, NY and on 11 May 1752 he was ordained "the first minister of the Congregational Church of Christ." He continued preaching until fifteen days before his death, which occurred Aug. 26, 1775." (5) He was buried in Hayground Cemebery near Bridgehampton. (6)

(3) Gleanings of Windham County, CT by Ellen D Larned, 1899
pg. 15 Among the first in Windham county to be brought into the spirit of the revival was our Canterbury lawyer, Elisha Paine. Of a speculative turn of mind and remarkable candid and catholic spirit, Elisha Paine had always manifested great interest in religious questions and doctrines, "inquiring into all the difference worships of New England with their principles and behavior, and had sometimes feared the living words of the great preacher wrought powerfully upon his own heart, and he was led to the feel that however he might judge the religion of others his own "was of not value." Yielding himself to this new influence he received a new spiritual baptism, and religion became to him the one thing of importance in the land. His brother Solomon, Mrs. Josiah Cleveland, and her family, and other leading families in Canterbury, were also partakers in the revival influence.

pg. 17 The journal of John Cleveland, a Yale student, while passing his vacation at home, gives pleasant glimpses of the situation. His father's house is " a little Bethel;" his parents, brothers and sisters filled with great joy. They go from house to house in all parts of the town, holding "very live meetings." "April 7. A meeting in the evening, many filled. 9. A meeting at grandmother Paine's. Christians useful. 12. This night went down into town. Mills preached. Had some of us a very live meeting. 13. Talked with Uncle Solomon about religion. He related his experience. This afternoon Mills preached. His words seemed to have a very great effect upon the audience. There was a great stir indeed. 21. A meeting at Uncle Elisha Paine's. My father relates his experience. Walk with Mr. Bradford among the hills to pray. 26. Spent the forenoon in the mill-house in prayer and reading the Scriptures.

pg 18 The sections visited with greatest power by the Revival were newly settled and imperfectly civilized. Schools were few and poor; religious services formal and lifeless. Was it strange that people growing up amid such circumstances, with little to occupy their minds, when suddenly brought into contact with such eloquence of exhortation and spiritual influence, should be carried out of themselves ?

pg 20-23 if any person not an ordained minister should presume to preach or exhort without similar authority, for every such offence he was to be arrested and bound over for trial in the penal sum of £100; and if any foreigner, licensed or not, presume to preach in any town of Connecticut without permission from recognized authority, he should be sent out of colony bounds as a vagrant. This remarkable expedient for promoting peace, love, and Christian unity was at once put into execution.
The inevitable results followed. The revival element was at once arraigned against the Government. Social religious meetings like those described in Canterbury had now become lawless and disorderly conventicles, liable to be interrupted by the warrant of the constable. The attempted suppression of free speech in a time of high religious excitement greatly increased the existing evil.
The "gentleman of veracity," even then fulfilling his mission, thus writes to the Boston Gazette :

" Dec. 16, 1742. Canterbury is in worse confusion than ever. Their minister has left them, and they grow more noisy and boisterous so that they can get no minister to preach to them yet. ------Lawyer Paine has set up for a preacher . . . and makes it his business to go from house to house and town to town to gain proselytes to this new religion. Consequences are much feared."
Elisha Paine had indeed felt constrained to carry to others the word that had wrought so powerfully in his own soul, and during the summer had applied to the Windham County Association of ministers for license to preach. The ministers who examined him were of opinion " that he was qualified, and that it was his duty to preach the Gospel." But as condition for receiving license he must subscribe to the Saybrook Platform as the Ecclesiastic Constitution of Connecticut.-----Elisha Paine had never been in sympathy with Saybrook Platform, believing it to exercise power not warranted by Scripture. -------Passing into Woodstock, then held
by Massachusetts, he held an afternoon religious service in the house of John Morse, and as he was peacefully singing the twenty-third Psalm he was arrested by a constable and carried before a justice. His conscience forbidding him to give bonds, he was taken to Worcester and closely confined " in the dirtiest prison that ever was seen."------Many visited him in prison, and many petitions were sent for his release, and after holding him three months the authorities were fain to bid him depart.

pg. 28 And now the battle began in earnest between a church minority backed by the Government of Connecticut, and a New Light majority headed by Elisha Paine.

A majority of the church voted, " To appoint the house of Samuel Wadsworth to be a place to meet in by themselves to serve the Lord in spirit and in truth,"—thus openly setting at naught the law of the colony. Officers of the law were quick to enforce the prescribed penalty. Elisha Paine and Benajah Douglas, a zealous brother, were arrested and hurried off to Windham jail on charge " of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ," in a place not recognized by the Constitution of Connecticut.----The whole county was stirred by these proceedings. Crowds of people flocked to the jail, so eager to see and hear the prisoners that Paine was allowed to preach in the jail yard by giving security.

pg 35 Renewing its attempt to call and settle a minister, it first addressed its " dear and honored father," Elisha Paine, but the leadings of Providence clearly calling him to a wider field, it finally made choice of his
brother Solomon, who, after serious spiritual conflict, accepted the call, and was formally ordained pastor of the " First or regular Congregational church of Canterbury."

pg 46 Elisha Paine, after the removal of his family to Long Island, returning in midwinter for household goods and stock, was arrested for rates due Mr. Cogswell and kept for months in Windham jail, to the great inconvenience and suffering of himself and family. Petitions sent to the General Assembly for relief in numberless cases were promptly " dismissed by both houses." A formal memorial presented in 1753, from the representatives of some twenty-five New Light churches, praying for the benefit of the Toleration Act, was scornfully rejected.

.pg 50 As Separate churches died out and his services were less demanded, he accepted the pastorate of a New Light church at Bridgehampton, L. I., and passed the evening of his days in quietly administering to their needs.

Ae 83.
Was born upon Cape Cod and from thence with his Hon. Father Mr. Elisha Paine removed to Canterbury in Connecticut where he practiced the Law as an Ator. With great approbation and Fidelity until AD 1742. From thence became preacher of ye Gospel and was ordained ye first minister over ye Congregational Church of Christ in this place May 11th, 1752.

AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT Contact information on HOME page Direct descendant is highlighted in red
Elisha Paine		see FAMILY TREE
Born: 29 Dec 1693 Eastham, Barnstable, MA
Married: 24 November 1720 Canterbury, CT
Died: 26 Aug 1775 Bridgehampton, Suffolk, NY

BIRTH	29 Dec 1693 Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH	26 Aug 1775 (aged 81) Bridgehampton, Suffolk County, New York, USA
BURIAL	Hayground Cemetery Hayground, Suffolk County, New York, USA
MEMORIAL ID	https://archive.org/details/painefamilyrecor02pain32425149 · View Source

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Rev Elisha Paine