Description: Paine Robert

Robert Treat Paine, MA Declaration Signer, 1765 Signed Legal Summons


Partly printed and partly handwritten legal summons signed by Declaration of Independence signer Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814) as Paine" verso in lower left corner. Signature is large, dark, and embellished with elaborate, curlicued flourish. Also signed by Captain Timothy Fales (1690-1777), first clerk of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of Bristol County, Massachusetts as "Timothy Fales Cler" recto in the lower right corner. Partial red wax seal present to left of headline "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c." Docket information also found verso. In very good condition, with expected paper folds, toning, isolated stains, minor closed tears, and ink bleed-through. Document measures 7.625"" x 7"". Ex-Charles Sigety.


Robert Treat Paine was serving as a justice of the peace and barrister in Taunton, Massachusetts when he signed this legal summons in the summer of 1765. The case of Otis vs. Bryant involved defendant and ship caulker Jonathan Briant [alternately spelled Bryant] of Freetown and plaintiff and physician James Otis of Taunton. On June 4, 1760, Briant had signed a promissory note pledging full repayment of Otis's loan of £2.13.8 with interest. "Yet the said Jonathan tho often requested hath not paid the same but neglects it," the summons darkly concluded. A local sheriff delivered the writ to Briant and "left a summary with his wife" on July 31, 1765 requesting that he appear at the "Inferiour Court of Common Pleas" at Taunton on August 3, 1765 to face charges and pay damages.


Robert Treat Paine is most well-known for signing the Declaration of Independence. Yet this Harvard College graduate also taught public school, sailed with merchant and whaling vessels, preached, served in the Seven Years' War, and practiced law. Paine became involved in Massachusetts politics on the eve of the Revolution, serving in the Continental Congress between 1774 and 1776. After the war, Paine continued his prestigious political and legal career until retiring in his seventies.


The plaintiff is almost certainly Dr. James Otis (1734-1807) of Scituate, who served as a surgeon's mate during the French & Indian War before beginning a private practice around 1760. During the American Revolution, Dr. Otis served as a surgeon at Fort Ticonderoga as well as aboard the U.S.S. Ranger.


Ex-Charles Sigety


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