Elijah Paine

Elijah Paine
United States Senator from Vermont
In office March 4, 1795 – September 1, 1801
Preceded by	Stephen R. Bradley
Succeeded by	Stephen R. Bradley
Personal details
Born	(1757-01-21)January 21, 1757 Brooklyn, Connecticut
Died	April 28, 1842(1842-04-28) (aged 85) Williamstown, Vermont
Political party	Federalist

Elijah Paine (January 21, 1757– April 28, 1842) was a United States Senator from Vermont, serving as a Federalist from 1795 to 1801, and thereafter a long-serving United States federal judge.

Born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, Paine attended the public schools. He served in Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, from 1776 to 1777, and then received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1781 before reading law to be admitted to the bar in 1784. He commenced a private practice in Windsor, Vermont, practicing law from 1784 to 1787 while cultivating a farm. He also began a settlement at Williamstown, Orange County, Vermont, and established a cloth factory and a saw and grist mill in Northfield, Vermont.

Paine served as secretary of the State constitutional convention in 1786, and as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1787 to 1790, also serving as a Vermont probate judge for the Randolph District from 1788 to 1791. He was a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1791 until he resigned in 1795, having been elected to the United States Senate in 1794 and taking office on March 4, 1795. He was reelected as a Federalist in 1800, but only served until September 1, 1801, when he resigned after having taken a federal judicial position.

On February 24, 1801, Paine was nominated by President John Adams to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont vacated by Samuel Hitchcock. Paine was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 25, 1801, and received his commission on March 4, 1801. From 1815 to 1842, he was also the postmaster of Williamstown. Paine's judicial service was terminated on April 1, 1842, due to resignation brought on by infirmity. Paine died within a month of resigning, in Williamstown. He was interred in West Hill Cemetery in Williamstown.

His son, Charles Paine, was Governor of Vermont from 1841 to 1843.

Sources

• United States Congress. "Elijah Paine (id: P000026)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Elijah Paine at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress