Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
I1 learn from Mr. Quincy you where furnished with Mr. Banisters will & the other papers necessary to give you a clear Idea of the case depending between Mr. Banister & myself.2 I now request you will prepare yourself to speak to the case & leave nothing undone to secure a474decision in my favour your acting for me in the same maner as if your own interest was at stake will greatly Oblige your most Obet. Humble Sert.,
John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), the artist, was a native of Boston. His fame as a portraitist began with the London exhibition in 1766 of "The Boy with the Squirrel," a portrait of his half-brother Henry Pelham. He was painting in New York in 1771 and in 1774 removed to England (DAB).
The case of Banister v. Coply concerned a challenged title to Copley's estate on Beacon Hill in Boston. It was a successor case to Banister v. Henderson and Banister v. Cunningham, both of which are treated in Quincy, Reports of Cases, 119-159.
RTP was brought into the case to replace James Otis, Jr., whose ill-health already impaired his legal performance. The co-counsels were James Putnam, Josiah Quincy, and Samuel Quincy. The case was carried by demurrer from the Inferior Court of Suffolk County (Apr. 1769) to the Superior Court (Feb. 1772), where judgment was made for the defendant. See Letters & Papers of John Singleton Copley and Henry Pelham, 1739–1776
. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 71 (Boston, 1914), 131 passim. RTP's case notes and minutes are among his Papers at the MHS.
Copley sold the land in 1796 to the Mount Vernon Proprietors, of which Jonathan Mason and Harrison Gray Otis were the two chief shareholders. In 1809 the title was again challenged, this time by the Cunningham heirs, and at that time RTP provided a deposition about the earlier history of the case (Manuscript collections, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston). For a discussion of the disputed title, see the articles by "Gleaner" [Nathaniel I. Bowditch], published in The Fifth Report of the Boston Records Commissioners, 1880 (rev. ed. Boston, 1887), 185–203.
Miss Tailer's1 Compliments to Mr. Paine Esqr. begs the favour of him to call at her Mother's for a cloak in case it should be Cold when she returns to Boston. Mrs. Paine was so disconsolate in your absence she was Determine'd to have something that belong'd to you so got your plad Gownd & laid it as Close to her as she possible could, such is her regard for you, I think she justly Merits yours, please to give my duty to Mamah,
Abigail Tailor (1748–1774), daughter of Dr. Gillam and Elizabeth (Boylston) Tailor. The family lived on the west side of what is today Washington Street, between Bromfield and Winter streets (Sibley's Harvard Graduates 9:584).