Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Taunton
I am very Sorry to hear that you have any reason to complain of our forgetfullness of you. The Docter & I have wrote befor now & Sent it to watertown for conveyance but I Send this to providence hoping it will reach you though it is but a Line not having time to write So much as I want for the parson I Send it by is going in a few minets but I thought one Line better then none. I Should be very Glad of to hear from you, for I Long to know how you doe & what you think of the troops that is coming for my heart trembles with fear but I Still hope for the best but I hope you’ll keep clear of the plague. The noise of cannon is dredfull but I expect to hear them soon.
Our family are well except Colds. Since you Left home Charlys Life has been dispair’d of but is better & begins to Grow finly. Brother Jonathan has Lost his child with the camp distemper. Seth takes care of the Salt petre Bank. He is harvesting potatoes but we Shant have So many as we had Last year. I want to know if their is any prospect of flower 104being brought from Philada. for their is not any to be bought here. Your Sister Eunice & neices Send their Love & duty. I am in hast your affectinate wife
Mr. Randolph,1 being dead, who was one of the salt petre committee, and Mr. Morton, another, not being able to attend, on account of his attendance in the house of Assembly,
Resolved, That three new members be chosen for that Comee.
The members chose, Mr. Paine, Mr. Humphreys,2 and Mr. Wythe.3
Journals of the Continental Congress, 3:310–311.
Peyton Randolph (1721–1775), after attending the College of William and Mary and studying at the Inner Temple in London, was in 1748 appointed as king’s attorney for Virginia, resigning that position in 1766 to become speaker of the House of Burgesses. He was active in that body and as president of the Virginia conventions of 1774 and 1775. As a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774, Lee was elected president but resigned on Oct. 22, 1774, to attend the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was reelected to the Congress which met in Philadelphia in May 1775, again serving as president, this time until his death on Oct. 22, 1775 (
DAB
).
RTP noted in his diary for Oct. 1775:
22 23 fair I went to Congress. They Adjd. on Acct. of the death of Mr. Randolph. 24 fair cool, rode to German Town. PM the funeral of honble. Peyton Randolf Esqr. attended in the most respectable manner & a sermon preached at Christs Church by Mr. Duché.
Charles Humphreys (1714–1786), a miller from Pennsylvania, served in both the Provincial Congress (1764–1774) and Continental Congress (1774–1776). Because of his Quaker views and opposition to war, Humphreys voted against the Declaration of Independence (
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
).
George Wythe (1726–1806), a Virginia lawyer, was a member of the House of Burgesses (1758–1768) and its clerk (1768–1775). He was a member of Virginia’s delegation to the Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776 and signed the Declaration of Independence. Later, he was professor of law at the College of William and Mary from 1779 to 1790 (
DAB
).