Edward Payne (1722-1788)

He was born at Boston and after serving an apprenticeship opened a general store and a distillery, but he could not get the stock he required and the distillery was not run to his satisfaction. In 1746, he bought a ship and loaded it with rum, fish and flour before sailing to Gibraltar. He sent the ship back to Boston with wine and fruit, bought another, but remained in Gibraltar to dispose of the cargo. He bought another ship which was "taken as she enter'd the Straights" (presumably by pirates) which he replaced with another on which he loaded "some prize goods" and sailed with her to Villa Nova in Portugal, picking up salt and fruit before safely returning to Boston in 1747. He briefly engaged in the English trade but money being scarce he found that trade dull and removed to Glocester in 1752 where he entered into the fishery business with James Perkins, of Boston. They built a store, wharves and fishing vessels, and also entered, "a foreign trade in which I succeeded beyond my expectation". During the French & Indian War, the French took two of his ships in Europe and two in the West Indies.

Despite his losses during the war, Payne retired a wealthy man in 1761 and returned to Boston where he lived in a large house on State Street. He sided with the American cause during the Revolution and after the war opened an insurance office enjoying "most of the business of the town". He was a co-founder of the Bank of Massachusetts that has since merged to become BankBoston today and he died with "an unsullied reputation," $80,000, four houses, and a further $13,000 in securities. In 1756, he married Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Amory of Boston. They were the parents of five children, three of whom lived to adulthood: (1) Mary, twin, died unmarried (2) Rebecca, married Christopher Gore, the future Governor of Massachusetts, and her dowry allowed them to build Gore Place at Waltham (2) William Payne, married Lucy Gray and Catherine Hallett.