I. Robert Treat

Robert Treat, an American statesman, born in Boston, March 11,1731, died there, May 11, 1814. He graduated at Harvard college in 1749, studied theology, and acted in 1755 as chaplain of the provincial troops on the northern frontier. After a visit to Europe he studied law, and in 1759 settled in Taunton, where he resided many years. He was a delegate in 1768 to the convention called by leading men in Boston, after the dissolution of the general court by Gov. Bernard for refusing to rescind the circular letter to the other colonies. In 1770 he conducted, in the absence of the attorney general, the prosecution against Capt. Preston and his men for firing on the inhabitants of the city. In 1773, and again in 1774, he was chosen to the general assembly of Massachusetts; and he was a delegate to the continental congress from 1774 to 1778, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. During the same period he occupied important stations in the government of Massachusetts. When, in October, 1780, the state constitution was adopted, he was chosen attorney general, and held that oftice till 1790, when he became a judge of the supreme court. In 1804 he resigned on account of deafness and infirm health.

The same year he was a state councillor, but shortly afterward retired from public life. He was one of the founders of the American academy, established in Massachusetts in 1780.

II. Robert Treat

Robert Treat, jr., an American author, son of the preceding, born in Taunton, Mass., Dec. 9, 1773, died in Boston, Nov. 13, 1811. His name was originally Thomas Paine, but in 1801 it was changed by act of the legislature to that of his father, when he remarked that he now had a "Christian " name, in allusion to Thomas Paine the infidel. He graduated at Harvard college in 1792, and entered mercantile life; but in October, 1794, he started a semi-weekly newspaper called the "Federal Orrery." In February, 1795, he married Miss Baker, an actress. On taking the degree of A. M. in that year, he delivered a poem on "The Invention of Letters," which brought him $1,500, being more than $5 a line. In 1796 he sold his newspaper, which had become unprofitable; and a poem entitled "The Ruling Passion," delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa society in the same year, yielded him $1,200. In 1708 he wrote the celebrated song of "Adams and Liberty," for which he received $750, or more than $11 aline. Resigning the office of "master of ceremonies" at the theatre, which had been created for him, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1802, and commenced practice in Boston with great success; but soon resuming his old acquaintance with the phiyers, and his former unsettled mode of life, he passed his last days in misery and destitution.

His works were collected and published by Charles Prentiss in 1812 (1 vol. 8vo, Boston).