This remarkable man was the son of a Quaker, a stay-maker by trade, and was born at I'hetford, Norfolk, England, in 1737. His mother was the daughter of an attorney, herself a member of the Church of England. In her religious principles the son appears to have been educated, for we find lie was confirmed at the usual age by the Bishop of jNorwich, After leaving school, (at the early age of thirteen,) Paine embraced his father's trade as a stay-maker, in which ho continued five years. He next ventured on a sea-faring life.

In 1759 he again established himself in stay making, and married his first wife, Mary Lambert, who died the next year, in consequence of his bad treatnient of her.

^ The ancestor of this family, who emigrated from England in 1689, was Isaac Coutant, or Coutoug. He married Catharine Bonnefoi, and left issue three sons. Of these, Isaac, the eldest, was the father of Isaiah Coutant. A large portion of the Coutant farm, which originally consisted of 307 acres, is now occupied by Philemon Carpenter and Thomas L. Servoss. The present Coutant residence was erected in 1769, and the cemetery in 1775. The latter contains a monument to John Le Fevre, a native of France besides others. , -

1j John Parcott was one of the original Huguenots of this place.

c The name of Elias Badeau occurs in a list of freeholders belonging to this town, in 1708.

d For Daniel Bennett, the ancestor of this family, see passport.