Paine Wingate, Jr. was an American preacher, farmer and statesman.
Background
Paine Wingate, Jr. was born on May 14, 1739, at Amesbury, Province of Massachusetts Bay (present-day Massachusetts). He was the sixth of the twelve children of the Rev. Paine Wingate, Sr. and Mary Balch, and a descendant of John Wingate, who came to America as early as 1658 and settled at Dover, New Hampshire.
Education
Wingate, Jr. graduated from Harvard College in 1759.
Career
On December 14, 1763, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. The Hampton Falls congregation was a contentious body and after a series of disagreements with it involving matters of church policy and theology, Wingate, Jr. in 1771 offered his resignation, which was to take effect in 1776; he did not, however, perform ministerial duties to any considerable extent during the intervening years.
In 1776 he moved to Stratham, New Hampshire, and took possession of a farm purchased some years before. Here he maintained a residence for the rest of his life. His correspondence with his brother-in-law, Timothy Pickering, shows that he shared the latter's interest in agricultural improvements and was able to make a comfortable living from his farm. He was not in sympathy with the radical party in the early years of the Revolution. Nevertheless, his frequently expressed desire for reconciliation, his moderate attitude at the provincial congresses, and his refusal to sign the "Association Test" of 1776, while producing charges of "lukewarmness" and "Toryism, " do not appear to have destroyed public confidence in his essential integrity and patriotism.
In 1781 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. Two years later he served in the state legislature and in 1787 was elected to the last Congress under the Confederation. He supported the proposed Constitution and after its ratification was chosen senator from New Hampshire, drawing a four-year term in the subsequent allotment. On conclusion of this service he was elected for a single term to the federal House (March 4, 1793 - March 3, 1795). He was active in committee work rather than in debate, but his correspondence throws considerable light on the processes of inaugurating the new government, and on the personalities and issues involved. For the most part he supported Federalist principles, but probably reflected the dominant sentiment of New Hampshire when he opposed Hamilton's funding scheme. In later years he acquired a profound distrust for "French principles" which would have qualified him for membership in the Essex Junto, but with the Federalist tide running strong in 1794 he was defeated, apparently as less dependable than party needs required.
He served another term (1795) in the state legislature, and in 1798 became judge of the superior court, retiring on reaching the age of seventy in 1809. After his retirement he spent his remaining years on his Stratham farm, where, as the "last survivor" of the many groups and activities with which he had been associated, he was often consulted by historians and antiquarians. Paine Wingate, Jr. died on March 7, 1838, in Stratham, New Hampshire, and was buried in the Stratham Cemetery.
Achievements
Membership
Paine Wingate, Jr. was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's At-large district (Seat 4).
Connections
On May 23, 1765, Paine Wingate, Jr. married Eunice Pickering of Salem, Massachusetts, a sister of Timothy Pickering. They had five children - two sons and three daughters.