User:WilyD/William Case/Edward Paine

Edward Paine was a circuit rider in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Paine was born 8th February, 1777 in Connecticut. After the death of his sister in 1791, he was quite grieved, and joined the Baptist church. Several year subsequent he converted to Methodism. In 1809, he moved with his family to Waterford, Pennsylvania. Here he received a licence to exhort. In Waterford he established meetings for prayer and exhortation, and after a few months there were roughly 40 active Methodists around Waterford, where previously there had been none. Owing to his success, he was licensed as a local preacher. He was also made a justice of the peace.

In 1818, wishing to be more involved with the work of spreading Methodism, he was accepted on trial as a circuit rider. That year, and the subsequent year, he was assigned to the Bridgewater circuit. In 1820, he set out to travel to the annual Genesee Conference, which that year was held in Niagara. On his way to the conference, he drowned crossing the Susquehanna river.