Augustus Gibson Paine Sr. (15 January 1839 – 26 March 1915) was an American

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

Biography

He was born on 15 January 1839 in

Brownfield, Maine Brownfield is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,631 at the 2020 census. Brownfield is home to the Stone Mountain Arts Center. History The area was once territory of the Pequawket Abenaki Indians, whose ma ...

and after living in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

for a time, came to

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

in 1862. For 22 years he was in the

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...

commission business and then embarked on various enterprises. He became president and director of the New York and Pennsylvania Company, president and managing director of the McDonald Electrolytic Company, treasurer and a director of the Yaryan Company, a trustee of the

New York Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual insurance, mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #69 on the 2025 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporat ...

, president of the Armstrong Real Estate Improvement Company, the Johnsonburg National Bank, the Hanover Land & Dock Company, and the Highland Paper Company. He was also the executor of the will of the speaker

Thomas Brackett Reed Thomas Brackett Reed Jr. (October 18, 1839 – December 7, 1902) was an American attorney, author, parliamentarian and Republican Party politician from Maine who served as the 32nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 188 ...

, of whom he was a good friend. Paine was a member of the

Union League The Union Leagues were quasi-secretive men's clubs established separately, starting in 1862, and continuing throughout the Civil War (1861–1865). The oldest Union League of America council member, an organization originally called "The Leagu ...

, the

Merchants A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

, and the New York Athletics Clubs. He died at the age of 77 in the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, ...

and was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The painter

George Burroughs Torrey George Burroughs Torrey (1863–1942) was an American painter, best known for his portraits. He has been called the "painter of presidents", because he painted portraits of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Herbert Hoover. Biography He ...

(1863–1942) painted large double portraits of Paine and his wife. They were located in the New York townhouse of his son on 31 East 69th Street and later donated by the family to the Paine Memorial Library in

Willsboro, New York Willsboro is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States, and lies south of the city of Plattsburgh (city), New York, Plattsburgh. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

Family

He married Charlotte M. Bedell (15 November 1840 – 15 January 1929), together they had one son,

Augustus G. Paine Jr. Augustus Gibson Paine Jr. (October 19, 1866 – October 23, 1947) was an American paper manufacturer and bank official. Early life Paine was born in New York City on October 19, 1866. He was a son of Augustus G. Paine Sr. (1839–1915) and Cha ...

(1866–1947). His son became an officer in most of the companies in which his father was interested.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paine, Augustus G. Sr. 1839 births 1915 deaths 19th-century American Episcopalians American financiers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) People from Brownfield, Maine 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople