"In my youth I also read tragedies,
epic poems, romances, and divinity.
Now I read Common Sense."
Robert Bage
A Brief History Of Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was born Tom Pain in the town of Thetford, Norfolk on
January 29, 1737. His father, Joseph, was a Quaker staymaker, while his mother
was the daughter of an attorney. Tom was raised in Quaker fashion and schooled
from age six to thirteen. In 1750, he began to apprentice in his father's shop to
learn the family trade. At sixteen he ran away from home and went onto a
merchant ship. H…
