The New York Times, June 14, 1925. PAGE NUMBER 196
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS ON MANY SUBJECTS
The Thomas Paine Home.
MARIAN A. FULTON.
Philadelphia, June 7, 1925.
As a Philadelphian and a life member of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, which your recent Philadelphia correspondent refers to as “the Paine Historical Society,” I should like to correct the very erroneous statements contained in his letter on Thomas Paine.
The reason why the Thomas Paine National Historical Association did not purchase the little home built and occupied by Thomas Paine during his residence in New Rochelle was because the house was not for sale. The then owner, Mr. See, offered it to several persons, I believe, if the house were removed from the space it then occupied in order that Mr. See could build a modern dwelling place.
The President of the Huguenot Association, H. M. Lester, took the former home of Paine and put it on the ground where it now stands. The ground, I believe, is owned by the City of New Rochelle, while the Paine house is owned by the Huguenot Association, a gift from Charles See. Several years ago the Thomas Paine National Historical Association wrote to the present President of the Huguenot Association, offering to purchase the little Paine cottage and was informed that it was not for sale.
The State of New York did not present the little frame cottage to Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine built the cottage himself. Paine’s home at one time in New Rochelle was a former home of the Jay family. This was the stone house presented to him by the State of New York. It burned to the ground while Paine was in Europe. Paine, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson from Paris, speaks of the destruction of his home in New Rochelle.
J. H. Ludwig, a very ardent admirer of not only Paine’s “Rights of Man” but of all of Paine’s writings, did leave a bequest to the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, but not for the purpose described in the communication from Philadelphia. The bequest was left to build a memorial house in honor of the great American patriot. The ground for this house was broken for us at New Rochelle on Memorial Day by Thomas A. Edison, who is our First Vice President.