Thomas Paine’s birthday – Jan 29, 1737. American Revolutionary leader, a corset maker by trade, author of Common Sense, The Age of Reason and many other influential works, was born at Thetford, England. “These are the times that try men’s souls” are the well-known opening words of his inspirational tract The Crisis. Paine died at New York, NY, June 8, 1809, but 10 years later his remains were moved to England by William Cobbett for reburial there. Reburial was refused, however, and the location of Paine’s bones, said to have been distributed, is unknown.
Image courtesy of United States Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Collections.
