Thomas Paine
In life, Thomas Paine, was one of the most respected and distinguished men in the world. He was not only a great thinker, he put his beliefs into action too, becoming one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His written works are still relevant – and, indeed, sometimes still controversial – today, and he is written into the history books as a political activist, philosopher and even a revolutionary. In death, however, he has not been accorded such respect. Even now, a century on from his demise, even the whereabouts of his body (or, at least, the majority of it) is unknown.
Born in the English county of Norfolk in 1737, Paine was a true firebrand of his time. Like many others, he migrated to the British American Colonies in 1774, assisted by Benjamin Franklin. He arrived on American soil just in time to join in the successful revolution. But soon, he was on the move again, heading back across the Atlantic to France. It was here he wrote some of his most influential, and provocative, works. He finally returned to America, dying in Greenwich Village, New York, in June of 1809.
Given the essays he had written on Christian faith, it’s not surprising that only six people came to his funeral. Nor is it surprising that men of the Quaker faith refused to let Paine be buried on their ground. So, his friends ended up burying him under a tree on his own farm. And here he would have stayed if it weren’t for his old friend William Cobbett. A radical himself, he wanted to give Paine a hero’s burial in his native England. So, he dug up his bones and set off across the ocean. For some reason, Corbett never did carry out his plan. That’s why, when he died, Paine’s bones were still among his possessions. In the confusion, they were lost, and nobody knows for sure what happened to them after that.
Over the years, several people have come forward claiming to have part of Paine’s body in their possession. Could it really be that the Founding Father has a rib in France or a skull in Australia? The only confirmed part is a lock of Paine’s hair. This is buried on his farm in New Rochelle, though even the location of this is rumored to be kept secret by the Thomas Paine National Historical Association.