Phebe Paine: Educator (1802-1872)

In recollections of her life in Carlisle, Mary C. Dillon, author of the novel “In Old Bellaire,” wrote about the faculty circle of Dickinson College. She said that it included “the brilliant spinsters, Miss Sarah and Miss Phoebe Paine, who had a finishing school for young ladies on West Street…”¹ Dillon also included them as characters in her novel.

Phebe Paine, one of six children, was born in Maine on November 12, 1802, the daughter of Dr. James Paine and his wife Sarah Wingate. Dr. Paine was a physician, a Federalist and a Justice of the Peace who died in Portland, Maine in 1822.² 

It is not known when Phebe came to Carlisle, but she advertised in the August 21, 1838 edition of the Carlisle Herald & Expositor that on September 6, she would open the third quarter of the Young Ladies' Seminary. She gave the names of several distinguished ministers who could certify as to the charachter of the school as well as a list of the subjects that were taught and the cost of tuition.

In 1839, Phebe took a job as a teacher at the Methodist Female Seminary in South Carolina, and then as a professor Spartanburg Female College.³ It’s not known what brought Phebe and her sister Charlotte to Carlisle, but in 1845 they took over the running of the Carlisle Female Seminary.⁴ They advertised that the cost of tuition was based on the subject matter and the number of classes a student took. Courses included Common English Study, Astronomy, Algebra, Geometry, Natural Philosophy, English Composition as well as higher branches such as Botany, Chemistry, Rhetoric, Mental or Moral Philosophy. An extra charge was made for instruction in the Languages, Drawing, Painting, etc., and Professor E. L. Walker would give lessons in Instrumental music for an extra fee.⁵

In an 1846 advertisement for the Carlisle Female Seminary, they stressed “The intellectual training given is systematic and thorough, while the manners and morals of the pupils are most carefully watched over.”⁶ The sisters ran the Carlisle Female Seminary for just two or three years. In 1848, Charlotte, and her niece, Mary Webb Daniel, returned to South Carolina to teach at the Johnson Female Academy in Anderson, and Phebe’s sister, Sarah, moved to Carlisle to establish a Young Ladies Seminary/Finishing School with her.

The 1850 U. S. Census of Carlisle records that their household consisted of Sarah Paine, Phebe Paine, their nieces Annie C. Paine and Sarah P. Webb, as well as five 15 and 16-year-old young ladies boarding at their school from Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, D. C. and Pennsylvania.

Charlotte returned to Carlisle, and on April 1, 1856, the three sisters purchased a house on South West Street midway between Pomfret and Chapel Alley.⁷

The Paine’s niece, Annie C. Paine, lived with them. When she was fifteen, her aunt gave her a blank book and told her to write a daily journal. The first entry is dated February 12, 1859 and the last on April 29, 1860. As well as chronicling the comings and goings of her family, friends and her schooling, it gives an insight into the life and mind of a nineteenth-century young woman.⁸

The sisters continued to teach during the 1860s, but by 1870 they had retired. Phebe died in Carlisle on January 26, 1872. Her obituary chronicled her life. “…She was the daughter of a distinguished physician of Portland, Maine, and spent the early years of her life in that city. Subsequently she successfully presided over several female institutes located in various parts of the country, the last being the Young Ladies Seminary which she conducted with so much ability here…”⁹

Phebe made her will a year before her death. She bequeathed all the rents and profits from her real estate to her sister Sarah Paine. To her friend Dr. William H. Allen (past President of Dickinson College and Penn State University) she bequeathed $6,666.66 in trust to be invested and paid to “my adopted daughter” Annie C. Paine. She made bequests to her friend Mrs. Rosamond Caldwell, widow of Professor Merritt Caldwell; the children of Phebe’s sister, Mrs. Pamela Webb, viz: Pamela Ann Mayberry, Josiah Webb, Sarah Paine Morton, and James Paine Webb. After the death of her sister Sarah, Annie C. Paine was to receive all of Phebe’s furniture and library, allowing Dr. William H. Allen to choose some books for himself. She also stipulated that no public auction of her estate was to be held.¹⁰

Phebe is buried in Carlisle’s Old Graveyard with her brother and several sisters. Phebe Paine b. November 12, 1802 died January 26, 1872; Charlotte Paine b. February 11, 1794, died June 14, 1856; Sarah Paine b. July 1, 1795, died December 20, 1880; Seth Paine, Esq. b. July 1, 1810, died May 14, 1866, and also buried with them is “Our adopted daughter,” Mrs. M. E. Paine Daniel. Died in Anderson S.C. August 28, 1857.