Robert Painter, youngest son of Susannah (née Stratton) and John Painter, junior, was born on 17 July 1778 in Frederick County, Virginia. He was named after his father's brother.

"Robert Painter of Frederick County in the State of Virginia,
son of John Painter of the same place, and Susannah his Wife, and
Mary Hains daughter of Joseph Hains of the County aforesaid and
Bulah his Wife, having declared their intentions of taking each other
in Marriage before several Monthly Meetings of the People Called
Quakers held alternatively at Crooked Run & Center M [Meetings] said County
the proceedings of said Robert Painter and Mary after due
enquiry & deliberate consideration were allowed by said Meetings
they appearing clear of all others and having the consent of parents and
Parties Concerning
"Now these are to certify whom it may concern
that for the full accomplishing their said Marriage this fourth day of
the Twelfth month in the Year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hun-
dred & ninety nine, they the said Robert Painter and Mary Hains app-
eared in a Publick Assembly of the aforesaid People and Others in
there Meeting House at Crooked Run abovesaid, And he the said
Robert Painter, taking the said Mary Hains by the hand did
Openly & solemnly declare that he took the said Mary Hains to
be his Wife […]
And the said Mary Hains did then & there
in the said Assembly, in like manner declare that she took him
the said Robert Painter to be her Husband […]"
(Iona Lupton, A Record of Birth and Burials for Crooked Run Monthly Meeting 1785 (manuscript), p. 130 [image 33/167].)
• The parents of the bride and groom were among the witnesses.

"At least three sons of this John Painter [junior] emigrated to Ohio at a very early date [...] One of his sons, however, Robert, remained on the old home place. Robert marries a Miss Hains. To this marriage were born four sons, John, Joseph, Jessie, and Robert, and four daughters, Ann, Beulah, Rebecca, and Mary. Of these sons, Jesse was my father [...] My grandfather [Robert] and his descendants, including my father [Jesse], are buried on the edge of the old farm at Mt. Zion Church, on the Winchester and Front Royal turnpike." (Autobiography of William Robert Painter (1908), typescript prepared by Harold N. Painter (1962), p. 1.)
• This account omits two of Robert and Mary Painter's daughters: Susan (m. Edwin B. Ridings) and Emily (died young?).

Date of death unknown. Probably last enumerated in 1820 in Frederick County. Harold Painter in The Painter Family (1975), p. 37, implies he died prior to 15 March 1832, when the transfer of 6 acres from Joseph Painter et al. to William Cook was recorded in a county deed book.

Notes

Parents (John Painter [junior], wife Susanna), siblings, and date of birth (17-7-1778) from: Iona Lupton, A Record of Birth and Burials for Crooked Run Monthly Meeting, 1785 (manuscript), p. 15.

Joint Committee of Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strasburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1936)—
 3 Jul 1809: Rachel (Redd) Painter, "Married out [of discipline]—testimony signed against and referred back to [Hopewell] Women's Mtg." (p. 525)
 4 Sep 1809: Robert Painter and George Redd disowned by Hopewell for "Attending a wedding accomplished contrary to discipline." (p. 515)
• Rachel Redd, George Redd's daughter, married John Painter, Robert Painter's brother in a non-Quaker ceremony. The 2 Jun 1808 marriage ceremony was performed by a Methodist minister.

7 Aug 1809: "Whereas Robert Painter having had a birth right amongst us the people called Quakers [...] deviated so as to neglect the attendance of our religious Meetings & attended a Marriage Contrary to our discipline [...] we disown him from having a right of membership with us until he condemns the same [...]" (Minutes of the Hopewell Monthly Meeting, 1791-1811 (manuscript), p. 439.)

1810 U.S. Census, Frederick Co., Virginia; no page number [image 54/59].
[4.] Benjamin Ramey. (Husband of Robert's sister Hannah)
[7.] Sarah Painter. (Isaac senior's widow.)
[10.] Robert Painter.
[11.] John Painter. (Robert's brother.)
• Household of 10 persons, including a man and woman aged 26 thru 44.

Robert Painter bought his brother John's land in Frederick Co., Virginia, when the latter moved to Ohio.

Probable: 1820 U.S. Census, Middletown, Frederick Co., Virginia; p. 32 (printed), 7 Aug 1820.
[25.] Robert "Panther."
[26.] John "Panther."
• If this the same Robert Painter, then John on the next line is a son of Isaac Painter, Sr., and thus Robert's first cousin.
• Robert "Panther" household of 13 persons included a male and female aged 26 thru 44.

John Painter, senior (grandfather of Robert Painter), on 1 June 1758 obtained from Thomas Branson a 99-year lease for a 4-acre tract on the southeast side of Crooked Run to be used "for a Friends' Meeting house & burying ground, for that use, and no other." The Crooked Run Meeting House at that site was active until 1810. Meanwhile, the Zion Baptist Church was built nearby. A Presbyterian congregation later worshiped in the Zion Baptist Church until it acquired the meeting house lot and built its own church there. The Nineveh Presbyterian Church property today contains both the old Quaker burial ground and its own church cemetery.

John Wesley Haines in Richard Haines and his Descendants, vol 2 (Boyce, Va.: Carr Publishing Company, Inc., 1966), p. 31, proposed that Robert Painter "probably d. before 15 Mar. 1832," but indicates no source.

Reviewed 30 August 2023.