Clinton Paxton Paine, son of Allen and Margaret (Paxton) Paine, was born October 8, 1847, in Baltimore. He attended the Old University of Maryland, which was conducted by the Rev. E. A. Dalrymple. After the completion of the course there, Mr. Paine entered the firm of Allen Paine & Son, wholesale dealers in carriage hardware, of which firm his father was the head. He succeeded to the business on the death of his father, in 1872, conducting it until he retired in 1886.

After retiring from business, Mr. Paine spent four years in travel, and in 1890 he, with other Baltimoreans, organized the Fidelity & Deposit Company, of Maryland, of which company he was the first president. He served as president for three years, when he resigned, but until his death remained a director and a member of the Executive Committee. As chairman of the Building Committee he had charge of the construction of the handsome building which the company now occupies at the corner of Charles and Lexington streets.

In 1894 Mr. Paine organized the banking and brokerage firm of Clinton P. Paine & Company, of which he remained the senior partner until his death. He was also a director of several other institutions, among them being the Union Trust Company and the Maryland Savings Bank, of which he was president for several years immediately preceding his death.

In politics Mr. Paine was a Democrat and was closely identified with the Democratic business men's organizations. He was appointed by Governor Lloyd a member of his staff with the rank of general, and was reappointed by Governors Jackson and Brown. Mr. Paine was president of the supervisors of election under Governor Lloyd; a member of the Water Board of Baltimore City under Mayor Hodges and for three succeeding administrations; was also a director in the Chesapeake & Ohio canal, to represent the State. In the late eighties Governor Lloyd appointed Mr. Paine as commissioner to represent Maryland at Philadelphia at the ceremonies attending the celebration of the adoption of the Constitution. At this celebration Mr. Paine was selected a member of the Executive Committee and chairman of the military parade, which was one of the main features of the celebration, and in which soldiers and sailors of the United States army and navy, as well as troops of the National Guard from almost all of the states of the Union participated. Mr. Paine presented to General Sheridan, commander-in-chief of the army, almost twenty-four thousand men.

Mr. Paine married (first), in 1872, Kate, daughter of Charles F. Pitt, a prominent merchant of Baltimore. Mrs. Paine died in 1875, and the only surviving child of the marriage is Gordon Paxton Paine, a sketch of whom follows. On April 14, 1880, Mr. Paine married (second) Alice, daughter of John B. McCreary, a prominent capitalist of Philadelphia and one of the pioneer coal operators of Pennsylvania. The surviving children of this marriage are Mabel, married, May 27, 1911, Baron Hartman-Ernst von Schlotheim, of Germany, and Dorothy McCreary Paine.

Mr. Paine died March 14, 1902, in Naples, Italy, while traveling abroad, and is buried in Baltimore.