John Barton Payne

Notes:

United States Secretary of the Interior, 1920-21.

Wikipedia:

Payne was born in Pruntytown, in what is now West Virginia, the son of Elizabeth Barton (née Smith) and Amos Payne. Payne was an attorney and longtime Chicago Democratic politician. Admitted to the bar in 1876 in West Virginia, Payne entered politics five years later as the chairman of the Preston County Democratic Party. He moved to Chicago in 1883, and was elected as a local judge in 1893. After resigning from that post in 1898, he was a senior partner in Winston, Payne, Strawn and Shaw. (A successor firm still exists today.) He was president of Chicago's South Park Board from 1911 to 1924, when Edward J. Kelly, later mayor of Chicago, succeeded him. He married Jennie Byrd in 1913. (She died in 1919.) After the outbreak of World War I, Payne went to Washington, D.C., to act as counsel for the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the national railroad administration. From 1919 through his appointment to Wilson's cabinet in February 1920, Payne was chairman of the U.S. Shipping Board. From October 1921 until his death, Payne was chairman of the American Red Cross. In May 1921 he pledged funds for a permanent structure for the Warrenton Library in Fauquier County, Virginia. He died of pneumonia, following an operation for an appendicitis at 1:06 a.m. January 24, 1935, two days before his 80th birthday -- just early enough for an Associated Press obituary to run in the Chicago Tribune.

Known for his work for the Red Cross, Payne's use of the South Park Board to solidify the position of the Chicago Democratic Party has much less noted. Payne tried to bring volunteers and paid staffers of the American Red Cross, and also sent the organization in a new direction, organizing it to support local welfare efforts during both the deflationary period after World War I and the early years of the Depression.

Payne's donation of 50 paintings in 1919 and $100,000 in 1932 led to the founding of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Some of his personal papers were given to the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.

In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS John Barton Payne was named in his honor.

Notes:

He was a doctor and a farmer. He had his M.D. degree from Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1833.

Amos married Elizabeth Barton Smith on 18 Apr 1837 in Orlean, Fauquier, Virginia. Elizabeth (daughter of Capt. John Puller Smith and Mary Gilbreth Barton) was born on 11 Mar 1817 in Orlean, Fauquier, Virginia; died on 12 May 1895; was buried in Orlean United Methodist Church Cemetery, Leeds Manor Road, Orlean, Fauquier, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

His gravestone reads:

In Memory of FRANCIS PAYNE, Died April 13th, 1859
In the 79th year of his age.
He had long been a mamber at the Baptist Church and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. A fond father, an affectionate husband, kind neighbor, and firm friend.
His flesh shall slumber in the ground
Till the last trumpets awful sound
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise
and in my Savior's image rise.

Francis married Patsy Withers on 10 Nov 1807 in Fauquier County, Virginia. Patsy (daughter of James Withers and Elizabeth Rosser) was born on 15 Feb 1789; died on 24 May 1836; was buried in Payne Graveyard, Orlean, Fauquier, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Mary Gilbreth Barton. Mary was born in of Frederick County, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From The Paynes of Virginia (citation details below):

[Francis Payne and Susannah Jett] were reared within a half-mile of each other in homes on Muddy Creek, the present boundary between Stafford and King George Counties. The earliest record relating to him is his father's will written 1762, in which it is provided that £4 be spent on on his education. I judge from this provision that he had shown a predilection for some profession or an exceptional intelligence.

1764 suit in Fauquier Co. by John Grant vs. Francis Payne, trespass. In the same year he was on jury in that county. 1768 he was witness for John Smith in Fauquier Co.; some of the grandchildren of these two men intermarried in 1837. 1775 Francis Payne received from Lord Fairfax a lease of 233 acres in the Manor of Leeds, Fq. Co., adjacent to William Payne on branch of South Run, in which were named his wife Susannah and son William. 22 Feb 1779 he was appointed Ensign in Fauquier Co. militia, and served about two years in the Revolution. See Auditor's Journal for 1783, Richmond, Va. 1788 he received a second lease of 90 acres in Lot 212, Manor of Leeds, Fauquier Co., in which were named his sons Presley, Jesse, and Francis. 1792 he was appointed Overseer of the Poor in Fauquier Co., an office that was performed in pre-Revolutionary days by the Vestry. In the same year he was witness for John Jett of Fauquier Co. 1801 he was again made Overseer of the Poor. 1806 he was a member of the group of Overseers of the Poor who sold the glebe of Hamilton Parish, Fq. Co., to Joseph Blackwell; other members were Augustine Jennings, John Grant, James Hunton, George Marshall, James Withers, John Marr, etc.

1816 his administrator was his son Francis. His inventory shows considerable personal property, including ten slaves.

Francis married Susannah Jett about 1766 in King George County, Virginia. Susannah (daughter of Peter Jett and Rebecca Bowen) was born in 1746; died in 1820; was buried in Payne Graveyard, Orlean, Fauquier, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"During the Revolutionary War James Withers served during the years 1777 and 1778 as a First Lieutenant in Capt. Windsor Brown's Co., in the First Virginia State Regiment commanded by Col. George Gibson. At the conclusion of the War there is some evidence that he became a physician." [The Wigfield and Nelson Families of Fauquier Co., Virginia, citation details below]

James married Elizabeth Rosser between 1767 and 1768. Elizabeth (daughter of John Rosser and Mary Neavil) died after 1825 in Woodford County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Margaret Puller. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]