Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 503 - 504 

JOHN E. R. PAYNE is a worthy representative of the agricultural and stock-growing interests of Southern Kansas, and operates a quarter of section 8, in Afton Township, the land of which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. It is admirably located and well watered by a spring branch one and one-half miles from Garden Plain, and embraces a portion of the most fertile section of Sedgwick County. Mr. Payne understood his business when he located here, as he has been an extensive traveler, compassing the States of Texas and Colorado, the Territory of New Mexico and other portions of the Southwest, and found nothing more desirable than the spot which he selected for his permanent abiding-place. His farm is principally devoted to the raising of grain and stock, and besides the labor and care involved in the proper supervision of his rural interests, he has been quite prominent in township affairs, serving as Road Overseer and otherwise identified with local matters.

            The infant feet of our subject first trod the soil of the Old Dominion, his birth taking place in Berkeley County, W. Va., on the 18th of April, 1848. This section of country was also the birthplace of his father, John M. Payne, who was there reared to manhood and married one of the playmates of his childhood, Miss Mary Long. The parents of our subject continued in their native county after their marriage, and the father became an extensive farmer and stock-raiser. He was a Democrat, politically, and with his estimable wife, an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their twelve children, Martin L., the eldest, married Miss Mary Dillon, and follows the occupation of his father in his native county; they are the parents of one child. Lydia A. became the wife of Moses Trussel, a farmer of Jefferson County, W. Va., and the mother of one child; she is now deceased. Elizabeth V. T. is the wife of J. E. Umbrage, a prosperous merchant of Martinsburg; William D., married, and is farming in Clarke County, W. Va.; they have four children. John E. R. was the fifth child; Charles O. married Miss Mildred Burns, and is farming in Berkeley County, W. Va.; they have two children living and two deceased. Virginia married Moses Trussel, of Jefferson County, W. Va., and is the mother of two children; Eliza is unmarried, and continues at the parental homestead; Joseph N. married Miss Belle Rinker, and is farming in Jefferson County; they have two children. Mary is well educated and following the profession of a teacher, making her home with her parents; Marshall E. is engaged as clerk in a grocery store at Wichita; Robert L. is similarly employed in the same city; Mollie and Eliza continue the assistants of their parents in their native county.

            When twenty-two years of age the subject of this sketch became acquainted with the lady who now bears his name, and who before their marriage, which occurred Jan. 19,1870, was Miss Lulu Waite. Mrs. Payne was born Nov. 5, 1852, in Berkeley County, W. Va., and is the daughter of John M. and Isabelle (McDonald) Waite, natives of West Virginia. Mr. Waite died in the West some years since. The mother continues in West Virginia. They were the parents of three children, and Mrs. Payne was the second daughter. Her elder sister, Mary M., is the wife of George S. Ramsburg, who was a farmer by occupation and is now living retired. Her only brother, Robert, died in West Virginia when about ten years of age. Mrs. Waite, after the death of her first husband, was married to John L. Sencendiver, a merchant of Darkesville, W. Va.

            Mr. Payne left his native State in April, 1877, and coming to this county purchased a quarter-section of improved land, which he has since occupied with the results already stated. The little household includes three bright children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Ada B., was born Nov. 5, 1871, and is now an intelligent and accomplished young lady, making her home with her parents. Myrtle M. was born Aug. 25, 1874, and Lulu W., named after her mother, Sept. 17, 1876.

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