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PAYNE, EVANS, FRENCH

Posted By: Debbie Clough Gerischer
Date: 12/7/2008 at 00:22:58

HARRY C. PAYNE, physician and surgeon at Pella, has lived practically all his life in Iowa, the only extended period of residence outside of the state having been three years in Canada.

He was born at Beacon in Mahaska County, September 7, 1871, son of Robert C. and Mary Ann (Evans) Payne. Robert C. Payne was born in Pennsylvania, and came to Iowa soon after the close of the Civil war, settling later in Monroe
County. He was a Pennsylvania soldier in the Union army, serving four years and three months. He had four brothers in the Civil war: John J. and Salathiel, both deceased; George, who died on the field of battle; and Edward, who is still living at Pella. David Payne, a brother of Dr. Harry C. Payne, was a soldier in the Spanish-American war and for three years was in the regular army service in the Philippines, and during the World war period enlisted for service with the Canadian stoops.

Dr. Harry C. Payne graduated from the Albia High School in 1890, continued his education in the University of Iowa, and in 1897 was graduated from the Keokuk Medical College. He has spent more than thirty years in active practice, and is regarded as one of the men of highest attainments in his profession. He is a member of the Marion County, Des Moines Valley, Iowa State and American Medical Associations, the Des Moines Academy of Medicine and the American College of Physical Therapy.

Doctor Payne married at Keokuk in December, 1898, Miss Lillian C. French, daughter of Frank A. and Eunice E. (Gray) French. She is of English, Scotch-Irish and French ancestry, and of Revolutionary stock. Her family has many
interesting connections with American history and with Iowa. Her grandfather, John B. Gray, came from Burlington, Vermont, to the Middle West in 1834 and located on the west side of the Mississippi River, later,in Eddyville, on land that was not yet opened for settlement, still being occupied by Indians who acknowledged allegiance to the great Sac chieftain. Black Hawk. It was in honor of his home town in Vermont that he named his first place of settlement Burlington, now one of Iowa's most prominent cities. Mrs. Payne's great-great-grandfather Gray lost his life while a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Her father enlisted at Eddyville, Iowa, and was in the hospital service of the Union army for over three years in the Civil war. Mrs. Payne is a member of the Pella Woman's Club, the P. E. O. and Eastern Star.

Dr. and Mrs. Payne had three children: Leah Ruth, who died in January, 1915; Lillian Mary, a teacher in the schools of Fredericksburg, Iowa; and Dorothy Eunice, a junior in the Pella High School. Doctor Payne has been a loyal and public spirited citizen as well as a capable doctor. He served on the first elected Board of Trustees for the public library. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Chamber of Commerce.

from A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, USINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL.B., A.M.. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa, Volume IV. THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York, 1931.