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from Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa
Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago, 1887, Pp. 382-83
ADDISON C. PAYNE
Addison C. PAYNE, one of the leading agriculturists of Ringgold County, now living in Mt. Ayr, is a native of
Vermilion County, Illinois, born February 29, 1844, a son of John and Letta (O’NEAL) PAYNE. The grandfather of our
subject, John PAYNE, was a native of New York, and one of the early settlers of Vermilion County, Illinois, where his
son John was born. Addison C. was left an orphan at an early age, his mother dying when he was about four years old and
his father being killed during the late [Civil] war in the riot at Danville, Illinois. At the age of five years he was bound out
to John E. COOPER, a practical farmer and stock-trader of Vermilion County, with whom he remained for sixteen years, and
during this time received a limited education in the common schools. On attaining the age of twenty-one years he started
out in life for himself without means, and the two years following was employed on a farm, receiving $20 a month the
first year, and the second year his wages were increased to about $33 a month. He was married in September, 1867 [Illinois], to Miss
Sarah H. GUYMON, of Vermilion County, her father, Frank GUYMON, being now a resident of Carroll County, Missouri. They
are the parents of two children – Alta and Ora V. In the spring of 1867 Mr. PAYNE went to Madison County, Iowa, and
during that summer broke prairie, and the same fall bought wheat, which he sold at Des Moines. He then began dealing in
cheap land, in which enterprise he made his first money. After his marriage he removed from Madison to Adams County,
where he purchased a farm, and after breaking his land sold it. In 1869 he assisted in laying the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad, and acted as paymaster of three divisions of surveying companies, locating the road from Afton to
Council Bluffs. He also furnished supplies for the three companies of surveyors, each company composed of twenty men,
and furnished his team for the sum of $100 a month. In January, 1871, Mr. PAYNE purchased a farm in the east part of
Ringgold County, which he sold in the fall of the same year, and bought land in Grant Township, this county, and to his
original eighty acres he has added until he now owns 640 acres of choice land and was there actively engaged in dealing
in cattle until March, 1864 (sic), when, on account of failing health, he left his farm and removed to Mt. Ayr, where he
has since lived somewhat retired, tough still looking after his business interests and trading in stock on a small scale.
Mr. PAYNE may be classed among the self-made men of this county, having by his own energy and industrious habits
accumulated a competency for his declining years. Besides his large farm in Grant Township he owns other land in the
county, his real estate covering 1,000 acres.
 NOTE: John PAYNE, the grandfather, was born May 1, 1776 in New York, the son of Prosper PAYNE, Sr.,
and died May 10, 1864,
Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois, with interment at PAYNE Cemetery, Eppards Township of Livingston County, Illinois.
John married first to Hannah EARLE who was born in Orange County, New York, March 20 1856, the daughter of Peter and Elizabeth
(BULL) EARLE. Hannah died March 5, 1855, Vermilion County, Illinois, with interment at John PAYNE'S Graveyard, now
known as Songer Cemetery, located west of Danville, Illinois. John and Hannah were the parents of twelve children. John married second on February 12,
1857 to Jane McCRACKEN. Addison C. PAYNE's father John was the eleventh of John and Hannah's children.
Hannah (EARLE) PAYNE's great-great-great-grandmother was Alice (Mrs. Henry) LAKE. In and around the year
of 1651 near present-day Boston, Massachussets, Alice's fifth child died in infancy. After the infant's death, Alice
believed that she could see the baby. During those toxic times during which the Salem witch trials were fresh on
a Puritanic society, the townspeople believed that the Devil was coming to Alice in the form of her dead infant. She
was accused and convicted of being a witch. On the day of Alice's execution, the bereaved mother was afforded an
opportunity to recant her story and thus save her life. Instead, Alice refused recant her story, proclaiming that she
was being punished by God because she had engaged in premarital intercourse prior to her marriage and had attempted
to self-abort the fetus. Alice's execution was carried out.
Three of Henry and Alice LAKE's children lived to maturity. David LAKE married the widow Sarah (EARLE)
CORNELL. Sarah's first husband, Thomas CORNELL, had been convicted and executed for the murder of his mother, the "evidence" being
that he had a dream in which his dead mother appeared to him and told him that he had killed her. Thomas and Sarah (EARLE)
CORNELL's descendants included the man who endowed Cornell University, and ironically, Lizzie BORDEN of "axe" fame.
Henry and Alice's LAKE's daughter Elizabeth LAKE (ca. 1641-after 1702) married Thomas BUTTS (1641-1703).
Elizabeth (LAKE) and Thomas BUTT's daughter Hepzibah or Hepsibeth BUTTS (ca. 1675-1702) married William EARLE (1666-1715).
Hepzibah (BUTTS) and William EARLE's son John or Jonathan EARLE (1712-1786) married Rachel ADAMS (1716-1786). John and
Rachel (ADAMS) EARLE's son Peter EARLE (1748-1819) married Elizabeth BULL (1752-1794), the parents of Hannah (EARLE) PAYNE.
The John PAYNE Family were prominent people in the affairs of Vermilion County, Illinois, from the
earliest development of the county. John Payne, Sr., was born in New York on May 1, 1776; died May 10, 1864, Pontiac,
Livingston Co., Illinois, and was buried in Payne Cemetery, Eppards Point Township, Livingston Co, Illinois. He married
Hannah EARL about 1795-1797, probably in his home state. She was born Mar. 20, 1776, New York; died Mar. 15, 1856 in
Vermilion Co., Illinois, and was buried in "John Payne's Graveyard," now known as Songer Cemetery.
The PAYNE family left New York about 1812, coming across to the Ohio River, then down the river to an
early small settlement which later became the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. They remained in southwestern Ohio until sometime
after 1815 when they went down the river to the settlement of Rising Sun, then located in what was first Dearborn County,
Indiana, and later Ohio County, Indiana. They may have gone to this location before this territory became the state of
Indiana in 1816. Beckwith's History of Vermilion County says the John PAYNE Family came to Illinois in 1827, but
later county historians say some of the children reached Vermilion Co. in 1830.
John PAYNE, Sr., settled on land southwest of where the city of Danville was established in 1827, in
what was then Danville Township, just west of where the town of Tilton, Illinois, is now. It was then called "Payne's
Point." This land is located in the northeastern part of present-day Catlin Township,where about 1856-1860 the
Vermilion County Poor Farm was established.
John and Hannah (EARLE) PAYNE were the parents of 12 children:
1) Sabina PAYNE, born 14 Mar 1791, Orange Co. NY; married Nelson MILES; moved to Vermilion Co. IL
2) Elias PAYNE, born 11 Dec 1798, Orange Co. NY; believed to have died in Ohio or Indiana
3) Lockey PAYNE, born 15 Dep 1800, Orange Co. NY; believed to have died in Ohio or Indiana
4) Delilah PAYNE, born 06 Jul 1801, Orange Co. NY; married Thomas W. DOUGLAS, Rising Sun, Ohio Co. IN
5) Peter Earl PAYNE, born 09 Feb 1803, Orange Co. NY; moved to Vermilion Co. IL
6) Morgan Lewis PAYNE, born 20 Apr 1805, Orange Co. NY; moved to Vermilion Co. IL
7) Esther PAYNE, born 17 Mar 1807, Orange Co. NY; died 17 Mary 1899, interment Spring Hill Cemetery, Danville IL
married 1823 OH John THOMPSON, courier during War of 1812, school teacher, died 13 Sep 1861
8) William Milton PAYNE, Sheriff of Vermilion County, Illinois; born 14 May 1809, Orange Co. NY; died 22 Apr 1890, Danville IL
9) Squire Lee PAYNE, born 29 Jan 1811, Orange Co. NY; died 07 Feb 1884, Livingston Co. ILL
NOTE: Squire served as a Sergeant under his brother Capt. Morgan Lewis PAYNE in the Black Haw War of 1832. He was at one
time the Highway Commissioner of Danville Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, and operated a large stock
farm near Chenoa, Illinois, in 1879.
10) Cynthia PAYNE, born 15 Sep 1813, Ohio; believed to have died in either Ohio or Indiana
11) John D. PAYNE, Jr., born 06 Apr 1815, Hamilton Co. OH; died 13 Sep 1864, Danville, IL during Danville Riot
John served with his brother Captain Morgan Lewis PAYNE during Texas' War of Liberation from Mexico.
12) Martin PAYNE, born 25 Jan 1817, Dearborn OH; died 02 Jul 1900, Albany OR
Peter Earl PAYNE left the Vermilion County area and went west to California; no further information on Peter. Morgan Lewis
PAYNE was in Vermilion County until about the late 1840s; he then went to Texas for a time, and he later settled at Pontiac,
Livingston County, Illinois. His younger brother, Squire Lee, also settled in Livingston County, near Chenoa. John Jr.,
lived
in Vermilion County, was in Texas from 1849 to 1854, then lived in Danville where he was mortally wounded in a riot during
the Civil War in the summer of 1865. Martin PAYNE left the county, settling in Oregon Territory.
Enumerated with John and Hannah PAYNE in the 1850 Federal Census are two grandchildren residing with
them: Squire PAYNE, aged 21 years and the son of Peter E. PAYNE; and, Permelia PAYNE, aged 7 years, daughter of
John PAYNE Jr.
John was widowed in March 1855, when he was almost 79 years old. In February 1857, two months short of 81 years old, John
married a 45-year-old widow with three children: Jane, the widow of John McCACHRAN. Property records from 1859 show that
the octogenerian and his young wife were living in Livingston County, Illinois, near his sons Morgan L. and Squire L.
John died in 1864. His remains were interred in Livingston County in Eppard's Point Township, on County Road 950 N.
The small cemetery is called "PAYNES's
Cemetery," and his grave stone reads, "John PAYNE, died May 10, 1864; aged 88 years, 10 days." The gravestone is
decorated with a Mason symbol.
Morgan Lewis PAYNE, sixth child of John PAYNE, Sr. and Hannah (EARLE) PAYNE, married Rebecca ADAMS in
Ohio County, Indiana on July 20, 1826. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Vermilion County, Illinois. After Morgan
returned from the War with Mexico, Morgan divorced Rebecca and married Sarah BARKLEY on December 9, 1849. Morgan, who
was promoted to Captain of the Illinois Mounted Volunteers at age 26 in 1831. He was a respected War Veteran from the Black Hawk Wars of 1831 - 1832, the War with Mexico
1846-1847, and the Civil War as a Captain with Company G of the 53rd Illinois Infantry from 1861-1865.
Captain Morgan Lewis PAYNE died at the age of 72 on April 29, 1878, Pontiac, Illinois
Addison's father John PAYNE, Jr., was born April 6, 1815, Vermilion County, Illinois, John married first on January 17,
1836 to Virletta O'NEAL. Virletta, the daughter of William and Melinda (GRIMES) O'NEAL, was born September 8, 1819,
and died on April 25, 1847, with interment at PAYNE's Cemetery (present-day) Songer Cemetery in Vermilion County, Illinois.
After Virletta's death, John entrusted this seven children in the care of relatives and friends, leaving Vermilion County
for Texas where he and his brother Morgan L. PAYNE served in the "War of the Libertation of Texas" under the command of
Sam HOUSTON.
Upon his return to Vermilion County, John married second August 31, 1854, Danville, Illinois,
to Priscilla (NIXON) BREEZELY, who was born in 1824, Ohio.
With the entire Nation enbroiled in the throes of the Civil War, the first riot* in the history of
Danville occured on August 24, 1863, with John PAYNE Jr. being one of the main participants. Feelings were running high
between Northern and Southern sympathizers in Danville. John, a staunch Southern sympathizer, was on the courthouse
grounds wearing an emblem of his support on his coat, a butternut pin. An argument broke out when Lyman GUINUP, a Danville businessman,
and Colonel HAWKINS, a Tennessee soldier, saw John's emblem. In an attempt to snatch the emblem off John's coat, he
was shot. By the next morning people from all over the county had assembled on the square in Danville while a preliminary
investigation was being conducted in the magistrate's office. Some of the assembling crowd threatened to burn the town.
Someone sent for William Milton PAYNE, John's older
brother and the County Sheriff. As Sheriff PAYNE was on his way to the town square, he asked a Willima M. LAMM, a
businessman, to come with him to help quell the mob. Mr. LAMM was mortally wounded by George BARKER who was arrested
the next day [and subsequently convicted]. Further rioting was avoided when on the moring of August 26th, the courthouse
grounds were full of Union sympathizer farmers and their horses, arriving during the night to save the town.
John PAYNE Jr. died from his gunshot wound on September 15, 1865, and was buried next to his 1st wife, Virletta,
in Songer Cemetery.
John PAYNE Jr. and Virletta (O'NEAL) PAYNE were the parents of seven children:
1) William O'Neal PAYNE, born 02 Apr 1837, Danville IL; died 29 Dec 1888, Vermilion Co. IL
great-great-grandfather of Alice Marie BEARD
2) Captain Alonzo Grimes "Lon" PAYNE, born 20 May 1838, Vermilion Co. IL; died 04 Mar 1905, Pekin IL
Alonzo Grimes PAYNE was mustered into service as a Private during the Civil War on December 10, 1861 at
Camp Butler near Springfield, Illinois, assigned to Capt. WITHERS' Company C of the 5th Illinois Cavalry. Private PAYNE furnished
his own horse and tack, and was paid for same. At Helena, Arkansas, he was promoted to Corporal on August 21, 1862; and
promoted to 4th Duty Sergeant on March 14, 1863 at Clear Creek, Mississippi. Corp. PAYNE was paid for his horse which
died from injuries recieved on the march from Helena, Arkansas to Claredon on February 14, 1863, appraised at $110.00.
He was promoted to 2nd M. Sergeant on September 15, 1864; promoted to 1st Sergeant on February 17, 1865; and promoted
to 1st Lieutenant on May 19, 1865, and LaGrange, Tennessee. He saw action in the Siege of Vicksburg and Champion Hill, Battles of
Yazoo City, Jackson, Missippippi, Grand Gulf and others. Lt. PAYNE was placed on detached service with the 1st Cavalry Brigade
under Major General George Armstrong CUSTER. Relieved of this duty, on September 18, 1865, at Hempstead, Texas, he was
discharged on October 3rd, 1865, then mustered in on October 4, 1865 at Captain of Company D, 5th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry.
He was honorably discharged from service on October 27, 1865. According to family legend, Captain PAYNE served as
an Indian Reservation Agent [Nebraska] at the end of the Civil War. At the age of 52 years, Capt. PAYNE appliced for an Invalid Pension
on June 26, 1890, proclaiming disease of the kidneys, theumatism, and enlarged prostate gland, all of which incapacicated from
the performance of manual labor.
3) Malinda PAYNE, born 1840, Livingston Co. IL; died before 1911
4) Abel Watkins PAYNE, born Jun 1841, Vermilion Co. IL; died 08 Mar 1923, Danville IL
Abel enlisted three times during the Civil War: 1st in 1861 with Company C of the 12th Illinois
Infantry Volunteers; 2nd Company K of the 37th Illinois Infantry Volunteers; and 3rd as a Corporal with Company L,
16th Illinois Cavalry. At the Battle of Jonesville, Virginia, on January 3, 1864, he and a number of his comrades were taken prisoner and confined
at Andersonville in Georgia. He escaped on April 13, 1865. Corpl. PAYNE was munstered out of service at Columbus, Ohio on June 24, 1865.
5) Permelia Ann PAYNE, born 07 Jun 1843, Danville IL; died 14 Dec 1935, Oto IA
married 1st 1864 Thomas DOYLE; married 2nd Joseph MALCOM
6) Addison C. PAYNE, born Feb 1844, Vermilion Co. IA; died 24 Jan 1909, Ringgold Co. IA
interment Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, IA
7) George PAYNE, born and died 25 Apr 1847, Vermilion Co. IL
George died with his mother in childbirth
John PAYNE Jr. and his second wife the widow Priscilla BEEZLY were the parents of
Mary Ann BREEZLY (1851-1939), James Buchanan PAYNE (1857-1939), Carrie Harriet "Hattie" (PAYNE) BARROW (1859-1892), and
Mary A. PAYNE (1862-?)
Addison C. PAYNE was born February 29, 1844, Vermilion County, Illinois, and died at the age of
64 on January 24, 1909, Ringgold County, Iowa. He was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa. Sarah E. (GUYMAN)
PAYNE, Addison's first wife, was born December 27, 1850, Illlinois, the daughter of
Franklin "Frank" and Mary J. (CHURCH) GUYMAN. Sarah died in Ringgold County, Iowa, on January 9, 1894, and was interred at
Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr. Addison and Sarah (GUYMAN) PAYNE were the parents of two children:
1) Oral Virgil PAYNE, born 03 Feb 1884, IA; died 16, Oct 1975, San Bernadino CA
interment Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Ringgold Co. IA
2) Alta PAYNE
Addison C. PAYNE married second in 1896 to Lizzie A. (?), born July, 1855, Iowa. No children were
born to this second marriage.
* The second riot of Danville, Illinois, occurred on the evening of October 1, 1864, on the eve
of a big Republican rally. Election day which would result in President Abraham LINCOLN's second term, was but
days away. Political fever was rampant in Danville, as it was throughout the war-ravaged Nation. Members of the
25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry had just been mustered out of service the previous day and were gathered on the
public square, still attired in their uniforms. Around 5:30 that afternoon, it was suggested to the soldiers that
it was time to go home, with the fear that the presence of the soldiers in uniform might stir up the wrath of
a crowd that was quickly turning into a mob. Several eye-witnesses to the subsequent incident gave conflicting reports
as to what exactly happened next. However, when the smoke and confusion cleared, George McKIBBEN had been shot
and killed. Henry McKIBBEN had been shot and believed to be mortally wounded, however the ball lodged in his
clothing, leaving his badly bruised in the region of his heart. George's father, Thomas McKIBBEN,
stepped on a box on the street and pleaded with the mob to disperse, stating that the loss of his now dead son
was greater than what any of them had experienced. Thus, the second riot of Danville ended.
SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 382-83, 1887.
"The John PAYNE Family, Vermilion County, Illinois" Illiana Historical & Genealogical Society
Quarterly Vol. 13, No. 4. Danville IL. 1977. Based upon research by the late Joseph Cortland PAYNE, complied by Mrs.
Gertrude D. CARTER, corrections and additions by Alice Marie BEARD
JONES, Lottie E. History of Vermilion County Illinois: A Tale of its Evolution, Settlement and
Progress for Nearly a Century, Vol. 1, Pp. 214-17. Pioneer Publishing. Chicago. 1911.
WPA Graves Survey
Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009
Biographical Sketches Pages Index: A - F,
G - L,
M - R, S - Z
To submit your Ringgold County biographies, contact Sharon R. Becker at
srbecker@iowatelecom.net.
Please include the word "Ringgold" in the subject line. Thank you.
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