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Tombstone Tuesday: Harvey Deming & John Deming

Harvey Deming headstone, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop.
Harvey Deming headstone, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Family historians are often stricken with BSO- Bright Shiny Object syndrome. Basically, that means we are working on one thing, find an interesting tidbit that makes us do a few extra online clicks, then a few more just to check one fact, then another, and then it is 3am…

That happened when writing the post for Monday, 25 July, about the birthdate of Edward Byron Payne (affectionately known as EBP in our household). Somehow- I actually know how, but won’t bore you, dear reader, with the details- I ended up on Find A Grave (FAG), looking at the memorial for Harvey Deming. Gazing at the headstone photo for Edward B. Payne’s maternal grandfather, the date of death jumped out– 26 July 1847. That was the day after Edward, called Biron in his first census (1850), was born! (And today is the 169th anniversary of his death.) So poor dear Nancy S. (Deming) Payne, age 34, was ‘lying in’ (giving birth) as her father was dying. Truly the circle of life… and sad that Nancy would not have her father for more years to watch his grandchildren grow, and EBP would never know his maternal grandfather.

So many take for granted the wonderful folks who take photos and create memorials for our ancestors on FAG. Today was a good reminder about how useful they can be in helping us to tell our stories. Noticing that the day after EBP was born, his grandfather died, makes our family history a story, rather than dry dates and ‘begats.’

But now, look closely at the additional photo that FAG Volunteer Alan Lathrop also posted on Harvey’s FAG memorial:

Harvey Deming & John Deming headstones, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop.
Harvey Deming & John Deming headstones, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop. (Click to enlarge.)

A close look shows that the headstone on the left is for John Deming, the father of Harvey, and grandfather of Nancy S. (Deming) Payne, EBP’s mother.

Nothing terribly special about that, as family members are often buried close to each other. But look closer at another of Alan’s photos:

John Deming headstone, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop.
John Deming headstone, Salisbury Village Cemetery, Salisbury, Addison Co., Vermont. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer, Alan Lathrop.

And note the date of death for John Deming: 26 July 1815.

He died on the same day as his son, but 32 years earlier! Nancy was only about 2 years old, so she likely did not remember her paternal grandfather.

John had died in Crown Point, New York per FAG (but cannot find the source of that information), and Harvey in Middlebury, Vermont, about 45 miles from where his daughter Nancy had given birth to Biron (EBP), in Middletown, Vermont. John and Harvey were both buried in Salisbury, Vermont, about 10 miles from where the Payne family was living in 1846-7.

One more BSO-type Heritage Rambling… Family researchers believe that Janna Deming was the father of John Deming. But get this- he died on 24 July 1796- the day before EBP’s birthday (and 51 years earlier). This cluster of late July deaths in the Deming family is very interesting. Definitely a BSO.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Vermont Vital Records for 1720-1908 on Ancestry.com indicate the death of Harvey Deming as 6 July 1847 on one card, and 26 July 1847 on another. John’s card has the 26 July 1815 date; these cards were completed in 1919.
  2. The place of death of John Deming needs to be verified. Crown Point, NY is about 30 miles from Salisbury, VT, so it would be possible for them to move the body that far, though it would have been challenging in July of 1815.
  3. Find A Grave memorials– http://www.findagrave.com
    John Deming: Find A Grave Memorial# 103144340
    Harvey Deming: Find A Grave Memorial# 103143906

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
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Mystery Monday: The Birth of Edward B. Payne

Edward B. Payne, circa 1874. Image courtesy of Second Congregational Church, Wakeman, Ohio.
Edward B. Payne, circa 1874. Image courtesy of Second Congregational Church, Wakeman, Ohio. This is the youngest image we have of Edward- he would have been about 27 years old. (We apologize for the reflection from the glass.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

One hundred sixty-nine years ago, on 25 July 1847, a son was the third (known) child born to Nancy S. Deming (1813-1893) and Joseph Hitchcock Payne (1810-1884). They named him Edward Biron/Byron Payne.

We do not know of any ancestors named “Edward” that he might have been named after, but we have not yet extended those lines as far back as we would like to have completed. His middle name, however, was likely after Nancy’s brother Byron Deming (1826-1920). Perhaps his middle name was also in homage to the poet Lord Byron, who many know today for his short poem, “She Walks in Beauty.” Byron wrote much more than just that one lyric, though, and was quite famous in his own time as one of the Romantic era poets. “J. H.,” as Edward’s father was known, was an educated man. He had read the classics as he completed his education, which included seminary training; he would have read Byron and many other poets and writers. Nancy’s father (Harvey Deming, 1785-1847) had been Town Clerk so she likely was educated to some degree as well, or maybe could read and/or write- we don’t know for sure, since there is so little in the records for women. J.H. and Nancy may have had dreams that their son would become a poet, and that he did as well in life as his Uncle Byron- but we are getting ahead of the story, and today’s Mystery Monday.

We cannot find a birth record for EBP (as he is lovingly known in our home since I am so obsessed with learning more about his life). Most information about his birth states he was born in Middletown, Vermont, including a card he filled out in 1918, when he was 71 years old:

CA State Library Biographical Card- front, cropped
CA State Library Biographical Card- front, cropped

Of course, when someone gives their birth information, it is always secondary evidence, since, although they were there at their birth, they probably were not aware of what day or year it was! A person only knows the day of their birth by what others tell them, such as their parents, or when they see a vital record.

The vital record here is the mystery this Monday- where is a record of EBP’s birth?

The 1900 US Federal Census noted that EBP was born in Vermont in July of 1847, but it also included that his father was born in England and his mother in Germany- both places are decidedly untrue, as the family has deep roots in early America. (Perhaps someone else gave the census taker the information?)

EBP’s second wife, Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne [Springer] was the informant for his death certificate in 1923, and she stated his birth as 25 July 1847 in Vermont.

Everything else we have found states EBP was born in Vermont, but where? And is there proof of when, since some sources noted his birth year as 1845 instead of 1847?

Starting with the information given by EBP on the California Author Card, we found that Middletown is in Rutland County, Vermont. The name was changed to Middletown Springs in the late 1800s, but he may not have known that, or else just preferred the name of the town as it was at his birth. Middletown is not a very populous town- only about 750 residents even today, with not many more in the past.

Vermont Vital Records are now available from FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, and a search box search on both websites was unsuccessful. So I looked through the records, page by page (virtually), in Rutland County for the years 1844-1848. No EBP. No mention of his parents. No mention of his sisters, but they were born in Ohio so would not be included in the Middletown or Rutland, VT birth records.

In The History of Middletown, Vermont, in Three Discourses… by Barnes Frisbee, published in 1867, we learn that Joseph H. Payne, EBP’s father, moved to Middletown in December of 1846, and preached there in the Congregational Church for about a year. That tidbit helps us to pinpoint his birth year as 1847 (vs. 1845), as EBP stated it was.

So, no success finding proof of Edward Biron Payne’s birth online despite many, many hours, but we do have a ‘preponderance of evidence.’ Happily, FamilySearch has a number of microfilms that include Middletown/Rutland land records, town records, etc., so those will be the next resource to peruse. We might be able to learn a bit more about the family’s short year in Middletown, as well.

Anyone out there have proof?

Surprise party for Edward B. Payne on 27 July 1893. Morning Call (San Francisco), page 3, column 2, Chronicling America via doc.gov.
Surprise party for Edward B. Payne on Tuesday, 25 July 1893. Morning Call (San Francisco), Thursday, 27 July 1893, Volume LXXIV, No. 57, Page 3, Column 2, ‘Chronicling America’ via loc.gov.

For now, we will continue to use 25 July 1847 as EBP’s birth, and we did raise a glass in his honor today. He was an incredible man, who put his faith into practice and worked unflaggingly to better the condition of all men and women. He once commented that he believed there was a door between the two worlds, our world of the living and the world of those who have moved on to the next phase, whatever that may be. I hope that today the door opened just a bit, and he saw how we lovingly honored him on his ‘natal day.’

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Image from Leominster Massachusetts Historical and Picturesque, by William A. Emerson, Lithotype Publishing Co., Gardner, Mass. 1888, page 55. Accessed 25 July 2016 at https://archive.org/stream/leominstermassac00emer#page/54/mode/2up.
  2. Edward B. Payne census information–Year: 1900; Census Place: Berkeley Ward 2, Alameda, California; Roll: T623 83; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 397, via Ancestry.com. The 1900 US Federal Census for Edward B. Payne, indexed incorrectly in the home of Samuel Wakeman despite EBP having a different house number- he was actually single since his wife had died, and boarding at 2147 Parker St., as was Charmian Kittredge, who is listed on the same page. They were living in the home of Roscoe Eames and his wife Ninetta (Wiley) Eames. Charmian was the niece of Ninetta, and would later become the wife of the writer Jack London. Roscoe and Ninetta divorced, and she later married Edward. But that is all another story or two… or twenty.
  3. The History of Middletown, Vermont, in Three Discourses… by Barnes Frisbee, Tuttle & Company, Printers, Rutland, Vermont, 1867, page 95, via archive.org.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
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Friday Funny: Bicycles and Bloomers

Bicycles & Bloomers, likely from the Berkeley Gazette, 1895.
Bicycles & Bloomers, likely from the Berkeley Gazette, 1895.

Granted, the word, “bloomers” itself is sort of a funny word, maybe especially for Baby Boomers who think of them as long baggy underwear worn by our grandmas and great-grandmas. At age 7 we giggled about them when mentioned or when they were seen hanging out on the laundry line, filling with air as they blew in the breeze.

When “bloomers” were used as an article of women’s outer clothing back in the 1800s, however, it was revolutionary.

Women on bicycles- possibly c1900. Unknown source.
Women on bicycles- possibly c1900. Unknown source.

As discussed in our earlier post this week, Madness Monday: Clothes Make the Man- er, Woman!, modest, fashionable styles of dress back in the 1800s were really harmful to the health of women. In fact, one physician cautioned his students to NOT use female cadavers to study ‘normal’ anatomy, since corsets to elongate the torso, minimize the waist, and accentuate the bust moved women’s internal organs to places that nature had not intended!

1850s bloomer dress, via Wikipedia, public domain.
1850s bloomer dress, via Wikipedia, public domain.

Many of the health movements of the 1840s suggested that women should wear less restrictive dress, and some women adopted a variation of the “Turkish dress” that had a shorter skirt over baggy trousers. As the outfit became more popular, in 1851, there was a “Bloomer Craze.” Amelia Bloomer published a temperance (no alcohol) journal and lived in Seneca Falls, New York. (That place will be familiar to those who know their women’s history.) Amelia adopted the dress and it was so popular that her name started being used for it, and she included how to make it in one of her journals. The craze was on, and even included a special banquet for only the textile workers in Lowell Massachusetts who wore bloomers to work, as it increased job safety to not have long skirts among the complex machinery of a mill. There were “Bloomer picnics,” balls where women wore bloomers, and even dress reform societies and institutes were founded.

Of course, wearing bloomers became tied with the Women’s Rights movement of the mid-to late-1800s, especially when Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton wore bloomers. Some of those in the crowds at their speeches came to see the women’s dress more than hear their words. A few years later, because they were worried about distracting from their primary message, the movement’s leaders uncomfortably returned to ‘conventional’ dress.

Others, however, felt the new style was a moral choice, as this poem illustrates:

“And now I’m dressed like a little girl, in a dress both loose and short,
Oh with what freedom I can sing, and walk all ‘round about!
And when I get a little strength, some work I think I can do,
‘Twill give me health and comfort, and make me useful too.”

— The Sibyl magazine, April 15, 1859 

Of course, there were critics who felt the costume usurped male authority- and privilege.

1890s- Satirical cigar box lid that was supposed to be somewhat titilating to men as well. Sex sells, but they would never have wanted their good and modest wife to wear such things... Via Wikipedia, public domain.
1890s- Satirical cigar box lid that was supposed to be somewhat titillating (ankles! calves!) to men as well. Sex and ‘bad’ girls sell, but they would never have wanted their good and modest wife to wear such things… Via Wikipedia, public domain.

But the bloomer dress continued to be worn, and was very useful to women in the west- even on the Iowa prairie. Wonder if some of our ancestors wore them? And, could our own Lynette Payne and her good friend Charmian Kittredge (who later married Jack London, the author) have been among the ‘natty’ ladies in bloomers that the 1895 Berkeley newspaper mentions? They both were living in Berkeley that year, and Lynette was just 16.

During the Civil War, some of the nurses wore bloomers as well- it was very useful for working in the field as well as hospitals. We do have a Civil War nurse in the family, Helen (Merrill) [Burkett] Burnell, who married Kingsley Abner Burnell after his first wife- our ancestor- passed away. Perhaps Helen wore the new dress to avoid long skirts dragging through pools of blood and other bodily fluids while working in a hospital or in the field. (Of course, they did not understand the germ theory of disease back then, so the long conventional dresses were not seen as a bad thing.)

Overall though, the bloomer dress went out of fashion after the Civil War, but was revived in the late 1880s and during the 1890s when it was realized that women needed healthy exercise, plus the bicycle came into fashion.

Bicycling ca1887- big wheels and a ladiy with a long skirt. Library of Congress via Wikipedia, public domain.
Bicycling ca1887- big wheels and a lady with a long skirt. Library of Congress via Wikipedia, public domain.

There were probably many accidents with long skirts caught up in spokes and chains and gears… so the bloomer dress became useful and more acceptable again.

German image from 1886 of tandem bicycle with women wearing bloomers. Wikipedia, public domain.
German image from 1886 of tandem bicycle with women wearing bloomers. Wikipedia, public domain.

Of course, bloomers were still scandalous…

1897- the advance of bloomer styles made riding a bit safer for women. It was still scandalous, so maybe not so safe for me who saw them! via Wikipedia, public domain.
1897- English ad for a liniment. The advance of bloomer styles made riding a bit safer for women. It was still scandalous, thus maybe not so safe for men who were busy watching them instead of the road! Image via Wikipedia, public domain.

Of course, some women could not bring themselves to adopt the new fashion. It must have been very challenging to ride a bicycle in a long dress.

There were versions of bloomers for athletics and different versions for cycling, and another to wear out in public for comfort. By about 1900, some versions of bloomers eliminated the overskirt, and bloomer pants became shorter in the late 1920s. In the 1930s, women were allowed to wear shorter and tighter pants, more like men’s styles.

Those of us ‘of an age’ will remember the baggy bloomer-type gym shorts/jumpsuits required for PE in the 50s, 60s, and even into the 70s. Also,  girls/women were not allowed to wear pants to school, work, or church until the 1970s or 80s. (In the winter girls could wear pants under their dresses to get to school, but had to remove them for the rest of the day until returning home.) Even in the mid-1970s, women in the military did not have a dress uniform that included pants, and the short skirts of the day had to be worn on watch even in the coldest of duty stations. Frost-bite, anyone?

We’ve come a long way, baby!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Illustrations from Wikipedia Commons, all public domain. See links for interesting commentary:
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ausfahrt_im_Sociable_um_1886_-_Verkehrszentrum.JPG
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellimans-Universal-Embrocation-Slough-1897-Ad.png
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bicycling-ca1887-bigwheelers.jpg
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bloomer-Club-cigars-satire-p-adv054.JPG
  2. Bloomers (clothing entry- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomers_(clothing)
  3. Madness Monday: Clothes Make the Man- er, Woman!- heritageramblings.net/…/madness-monday-clothes-make-the-man-er-woman
  4. “You’ve come a long way, baby!” was a promotional campaign for Virginia Slims cigarettes, marketed to women in the 1970s. One ad’s copy went on to say, “Virginia Slims – Slimmer than the fat cigarettes men smoke.”

 

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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
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SaveSave

Madness Monday: Clothes Make the Man- er, Woman!

Bicycle Dress Reform. The Pacific Unitarian, Vol. 6, No. 5, Page 129. March, 1898, San Francisco, California, via GoogleBooks.
Bicycle Dress Reform. The Pacific Unitarian, Vol. 6, No. 5, Page 129. March, 1898, San Francisco, California, via GoogleBooks.

Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

For generations reformers tried to get women to trade in their restrictive Victorian clothing for looser garb. The madness of tight corsets that moved bones and internal organs, long dresses that carried the filth of streets filled with excrement of horses and chamber pot contents thrown out a window, big heavy hats that compressed women’s neck bones from the weight, multiple layers that overheated women in the days before air conditioning, etc., made movement for women challenging. No manner of  logic, cajoling, or even science was enough for the ‘modern’ woman to not follow the whims of fashion and the required-by-polite-society need for modesty.

Bicycles changed all that! Women would not ride very far if they could not breathe deeply due to a corset, or if their long skirt got caught in the spokes of the wheels. Those huge, heavy, unsymmetrical hats would definitely put them off balance too.

Bicycles were a great form of exercise, and a way for women to have a bit of freedom. The author of this piece suggests that the bicycle was the biggest influence on women deciding to wear clothes that offered more comfort and “larger freedom of action.” Her conclusion was that this change would bring to women a “life of higher opportunity and realization.” (Love that.)

There was most probably a wealth of causes for these changes, including the women’s suffrage movement. The bicycle surely did play a part, though there was one article in an old newspaper that stated women who rode bicycles were actually prostitutes going off to visit their customers! Casting aspersions on a woman’s reputation was definitely a way to keep most from taking advantage of newfound freedoms.

At least one of our ancestors, Lynette Payne, had the courage to ride a bicycle and she even wore bloomers! She is said to have been the first woman in Newton, Iowa, to ride the new contraption, and Lynette was a suffragist as well.

Lynette Payne, December 1909, wearing a purple and lavender silk dress.
Lynette Payne, December 1909, wearing a purple and lavender silk dress.

Lynette had grown up in liberal Berkeley, California, and many commented on her sophistication after she moved to small Newton, Iowa. Sure wish that we had more photos of Lynette in those early years- would really love to see her on her bicycle! Pure madness, indeed.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Bicycle Dress Reform. The Pacific Unitarian, Vol. 6, No. 5, Page 129. March, 1898, San Francisco, California, via GoogleBooks.
  2. Victorian clothing and its dangers are discussed in the BBC’s “Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home.” Thankful that corsets are no longer required…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy7iUoWi_-U
    The BBC also made “Hidden Killers” episodes for the Tudor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSyjyLAWWM) and Edwardian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7kxUyvkXjw) eras. The Tudor episode discusses death by drowning (40% of Tudor deaths), including the weight of women’s clothing once wet that often led to drowning.
  3. Maureen Taylor, “The Photo Detective” has a number of books that show clothing from various eras to aid in photo identification, including two coloring books: Victorian Hats: A Coloring Book, and Coloring the Past: the 1860s. Her books are available on her website, MaureenTaylor.com, or on Amazon. She also has a blog at http://photodetective.blogspot.com. Maureen’s classes and webinars are wonderful as well if you are interested in old photos or vintage clothing.
  4. Family photo of Lynette (Payne) McMurray.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
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Motivation Monday: Correcting Edward B. Payne Internet Errors

Edward B. Payne
Edward B. Payne, c1900 or later?

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

OK, did you chuckle just a little when you read the title of this post? Or did the thought of ‘correcting internet errors’ elicit a loud guffaw??

Yes, me too, but I am SO motivated to take on this task- I hate junk genealogy!!

And yes, I must have a Sisyphus Complex- hopefully without my having the deceitfulness and hubris of the original Greek mythological character.

In this case, it is about Edward B. Payne (affectionately known as EBP in our household), my great genealogical obsession. I would roll a stone uphill to make sure he is remembered correctly. (Well, for a while, anyway, and depending on how big the stone is, how round it is, and how steep the hill, how hot it is outside, and…)

In the excellent “A History of Berkeley, From The Ground Up,” Dr. Frank Payne is mentioned a number of times. He apparently was an early physician in Berkeley, and his name can be found in the Alameda County Voter’s Registration Lists next to the name of Rev. Edward B. Payne. I had wondered how the two were related, but had never researched that particular question in detail. So when I saw that this article stated, in Chapter 14 under “Dwight Way Station”:

“…the Reverend Payne (the brother of Doctor Payne, Berkeley’s erstwhile physician),”

I became very motivated to document the relationship and see if I could get this statement corrected. Despite Edward’s magazine article, “Spectres on the Overland Trail,” which is most likely totally fiction, he did not have a brother who is known to Payne researchers- he only had 2 sisters. One sister died at age 11, and one stayed in the east and married. I have never found any inkling of a second male child in the family.

It turns out that I do have more information about Frank and his family than I realized, plus a few other New England Payne lines. Ancestry.com states the relationship of the accountholder to a person in the tree, but what I found was confusing: Frank Howard Payne (1850-1904) was my “brother-in-law of 1st cousin 4x removed.” But WHICH cousin? That would take a lot of time to figure out. Thankfully I have been clicking on all sorts of things on (trusted) websites since a lot of them no longer highlight with a mouse-over to signify a hyperlink, and sometimes good intel results. This time, by clicking on that phrase, Ancestry provided me with a list of people and relationships that were used to determine the connection. Mercy Hitchcock and her husband Peter Payne were thus the common ancestors.

Dr. Frank Howard Payne (1850 – 1904)
brother-in-law of 1st cousin 4x removed
|
Thomas Hubbard Payne (1807 – 1892)
father of Frank Howard Payne
|
Emma Estelle Payne (1848 – 1884)
daughter of Thomas Hubbard Payne
|
Arthur Abbott Payne (1847 – 1903)
husband of Emma Estelle Payne
|
Alfred Payne (1815 – 1895)
father of Arthur Abbott Payne
|
Mercy Hitchcock (1783 – 1859)
mother of Alfred Payne
|
Joseph Hitchcock Payne (1810 – 1884)
son of Mercy Hitchcock
|
Rev. Edward Biron Payne (1847 – 1923)
son of Joseph Hitchcock Payne
(and so on with his descendants)

(At first it was hard to understand the above chart, but then I realized it is sort of an hourglass, with one family at the top going back generations to the center point, which is the common ancestor. One then follows down the other family line from that ancestor.)

From the helpful chart, I could ascertain the relationship of Frank and Edward.

Mercy Hitchcock + Peter Payne
|
Alfred Payne
|
Arthur Abbot Payne + Emma Estelle Payne
Emma Estelle was the daughter of Thomas Hubbard Payne (have not found an older connection between these Payne lines yet); her brother was Dr. Frank Howard Payne.
Also,
Mercy Hitchcock + Peter Payne
                                                       |
Joseph Hitchcock Payne [so brother to Alfred]
|
Rev. Edward B. Payne
So EBP was first cousin to Arthur Abbot, who married Emma. Arthur’s brother-in-law was Emma’s brother, Dr. Frank Howard Payne. Therefore, Edward Biron Payne was 1st cousin to the brother-in-law of Dr. Frank Howard Payne.
I have sent a note to the author and he responded quickly, even though the copyright on this was 2007-8. It is good to have a blog to put out such information too- hoping this post will come up in searches when the website also comes up.
Remember, just because it is on the internet, does not make it ‘actual factual.’ Even my blog posts may not be totally correct, and some have been updated with new information as we find it. So do always remember to trust but verify, especially with secondary sources. (Sometimes that is needed with primary sources, as well.)
Be motivated to try to correct erroneous information- whether in an online tree or a website. Corrections can happen, and our descendants will thank us for avoiding the genealogical confusions we today so often face.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1.   “A History of Berkeley, From The Ground Up” copyright 2007-2008 by Alan Cohen, http://historyofberkeley.org/chapter14.html. Accessed 3/12/16.
  2. “Spectres on the Overland Trail” in The Overland Monthly, Volume XIV- Second Series, July-December 1889, p654-7, December 1889. https://books.google.com/books?id=l3hAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=%22Spectre+on+the+Overland+Trail,%22&source=bl&ots=JJHvzz85AU&sig=5zRj89fSb3fV0AdBHbOef4ls6m0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ8qr3gbzLAhWJ4SYKHSqwCJEQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22Spectre%20on%20the%20Overland%20Trail%2C%22&f=false
  3. Ancestry.com: censuses, voter registrations, vital records, etc.

 

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