Payne Family – Page 2 – Heritage Ramblings

Treasure Chest Thursday: Old Papers, New Clues about General Proctor?

Information about “General Proctor” that was passed down in the Maude (McMurray) Cook family. (*Click to* *enlarge*.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

This old family note, found in papers passed down in the Maude McMurray Cook line, gives us new clues about General Proctor:

He “came from England to U.S.”
He came to the US “in 1775.”
He was a “Brit. general.”

This note contradicts some of what has been posted previously, plus what we know from census and other research.

“He was from England”- the older family letter we wrote about in 2014 does state that General Proctor came from England, so the two documents agree on that. Interestingly, however, Mary was born in Ireland per some researchers (listed as such on Find-A-Grave too, though no documentation is included), but few moved from Ireland TO Britain- the British did not like the Irish at that time. So how would she have been born in Ireland but her father sailed to America from England, and was an officer in the British Army? It is possible, but does not seem likely.
Also, the 1850 US Federal Census for Blair County, Pennsylvania, states that Mary (who was about 57 then), was born in Pennsylvania. It seems that if if she truly had been born in Ireland or England, she would have had an accent even after 50+ years in the states and obviously be Irish or English, but then, we don’t know who gave the information to the census taker. Mary died in 1851, so we do not have more census data about her birth.

Number 2., “He came to the US in 1775,” and 3., “He was a “Brit. general,” need to be considered together. About 5 am on 19 April 1775, the American Revolution began with the “shot heard ’round the world” at Lexington, Massachusetts. So if Gen. Proctor was a British officer, he would have come to the colonies to help quell the civil unrest if he came before that date, or he would have come as an official enemy to the American rebels if he landed after 19 April 1775 and before 1783. There was very little migration to the colonies during the war. So we should probably next try to determine if he was captured by the Americans and then went over to their side, or if he decided to stay and become an American after the war. Thus far, however, it has been challenging to find an officer with the name of Proctor who fits the few parameters we know of his life.Additionally, Mary was not yet born in 1775, and the family letter we have states that she came with her father “at the close of the war” and brought spoons and a pin. It does seem she would have been an older girl or young woman if she was bringing a pin and spoons.

They were brought from England by Mary Proctor when she came to the states with her father, General Proctor, at the close of the war. This was father’s mother. The pin had been a clasp to a neck chain but was fitted with a pin and had been used as such for about one hundred years. When Mary died she gave the pin to her daughter Sarah, Huldah’s mother, who took care of her during her last sickness.

The spoons were also handed down at the same time.

We do not know which war this was- could it have been a war other than the American Revolution? Perhaps Mary and her father came over at the end of the War of 1812? If she was born in 1793, she would have been 19 when that war began. (The War of 1812 was not officially over until 1815.) Even if she immigrated to America with her father after that war, the timing would work for her to marry William McMurray around 1818 and have their first child, Henderson McMurray, in 1819. She would have been 25 when marrying, which is plausible for that time period, especially after a war. This suggests that maybe looking at the War of 1812 and British war records may help us to find out more about this family.

This note about Gen. Proctor was received more than a year ago, but it has only been recently thoroughly reviewed. It helps that we know a bit more about Mary since we received the papers, as we can now better analyze the information they contain. We still do not know when the notes were written nor who wrote them, and if we can learn that information, we might be better able to analyze their accuracy.

Notes, Sources, and References:

“Tuesday’s Tip: Who was ‘General Proctor’?” https://heritageramblings.net/2016/03/01/tuesdays-tip-who-was-general-proctor/
“Mystery Monday- The McMurrays in America”– https://heritageramblings.net/2014/04/07/mystery-monday-the-mcmurrays-in-america/
“Mystery Monday: General Proctor of the McMurray Line”–https://heritageramblings.net/2018/08/20/mystery-monday-general-proctor-of-the-mcmurray-line/
The letter was written by Hepzibah Jeanetta (McMurray) Raugh (1865-1954), to her sister, Mary E. McMurray (1856-1956), both granddaughters of Mary Proctor. We don’t know who has these items now, nor the date the letter was written.

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Mystery Monday: Lynette Payne’s Photo- When Was It Taken?

Lynette PAYNE, portrait, taken at Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa, possibly as early as 1897. *(Click to enlarge.)*

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Lynette Payne (1879-1968) was the daughter of Edward Biron Payne and Nanie Maria (Burnell) Payne. The date this photo was taken is a mystery, but we can try to pin it down in a number of ways.

We know that Lynette graduated from Berkeley High School in California in June of 1897. Her parents may have been separated at that time by choice, or Nanie was living away because she was very ill and needed more care than the family could provide. According to ex-daughter-in-law, Edith (Roberts) [McMurray] Luck, Lynette “… had been sent here [Newton, Iowa] to live with an uncle, Court Bernell [Burnell]. His wife Amy was a mean woman and she must have made it miserable for mother [Lynette]. A beautiful girl just 18 and full of life.” Other family stories include that the family didn’t think Lynette’s father should be raising a daughter alone- she needed a woman’s influence at that age. Also, Berkeley, California, was such a liberal place to live with the University of California there, plus Bohemian artists, writers, etc. that it is to this day called “Bi-zerkeley” (a contraction of ‘Bizarre’ and ‘Berkeley’), and it was felt that a young woman should have a more stable and refined environment. This researcher has a feeling that Lynette reading a paper written by her father to a meeting of Socialists may have set this plan in motion once she graduated high school… if the family knew about it. (More about that in another post.)

So, for a variety of reasons we know that Lynette may have been living in Newton, Iowa, after June 1897. We also know that she married William Elmer McMurray on 6 June 1899, in Marshalltown, Iowa, about 30 miles from Newton. (It’s not that far- some people who live south of Marshalltown now will do that drive and longer just for a Maid-Rite- you know who you are- which is the best loose-meat sandwich ever. Though actually, we think Newton has the best old-fashioned, non-commercialized Maid-Rite, just like it has been for 50+ years on the square.)

More rambling about our heritage… sorry. back to Lynette’s picture.

We are lucky to have the folio with the photograph! It gives us a big clue: it was taken at Sparks Studio in Marshalltown, Iowa. So a search for the photographer and studio in Marshalltown will help us narrow the date of the photo.

Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa for sale, in Abel’s Photographic Weekly, 1 Aug 1914, Vol. 14, No. 344, Page 198, via GoogleBooks.

Sparks Studio, formerly in Marshalltown, now opening in Gilman, Iowa. Bulletin of Photography, 4 Mar 1914, Vol. 14, No. 343, Page 276, via GoogleBooks.

These snippets in photography publications suggest that the Marshalltown studio was closed by 1914, so we know that the portrait was taken before that time.

Looking at Lynette’s history, however, we know that her first child was born in 1900 and third/last in 1911. In this portrait, Lynette looks younger than in the image we will post later this week of her with her first child, so the above portrait may have been taken pre-1900.

A wonderful website has been found that lists photographers and their studios, and it states that Sparks was active in Marshalltown from 1901-1902. We have since searched Marshalltown city directories for C. W. Sparks on Ancestry.com, and the earliest we have found was from 1897. So it is possible that this image could have been taken as early as summer, 1897, after Lynette graduated and moved to Iowa.

If we look closely at the image- you can download it or just click to enlarge- we can see the name “Lynette” handwritten across the photo, and above it a word that might be, “Love.” (What do you think?) So here are a few possibilities, suggested by all these clues:

Lynette may have gone to Marshalltown with friends or family, and decided to have her picture taken to send copies to her father and mother in California.
Maybe the picture was taken to give to a handsome young beau named Will McMurray?
Or maybe this was taken when Will and Lynette were married in Marshalltown, perhaps on their honeymoon in June, 1899? I am unaware of any photos from their wedding, though I do hope one will surface from a shoebox under a bed or in the back of a closet somewhere. Lynette does look pretty serious in the photo though! Her dress is very lovely, and seems much dressier than an everyday Iowa dress- could this be the dress she was married in? She did always have nice clothes, especially coming from the sophisticated west coast/San Francisco area.

We hope that family members will help us out with more information on this photo. Maybe they have a copy, and a date might be written on the reverse? Please do let us know.

Notes, Sources, and References:

Photo and transcription of story about Lynette from Edith Luck from the family treasure chest, and a special ‘thank you’ to 3 of Lynette’s great-granddaughters for sharing.
Langdon’s List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers, https://www.langdonroad.com/

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Treasure Chest Thursday: E. B. Payne on Religion

E. B. Payne, quoted in the *Lamoille News*, 27 October 1880, Hyde Park, Vermont, Vol. 4, No. 29, Whole No. 185, Page 2, Column 3, via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

Were these words a part of sermons, written in a newsletter for church members, or published in a magazine? We do not know, and do not even know for sure if these words are those of our Edward Biron Payne. It is highly likely they are his words though, because:

He used the initials E. B. frequently,
Lamoille, Vermont was only about 200 miles from Springfield, Massachusetts, where E. B. was living around 1880, and
Newspapers would pick up snippets from other papers to fill their pages and sell copies in other cities.

More than anything else, as one who has studied Edward Biron Payne for many, many years, the words sound like his writing- they have the style seen in other published works, and echo much of his thinking that was refined in later years but still had the same basic premises. He was about 33 when this was published.

It seems that the two paragraphs may have been from different sermons or articles. Perhaps they were notes taken by a person who attended one of his sermons, and then shared with the newspaper. Alternatively, Rev. Payne may have submitted them himself. He was new to the area and may have already had an understanding of how to promote himself and his work, and gather a flock for his teaching.

“In the path of duty, you may rationally hope for permanent happiness.”

Edward Biron Payne believed that through work, one would fill their soul and find happiness. He was a Christian Socialist, but believed that we should not just take from the rich and hand to the poor- he felt that those who were blessed with riches should share their wealth, but it should be used to help the poor pull themselves up to eventually be self-sufficient. His founding of the short-lived Utopian-based Altruria Colony outside Santa Rosa, California, in the 1890s, put his beliefs of hard work and economic equality to the test.

“A man is to be pitied who is insensible to the beauties and ministrations of nature, to the teachings of literature, to the inspiration and charm of art. But the love of God is more to be considered than all these things, while, in a sense, it embraces them all, and carries with it an added richness in the appreciation of life’s deepest meanings, its joys and its sorrows.”

Rev. Payne wrote prose and poetry, and read probably about anything he could get, from practical farming to great and classic literature. He approached many topics in life from a ‘scientific,’ or very analytical and logical, point of view. (Consider the context, i.e. what science was like from his birth in 1847 until his death in 1923- the advances were considerable, and since then have been exponential.) We do not know for sure that E. B. was an art lover, but most likely he was, as he travelled in circles that included artists and critics, plus he may have helped choose illustrations for The Overland Monthly magazine, of which he was an editor for a number of years. His over-arching, deep faith made him see that while the love of God was more important than such worldly things, that love for God actually included all those beauties, and made them even richer with that understanding.

Sadly, the home of Edward and Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne was lost in the Great Berkeley Fire of 1923. His collection of manuscripts and other writings, as well as their books, became ash in the conflagration. We only have those items that were published, such as these, and some letters, to remember his beautiful words.

Notes, Sources, and References:

“Religious,” Lamoille News, 27 October 1880, Hyde Park, Vermont, Vol. 4, No. 29, Whole No. 185, Page 2, Column 3, via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.
Edward B. Payne died soon after the fire- some say from a broken heart, although he had experienced some ill health, and was 76 years old. Ninetta was later, after his death, able to find a single manuscript copy of The Soul of Jack London that he had sent to a friend for review. This is the only book of his that has been published, but we do not know which are his words, and which are Ninetta’s. (She did write the introduction, but we do not know if she completed or edited the book prior to publication.) The book claims to be a communication with the late Jack London, to whom he was very close. At the time of the writing, Edward had just begun to think of spiritualism as a possibility, a slight opening of the door to the next world. That, however, is another story…

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Wishful Wednesday: A Conversation with Edward Biron Payne

Rev. Edward B. Payne preaching at a Unitarian Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, from the 11 Feb 1881 issue of the *Vermont Phoenix*, Brattleboro, Vermont, Vol. 48, No. 6, Page 2, Column 8, via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

On this anniversary of the “natal” day of Edward B. Payne (AKA “birthday”) it is only fitting to post this lovely compliment and bit of history.

“Rev. E. B. Payne of Springfield, Mass, formerly a Congregational minister, will occupy the pulpit of the Unitarian church next Sunday. Mr. Payne is a young man recently from California, although a native of Vermont, and a brilliant preacher.”

“…a brilliant preacher“- there are those of us who so wish that we could have heard his “brilliant” sermons, or sat at the dinner table with him, or lounged under the trees at Wake-Robin Lodge discussing economics, social movements, literature, and his beliefs and experiences in life. He knew the politicians, religious leaders, movers and shakers, artists and writers of the times, especially when he lived in Berkeley, or at Wake-Robin Lodge with Jack and Charmian (Kittredge) London, or Altruria, the Utopian colony he founded, or Camp Reverie, the adult summer camp in the woods that he and Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne ran. All these fascinating persons would have been around the table or out on the porch with him in the evening, and the topics would have been very intellectual and far-ranging. Edward B. Payne was a prodigious reader, remarkable author, and profound thinker- and he must have been a fascinating conversationalist.

Edward Biron Payne was born in Middletown, Vermont, on 25 July 1847, so was not yet 34 when the above was written about him.

Edward B. Payne, circa 1874. Image courtesy of Second Congregational Church, Wakeman, Ohio. — Edward B. Payne, circa 1874, about 7 years before the above newspaper article was written. Image courtesy of Second Congregational Church, Wakeman, Ohio.

After service in the Civil War, graduation from Oberlin College with his degree in theology, and ordination in 1874 as a Congregational minister, E.B. went to Berkeley, California for a time. While there, he felt a need to reexamine the faith he inherited from his father and other ancestors, and Rev. Payne converted to the Unitarian Church.

E. B. then returned to New England in 1880 to visit his parents (Joseph Hitchcock Payne and Nancy S. (Deming) Payne), per some accounts, and decided to stay. His wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne, had gone blind soon after their marriage, and their daughter Lynette Payne (later McMurray) had been born 26 October 1879. The couple would have wanted their family to meet their beautiful babe and likely needed some help at home (Lynette had been born very premature), which was not always affordable on a young minister’s salary.

In addition, it is likely that E. B. may have felt the need to make a clean break with the Congregational church in California. He had been the first pastor at Berkeley Congregational/ First Congregational Church, and it must have been hard to explain to church members why he had changed faiths. He surely wanted a fresh start with his new understanding of religion, so moving to another place, especially a place where there would have been more interaction with ministers of the Unitarian faith, would have been beneficial in coalescing his ideas about God and our world.

Rev. Payne was called to serve as pastor at Unitarian churches in Springfield, Massachusetts; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Leominster, Massachusetts. He “exchanged pulpits” periodically with ministers in other cities, to give his flock as well as himself some variety in his preaching.

Edward B. Payne, of Springfield, Massachusetts, exchanged pulpits with Rev. Mr. Green of Brattleboro, Vermont, from the *Wyndham County Reformer*, Brattleboro, Vermont, Vol. 5, No. 27, Page 2, Column 9, via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.

Finding new pieces of information about Edward B. Payne such as these helps us to feel a bit of our “Wishful Wednesday” has been granted, though it can never replace what would have been a mesmerizing conversation with this brilliant man.

Notes, Sources, and References:

The day of one’s birth was called a “natal day” back when he was born on 25 July 1847 and the term was also used for many years. In 1893, the Morning Call (San Francisco, California), Thursday, 27 July 1893, Volume LXXIV (74), No. 57, Page 3, Column 2, ‘Chronicling America’ via loc.gov, reported a surprise party “in honor of the anniversary his natal day.” See Mystery Monday: The Birth of Edward B. Payne at heritageramblings.net/2016/07/25/mystery-monday-the-birth-of-edward-b-payne
Interestingly, E. B.’s parents were enumerated on the Federal Census on 29 June 1880 in Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois, living with their other child, Cornelia Mary (Payne) Hinckley, her husband Horace A. Hinckley, and the Payne’s first grandchild, William H. Hinckley, age 11. Nanie’s parents were living in Illinois at that time as well, although a different county, so maybe E. B. and Nanie had gone to New England to visit E. B.’s parents, and then decided they had better opportunities in the Northeast than in the young California town of Berkeley. Of course, the family did move back to Berkeley in 1892, about 12 years after ministering to souls in New England, but that’s another story.

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Wedding Wednesday: William Elmer McMurray and Lynette Payne, 1899

Marriage Certificate of William Elmer McMurray and Lynette Payne, 6 June 1899, Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Oops! Time doesn’t really go that fast- it is not already Wednesday. Not getting the date of a post correct is a peril of working on the blog late at night. I do promise that Wednesday’s post won’t have “Tuesday” in the title.

Notes, Sources, and References:

Family treasure chest of papers and photos- thank you, dear aunt for sharing!

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Category: Payne Family

Treasure Chest Thursday: Old Papers, New Clues about General Proctor?

Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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Mystery Monday: Lynette Payne’s Photo- When Was It Taken?

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Treasure Chest Thursday: E. B. Payne on Religion

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Wishful Wednesday: A Conversation with Edward Biron Payne

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Wedding Wednesday: William Elmer McMurray and Lynette Payne, 1899

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