Tag: Edward Biron Payne

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“Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, 1892: Poem Transcription

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series "Waste Philosophy" by Rev. Edward B. Payne, 1892
“Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, June 1st, 1892, Berkeley Cal. Owned by author.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

While the fonts in Edward B. Payne’s poem, “Waste Philosophy” are just beautiful, because of the age of the booklet (128 years old this June 2020!), some are hard to read. Additionally, in the family copy there are some words that have been underlined- we are not sure why those particular words, but the underlining has been eliminated in this transcription.

Herewith, as Edward would have said and in the spirit of National Poetry Month, is the transcription:

Cover:

Waste                                                                      

Philosophy

By

 Rev. E. B. Payne

[Edward Byron Payne]

June 1st, 1892

Berkeley

Cal 

=======================================

Page 1:

      Waste

              Philosophy

 

Rags and bottles, sacks and bags,

Who can tell me now, for sure,

What bottles, sacks and common rags,

Have to do with Literature?

 

And yet these wise and witty three,

Committee of the reading club,

Have laid the heavy task on me,

To solve this problem—there’s the rub.

=======================================

Page 2:

The poets, in their lofty dreams,

Are silent, when of them I ask,

If e’er the Muse yet took for themes

A rag, a sack, an empty flask?

 

The writers of the world’s romance—

From them my suit no answer brings;

They eye me with a scornful glance,

They spurn such unromantic things.

 

The Essayists, when I question them;

Just dip their pens in blacker ink;

Each thought of their’s a shining gem;

Of paltry things they cannot think.

 

Indeed, from early A, B, C,

To Literature’s most recent day,

When was its subject known to be

A bottle, sack, or rag, I pray?

=======================================

Page 3:

I’ve even searched our Draper through,

To know from that all-learned man,

What such things, hap’ly, have to do

With civilization’s growing plan?

 

But Draper’s thoughts run high, or deep,

They dwell on force and law, and cause,

‘Twould make his genius all too cheap

On paltry things like these to pause.

 

But there is one, who helps me out;

In what the page of letters lacks:

With joy I hear his lusty shout,

Who buys our bottles, rags and sacks;

 

As home he drives with motley prize;

Just follow up this forager,

And hearken-!—he’ll soliloquize:

You’ll find him a philosopher.

=======================================

Page 4:

“These rags” (just listen to him preach)

“These cast off rags all teach, I s’pose

The end pretentious pride must reach:

It all, at last, to tatters goes.

 

“This big, despised, rejected heap

Of rags (who now reflects will find)

Proves very weak and very cheap,

The vanities of human kind.

 

‘Twas Eve and Adam, so they say;

In Paradise, invented Clo’s,

And from that far ill fated day;

The silly strifes of fashion rose;

 

“Did Adam think him better dressed

Than Eve, with her new apron fine,

That his descendants cannot rest

Unless in raiment they outshine?

=======================================

Page 5:

“The world thinks high of showy dress;

And stares and gapes, admires and blinks;

‘Tis folly, they must all confess;

To one who gathers rags, and thinks.

 

“E’en silks and satins fare, I ween,

At last, like common coarse-webbed shags,

Wardrobes of greatest Belle, or Queen

Become, in time, but tattered rags.

 

“I’ve heard a proverb—just the word—

Deny the truth of it who can?

“ ‘Twere well if everybody heard—

‘Tis not the coat that makes the man.”

 

“But, under coat—and corsage too—

Or fair or mean, ah! well I know!

The heart that beats, if false or true,

This ranks us either high or low;

=======================================

Page 6:

“The bottles? Yes, there’s quite a lot,

Of various shapes, and every size.

If I should tell where each I got’

‘Twould make the neighbors ope their eyes.

 

‘Though some; no doubt; were innocent

Of aught that works to man a harm;

And some a gracious perfume lent

To give to beauty added charm.

 

But some, I fancy, held enough

Of venom; virus, pest and gall,

Of poison; bane and nameless stuff,

In their insides, to kill us all.

 

The druggist’s label here I see,

With physic simples deftly blent,

In mixture, nostrum, recipe,

And every known medicament.

=======================================

Page 7:

“To me the apothecary’s vial

Is vile indeed, and charged unto death,

Give me my choice and surely I’ll

Prefer to die of want of breath.

 

“And here are some which held; no doubt

What druggists sometimes slyly sell;

And what, with license or without,

Some folks would have, whate’er befell;

 

“They’re empty! Ah! bad luck; I say!

Yes, drained of every lingering bit;

No drop to cheer the closing day,

Or quicken up my lagging wit.

 

“In this (sniff; sniff) was bottled beer;

And this (sniff; sniff) held bottled gin;

And this (sniff) ‘twas bottled cider here—

All names they say; for bottled sin;

=======================================

Page 8:

“Alas! There’s naught in any flask;

For only emptied ones I buy

And not a question do I ask,

And if I should, they’d not reply;

 

“This dozen here, with corks, I had

From Widder Green; old Green is dead,

But long before he died (how sad)

His nose had turned a bottle red.

 

“These Judge Law, the magistrate,

Had stored away—they make it plain,

That every dinner which he ate

Was helped along with good Champagne;

 

“And these I found behind the house

Of parson True—but there’s way

T’ explain—keep still’s a mouse—

He only moved there t’other day;

=======================================

Page 9:

“I s’pose he found them, empty there;

And, hating what they held before,

The while he breathed a fervent prayer,

He tossed them out the wood shed door.

 

“I’ve heard him talk of ‘bottled tears’

And ‘bottled wrath’ and ‘bottled woe;’

And if he meant strong drinks and beers,

Upon my word I guess it’s so.

 

“These bags; ha; ha! These sacks, ho, ho!

One, two; three, five, eight, ten,

Twelve, fifteen, twenty-O;

More gain in these than most would ken.

 

“Gascon Puffer sold me three—

Of all his boasting; vaunting kind,

Greatest braggart yet is he;

Just a swelling ‘bag o’ wind.’

=======================================

Page 10:

“And that old gossip, tattler, clack,

Widow Jay (all know her well)

Sold me this great wide-mouthed sack,

I call her old Bag-a-telle.

 

“These five small ones came from Cribbs;

That old Money-bags, Lickpenny, Cheat!

When worms get at this greedy Nibs

They’ll find his heart too hard to eat.

 

“The rest I’ve gathered here and there;

Of good and bad. Go ‘long, old nag;

I guess, ‘bout some ‘twere hardly fair

To let the cat out o’ the bag.”

 

Ye students of the world’s advance,

And civilization’s fruitful laws,

In every common circumstance

There’s something over which to pause.

=======================================

Page 11:

Did not Carlyle see fit to write

The deep “Philosophy of Clothes?”

And e’en in humbler things we might

Find Principle and Truth—who knows?

 

There’s wisdom hid in empty bags:

In empty bottles you may find

A moral: and ‘neath worthless rags

Are lessons for the watchful mind.

 

To our committee I would say

That, though they gave a grievous task,

Yes I’ll forgive them right away

And gracious blessing for them ask.

 

For them, may bottles harmless be!

May more than rags protect each back,

And in the end, then let it be

That Peter ‘ll not give them the sack.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Apologies for not being able to figure out how to make the transcription two columns to follow the pages in the booklet. A WordPress widget for columns and then trying to use HTML just did not work; adjusting line spacing did not work either. <sigh> Probably operator error, but I’m a researcher and writer, not a computer whiz (sadly).
  2. Thank you, thank you, to one of Edward B. Payne’s descendants who is a fabulous transcriber and typist. She makes it much easier to get this information out there and found by the search engines, so that you can enjoy it.
  3. “Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, June 1st, 1892, Berkeley, California, likely self-published. The Bancroft Library at University of California-Berkeley also holds a copy and has provided one to me in years past, but these blog posts are from a family copy so graciously shared by a very favorite aunt! (Thank you!)

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2019 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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“Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, 1892: The Poem

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series "Waste Philosophy" by Rev. Edward B. Payne, 1892
“Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, June 1st, 1892, Berkeley Cal. Owned by author. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

“Waste Philosophy” is a small printed booklet of a poem written by Edward B. Payne in 1892. The booklet is just 6-7/8″ high and 4-3/8″ wide, with 2 cardstock covers and 6 inner pages, 5 of which are printed double-sided. There is no note of the printer, but it appears to have been printed on a press. There are four holes punched through the booklet on the left, with pieces of string in two of the holes, although the string seems to be much more recent than what might have been there in 1892.

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, p1. (Click to enlarge.)

The first page gives us an introduction- why is the author on a quest to determine how rags and bottles, sacks and bags, are connected to literature?

Words are underlined throughout the poem, but it appears they are only in the family copy. Edward’s daughter, Lynette, may have made them using a ruler and pen. We have not yet found a correlation between the words underlined. (Any ideas?)

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, pp2-3. (Click to enlarge.)

In the poem, Edward asks poets, writers, and essayists to help him answer the question he has been given. Without satisfactory answers from any of these persons, he moves on to the “draper”- a person who sells cloth, clothing, and dry goods.  The local Draper apparently is quite a learned man, but unfortunately he does not have an answer to the question either.

Without an answer, Edward thinks of one who might concern himself with smaller things than the poets, writers, and essayists of literature would bother. He hears the cry of the local ‘Forager’ who buys bottles rags, and sacks from persons throughout the area. He already knows the Forager is a philosopher, something that most would not assume of a person who is of the ‘lower class’ of society. Edward himself was a Christian Socialist and he was also educated as a minister at a very liberal college, Oberlin, which was instrumental in the Abolitionist movement and helping the common person, no matter the color. Edward spent much of his life lovingly working to help people ‘lift themselves up by their bootstraps’- working with them to better their lot in life, rather than just giving them handouts, as many think of Socialists these days.

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, ppp4-5. (Click to enlarge.)

It is interesting that EB (as Edward B. Payne is lovingly known in our household after many years of research) uses the word “preach” when speaking of the reply the Forager has to the central question this poem asks. Edward himself was an eloquent preacher, as stated by his parishioners and colleagues,  newspaper writers,  and friends. His father-in-law was a very effective lay preacher, so EB knew that a divinity degree was not required for one to have important things to say. The word is also a clue that there are some big ideas that will come of the Forager’s comments- ones that could give new meaning to a human life.

Of course, “Preach” also rhymes well with ‘teach’ in this stanza- that’s important in an ABAB rhyme pattern.

The Forager describes the rags he finds as sometimes coming from the finest clothes. He states that a ‘coat’ for men and ‘corsage’ for women don’t make the person finer- it is “The heart that beats, if false or true” that “ranks us high or low.”

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, pp6-7. (Click to enlarge.)

The Forager moves on to describe the bottles he collects. He knows that some are innocent, like perfume bottles, but others can be poison, in many senses of that word. In the 1890s, there was no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the safety of what we consumed. Medicines were adulterated with other drugs or cut with chemicals that were a poison, or there were ingredients that so diluted the original drug that it was ineffective; oftentimes the product just did not work but the advertising or salesmanship was so impressive that people bought it anyway. Other drugs were powerful narcotics that persons would become addicted to easily, and for life. Sadly many died due to the cure, rather than the disease.

Apothecaries/druggists also sold alcohol at times without having a license to sell it, as a saloon would have needed to purchase from the city. Alcohol for ‘medicinal use’ was common, even before prohibition in the 1920s, and was often given to women who had physical complaints. EB was an advocate of the temperance movement, as he had seen the pain of alcohol addiction many times in his professional life. As a young minister in the tenements of Chicago he worked with D. L. Moody in the poor immigrant communities, and he also ministered in mill towns in New England. In fact, he gave up his ministry at a wealthier New England church, in order to minister to those who needed him more. He and his wife also sheltered in their home a young woman who most likely had been escaping from domestic abuse by her husband, and EB testified at a trial concerned with her disappearance. While we do not know if excessive alcohol use was involved, it is well known that alcohol consumption was very high in these poor communities with little hope of a better life. Edward worked to help decrease the use of “bottled sin” in  communities, and reform the laws of cities and our nation.

The Forager has been at his job- and life- long enough to be able to identify what spirit was in each bottle at one time. It is ironic that he laments the fact that there isn’t a drop left for him, despite what he knows to be true of the dangers of alcohol.

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, pp8-9. (Click to enlarge.)

The Forager continues to preach that he has had bottles from some of the pillars of the community, and he wants Edward to “keep still’s a mouse” with what he tells. Even the parson had empty bottles, although they might not have been his, since he had not lived there very long- or had he drunk the contents quickly?

Bags the Forager gathers have stories to tell as well. He uses the bag as a personality metaphor- a bragging person is a “bag o’ wind.”

“Waste Philosophy” by Edward B. Payne, 1892, pp10-11. (Click to enlarge.)

A woman who was a gossip and tattler ironically provided a “wide-mouthed sack”  and the word “tell” is in the name he calls her. A greedy, cheap man provided only small bags, and the Forager states that when that man is dead, the worms will “find his heart too hard to eat.”

The Forager summarizes his “Waste Philosophy”: we can find wisdom, morals, and lessons in the humblest of objects, if we but look for them.

Edward finishes his poem by an appreciation to the committee that charged him with “a grievous task” of finding out how literature is related to “bottles and rags, bags and sacks.” He has found that those simple objects tell us much about the human condition, and give us guidance in our own lives. While he doesn’t say it directly, this is exactly what good literature- and good poetry- does for its readers. The Reverend then offers a blessing for the committee concerning their bottles and eventual rags. He ends his poem with another blessing that is a play on the word “sack”- that St. Peter will “not give them the sack” when they get to the Pearly Gates.

Spoken like a true- and clever- preacher.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. “Waste Philosophy” by Rev. Edward B. Payne, 1892, Berkeley, California. Scans are from a family copy that was lovingly given to the author.
  2. References to the various episodes of Edward B. Payne’s life related in this article can be provided if desired. They are not being added here today because of the time involved- it is more important that the time be used to sew masks for those in need during this pandemic. While a meticulous researcher and logical debater, I feel EB would concur on this better use of time.

 

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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 2013-2019 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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In Honor of Those Who Served and are Serving (not just in uniform)

US flag at half-mast at sunset, Indiana, by a3_nm on fr.wikipedia. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

It is with great sadness that our flag today flies at half mast*- our country has lost a military hero and a man who has given most of the years of his life to service for our country, its values, its preservation, and its people.

Whether or not you like the politics of John McCain doesn’t matter, and yes, he was not a perfect human- none of us are. But he loved this country and its citizens, and did his best to honor them, whether it was his resolve to survive honorably as a downed Navy pilot enduring the horrors of the Hanoi Hilton (North Vietnamese POW camp for you young’uns) or negotiating across the aisle in the halls of Congress to enact legislation that would better the lives of everyday Americans. John McCain is a true American Hero, and it is good that we honor him.

This is not meant to be a political post, but the feelings of his passing weigh heavy on many hearts, mine included. These feelings have also made me think of our own ancestors who devoted their energy to preserving our freedoms, helping us all to be better souls, and even those who braved a wide, unpredictable ocean and the unknown to start a new and better life in America for their families and descendants. They too are American Heroes- our ‘quiet’ heroes.

All of our immigrant ancestors fit into the hero category, in my not-always-so-humble opinion. The very earliest, in the 1600s, would have known little about this country before they came. (And yes, some of our lines go back that far!) Later immigrants would have had more knowledge, though probably little about the conditions on board ship, or the terrible way many immigrants were treated once they got to our shores. Some came to build a new civilization where men (literally- only men like them) would be free, some were fleeing persecution due to religion, and others came to enrich their fortunes, help their families to survive, and have some land to leave their children. They braved unbelievable circumstances to get here and to settle here, and leave us an incredible legacy- the United States of America.

Our ancestors of the McMurray-Payne-Burnell line are a great example of those who chose to serve in various ways. Robert Burnell (1669-1737) was born in Essex, Massachusetts, so his father (still a question to this researcher) may have been our immigrant ancestor before 1669. Both families would have been involved in protecting homes, farms, and businesses, theirs and their neighbors. They would have lived through the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692- wonder if they had any involvement? (There were also other cases of accused ‘witches’ in other parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, where other early family lived.) It would have been hard to speak up against the hysteria without being accused yourself- there are always such considerations when taking a stand.

Headstone of Capt. Joseph Burnell 23 Sep 1807, in Center Cemetery, Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

Robert’s grandson, Capt. Joseph Burnell (1725-1807) was a volunteer to the American Revolutionary War in 1775, and participated in the Siege of Boston. He is also noted as being on duty during the war at West Point Military Academy, working as an ‘artificer’- someone skilled in working on artillery in the field. He likely was teaching others those skills so that our rag-tag Revolutionaries would at long last win the war against the British, giving us freedom from king and tyranny.

Capt. Burnell’s son John Burnell (1750-1837), another of our ancestors,  was 26 in 1776, and he too served his country as a Continental soldier. There are quite a lot of documents for men named John Burnell from Massachusetts, so we will need more research to determine his actual service.

Rufus Burnell (1796-1875) was the son of John Burnell and Mary Bannister (1752-1838). (“Rufus” is from the same Latin word that means ‘red’ or ‘reddish hair’- without color photography can you get a sense of what he looked like?) Rufus was a Deacon in the church, and was serving his neighbors in a spiritual manner. Nancy Kingsley (1792-1839) was his first wife of three- sadly, he buried the first two. Their son, Kingsley Abner Burnell (1824-1905) spent his own life spiritually ministering to others. He travelled around the world with his brother, Thomas Scott Burnell (1823-1899), also a missionary. Both men were very involved with the American Missionary Society, and Kingsley, also known as “K. A.” journeyed through the United States promoting the Young Men’s Christian Association, or Y.M.C.A. Soldiers during the Civil War throughout the South were served by K. A. as well. The stories of these two Burnell brothers is an incredible one, and we will tell much more in upcoming posts.

Of course, we must, “remember the ladies” as Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams as our new republic was being organized. There is very little that survives of their lives, unfortunately, but we know that they would have been beside their husband, supporting him in his efforts to serve, while raising their children, maintaining the household and garden, etc.- they served their families and communities in their own quiet ways.

Marriage license of Edward B. Payne and Nannie M. Burnell, 05 May 1870, Kane Co., Illinois.

The only daughter of Kingsley Abner Burnell was Nancy Maria Burnell (1847-1898), who married Edward Biron Payne (1847-1923). Edward was the son of a minister, Joseph Hitchcock Payne (1810-1884), became a minister himself, and even founded a short-lived Utopian colony in California. He wrote as well as lectured, and was a Christian Socialist who stood up for the rights of “the common man.” Edward gave up a pulpit in a wealthy church in New England in order to minister to others who needed him more because of their life situations in the mill towns of the Northeast. He may have contracted tuberculosis there, or possibly earlier, when he and Nanie (Nancy’s nickname) were in Chicago, Illinois, working in the poorest areas with Dwight L. Moody. Despite going blind in her early 20s, Nanie worked alongside Edward, and was involved with women’s groups in his pastorate.

Lynette PAYNE, portrait, taken at Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa, possibly as early as 1897.

Lynette Payne (1879-1968) was the only child of Edward and Nanie, and she grew up in the liberal town of Berkeley, California. As a teen she read a paper of her father’s to a Socialist group, and she likely attended meetings and lectures of socialists during her teenage years. She also probably attended lectures of the leading as well as local Suffragists who spoke in Berkeley and across the bay in San Francisco. (There was no Golden Gate Bridge back then!) Her father gave a series of lectures on female suffrage, and Lynette was 17 years old in 1896 when California voters decided not to ‘give’ the vote to women. Lynette moved to small-town Iowa after her high school graduation in 1897. She was outspoken there on women’s rights too- she was the first woman to ride a bicycle in Newton, Iowa, and even wore the scandalous new “bloomers.” Lynette was a devout Episcopalian and served her church with work done at St. Stephens in Newton.

Lynette married William E. McMurray (1874-1957) who owned a grocery store and meat market in Newton, always serving his customers  with a kind attitude. They had three children, and the two sons, Edward A. McMurray (1900-1992) and Herbert C. McMurray (1911-1989), both became doctors, serving their patients with kindness and understanding.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., 1943, likely taken in boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri.

Dr. Edward A. McMurray’s son with Edith Roberts (1899-1982) served his country in World War II. Edward A. McMurray, Jr. (1924-2010), was an aircraft mechanic in the South Pacific. Our Marines would take a small island from the Japanese, the Seabees would go in and bulldoze a landing strip, then Ed and other Army-Air corp members would be taken in to set up the mechanics shop for the airplanes. His enlistment lasted the duration of the war, and their ship was in Tokyo Harbor on 2 September 1945 when the Japanese signed their surrender. He always was so proud to have served, and helped preserve, the freedom of our country and of those around the world.

Ed served his community as a trusted pharmacist for many years after the war. Some of his customers called him, “Doc,” showing the respect they had for his knowledge and loving care.

These are just some of the people in our McMurray-Payne-Burnell family lines who are “quiet” American Heroes. There are so many more who have served others throughout the years. These Heroes have served as role models for their children and communities, and we can never know the true extent of their legacy.

You can read more about the above persons in other blog posts- there are too many to reference- just put their name in the search box, or click on the tagged name that is a part of this post to find other stories about these fine people.

There are many more blog posts planned to tell the stories of these quiet American Heroes.

A heartfelt thank you to them all, and to John McCain. May they all Rest in Peace.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. * Half-mast vs. half-staff- technically, flags are flown in the US at half-staff, as the staff is the flagpole. Only on Navy ships is ‘half-mast’ technically appropriate, as flags there are flown from a mast. Since the Honorable John McCain as well as this writer are Navy veterans, we shall let it be ‘half-mast’ for today.By the way, the flag should always be raised to full height first, then lowered halfway, in honor of the fallen- not just raised to half-way up.
  2. Please check out other, more detailed stories of our “quiet” American Hero ancestors on this blog.
  3. Subscribe to the blog to be notified of new posts.

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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 2013-2018 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. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Maybe the picture was taken to give to a handsome young beau named Will McMurray?
  3. 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: 

  1. 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.
  2. Langdon’s List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers, https://www.langdonroad.com/

 

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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 2013-2018 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. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

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Sorting Saturday: Edward B. Payne’s Gold Watch

Rev. Edward B. Payne, c1888- likely from when he was pastor at First Congregational (Unitarian) Church, Leominster, Massachusetts. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

A recent wonderful trip that we are affectionately calling the ‘Our Family’ World Tour: Past, Present, and Future took us 2600 miles in 16 days.

The “Past” portion of the trip included memories, photos, and artifacts shared, cemeteries visited, and walking the land of our ancestors.

The “Present” included an 80th birthday party and delightful visits with family members both young and young-at-heart. We even met cousins that we had corresponded with for over ten years, but had never gotten to hug them in person, until this trip!

The “Future” aspect of the trip was fulfilled by the lovely wedding of two very dear people. Welcoming a new person to the family, the promise of young love, and maybe eventually the addition of another generation to our line, are all so sweet.

It was a dream trip for anyone who loves family, and especially for one who loves genealogy too!

Sorting out information, scans, and family treasures shared on the trip may take a while, but as Edward Biron Payne might well say, it is joyful work.

As the trip progressed, sorting families, events, and stories in one’s mind and on the computer became a regular task. The trip reinforced how important it is to sort genealogy files and label in a useful manner, or have a system that makes them easy to find quickly.

Two years ago, a newspaper article was found describing the Christmas Day presentation of a pocket watch as a farewell gift to Rev. Edward Biron Payne by church members when he left his Leominster, Massachusetts pastorate at First Congregational (Unitarian) Church, before his second move to Berkeley, California:

Edward B. Payne farewell to his Leominster MA congregation on 25 December 1891, published in the Fitchburg Sentinel (Massachusetts), 28 Dec 1891, page 6, column 3. (Click to enlarge.)

The “Mrs. Payne” in the article is Edward’s first wife, Nanie Maria (Burnell) Payne, and they were both 44 years old; their daughter Lynette was 12 years of age. Nanie had gone blind in her early twenties, and descendants think that she may have had diabetes. The Payne family took the train to California and settled again in Berkeley. Tragically, Nanie later went insane and had to be committed- that could be a result of kidney failure brought on by diabetes. She died in 1898, in the institution.

The rest of the newspaper article is hard to read as the ink has faded, so it is transcribed here:

“Mr. Payne quickly recovered from the surprise and controlled his feelings, then replied in most eloquent language, thanking the hundreds of friends that there gathered around him in words they will long treasure. The watch is of the best quality of gold and the works are said to be among the finest sold in the country. There was a sadness prevailing the closing hours of this gathering, as the people felt this is the last Christmas we shall see the pastor we so much love and honor.”

It had been feared among some family that the watch had been lost in the Great Berkeley Fire of 1923, when the house of Edward and his second wife, Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne, burned to the ground. In that 17 September 1923 fire,  600 Berkeley homes were destroyed, including that of the Payne’s, turning their library and many (most?) of their belongings to ash. It also is unknown what Ninetta kept after Edward’s death, and what happened to her things when she passed away in 1944, so this part of the family did not have much hope of ever seeing the watch.

One of the great joys found on this trip, however, was information about this gold pocket watch. It was wonderfully surprising to learn that the watch had been passed down in the family! We do hope to be able to share some pictures of the watch in an upcoming post.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Photo from family treasure chest.
  2. The church in Leominster has gone through a number of iterations, and from First Congregational (Unitarian) Church to its current name, First Church Leominster, a Unitarian-Universalist Church. See https://firstchurchuu.org
  3. Fitchburg Sentinel (Massachusetts), 28 Dec 1891, page 6, column 3.
  4. Here is actual video of the Berkeley Fire of 1923, both during the fire and the aftermath: https://archive.org/details/Berkeley1923

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

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 2013-2018 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. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

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