Edward A. McMurray adored his paternal grandmother, Lynette (Payne) McMurray. He always thought of her as a kind and very refined lady. (Just look at the beautiful coat and hat she was wearing!)
Lynette was lovingly called, “Ameno,” or “Amno” as Ed noted in the photo album he created in the late 1940s. He used both spellings, and he always admitted he was not very good at spelling. (As a pharmacist, however, he could spell the generic names of a host of medicines!) “Amino” was how other family members spelled her nickname, but it was always pronounced, “Am-en-oh.”
Lynette (Payne) McMurray, possibly at Cass Lake, maybe in the 1930s? From Edward A. McMurray, Jr.’s photo album.
Lynette (Payne) McMurray (1879-1968) was the daughter of Edward Biron Payne and his wife Nanie Maria Burnell. She married William Elmer McMurray and they lived in Newton, Iowa, for all of their married life.
Notes, Sources, and References:
Family treasure chests of photos, from Ed McMurray’s photo album put together in the late 1940s, probably before he married. Perhaps the album was a way to introduce his Iowa family to his fiancé, Mary T. Helbling who lived in St. Louis, Missouri.
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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.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.
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.
Ancestry.com: censuses, voter registrations, vital records, etc.
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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.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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Today, 25 July, is the 168th anniversary of the birth of Edward Biron Payne. Born in 1847 (although some sources state 1845, it was most likely 1847), we have been unable as yet to verify the year with any official town record. His death certificate states he was born in Middletown, Vermont, but other sources list Rutland, Vermont. A search through town records for these areas of Vermont for the years 1845-1847 has failed to turn up any record.
Rev. Edward B. Payne was the father of Lynette Payne McMurray.
This image may be the earliest of the few available for Edward. It was found in the Second Congregational Church via emails to that pastor. He was kind enough to take a photograph of it on the wall, hence the refections in the image. This image includes EBP’s service dates as 1874-1875, but a section in History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneersby W. W. Williams, states he served the congregation as pastor for 2-3 years.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers byWilliams, W. W. (William W.). Published 1879, pages 191-2. https://archive.org/details/historyoffirelan00will
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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 2013-2015 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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Southern Pacific Depot in Santa Rosa, California. Postcard circa 1910? Pacific Novelty Company, San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. (Click to enlarge.)
When I first saw this postcard in the handful I was going through in an antique shop in Franklin, North Carolina, my heart skipped a beat. Edward B. Payne probably stopped at this station on his way from Berkeley, California, to Santa Rosa where he and his followers planned a Utopian community called Altruria. Colony members and visitors also may have gone through this station when Altruria existed between 1894 and 1896.
Of course I had to buy it before I was able to do detailed research, but I knew a lot of the history of EB Payne, so this purchase turned out well.
So, how does one go about checking to see if a postcard or photo could have been taken during an ancestor’s lifetime?
First, try to ascertain the age of the photograph, or postcard. Lists of photographers and postcard printers may be found online. In this instance, the postcard was printed by the Pacific Novelty Company, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as seen on the reverse. A Google search of this company brought up a number of websites and images, some including this same depot. It was interesting that the best search results were when I misspelled the name, so try a couple of permutations of the name or a phrase if you need more hits. I also knew that the style of the reverse, writing side of a postcard can give clues as to its age if one know what to look for. Researching all that would be much more complex than what I was interested in learning, so I put that off to another day.
Results: The Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City noted that Pacific Novelty was in business from 1908-the 1960s, so we know that the earliest this particular card could have been published was 1908.
Reverse side of Southern Pacific Depot in Santa Rosa, California postcard, circa 1910? Pacific Novelty Company, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Click to enlarge.)
Second, research the history of the building or the place. Include details about the city and state and/or country in your Google search as necessary. You may find information in Wikipedia (double check the accuracy), on a county historical society’s website, museum website, or, if the building is still in existence, there may be a website devoted to that building. You might need to make a phone call to the local historical association or genealogy group, or could even get information from Rootsweb or various genealogy mailing lists. Additionally, Google maps can be used to search for an address, and see what the area looks like today.
Results: The Sonoma Heritage Collection of the Sonoma County Public Library has a wonderful and charming image of the depot on its website. It states their photo was taken in 1885. The images look very similar, so now we know the station was in existence at least between 1885 and 1908.
Third, determine the timeline of your ancestor and include places. I create a specific timeline for my most researched ancestors (EB Payne certainly qualifies there), and in my documents folders I use file names that start with dates, such as:
This is my file name for an newspaper article that was published June 9, 1892. My folders are ‘automagically’ sorted into a timeline with this system (make sure to use leading zeroes on month and day, and if either are not known, use ’00.’), so all I sometimes have to do is check my collected documents file to know where someone was at a particular time. Most genealogy programs also provide timelines, but a quick check of my computer folders keeps me from having to open another program. (An extra pain since the best genealogy programs are for Windows but I use a Mac. But I digress…)
Results: Edward B. Payne was living in Berkeley, California in 1892, and that falls between the dates of 1885-1908 that we know the train depot existed at minimum.
Fourth, think about a motive for your ancestor being in that place at that time. Back to my timeline to find this file:
1894_1016_PAYNE_EB_Land for Altrurians_San Francisco Call_v76_n138_p8_c2_cdnc.pdf
Results: I know that Edward Payne was looking for land for the new colony in 1894 in Santa Rosa per this San Francisco Call article, plus I know they did build Altruria and he traveled there frequently from Berkeley. (He did not live at Altruria because he had a pastorate in Berkeley.) He did take the train when he traveled frequently- I have news stories that verify that- so we know he may have been on a train that stopped at this station.
Fifth, evaluate your data and see if there are any other circumstances which should be considered.
This would be a good place to stop and check train routes- was there a route from Berkeley to Santa Rosa? The map found on Wikipedia for the Southern Pacific suggests there was. There also was a ferry system between Oakland and San Francisco, California as early as the 1870s; after taking the ferry, passengers would then take the train to points north or east.
The Southern Pacific Company’s Bay City ferry plies the waters of San Francisco Bay sometime between 1870 and 1900. Denver Public Library-public domain. (Click to enlarge.)
Conclusion: Edward B. Payne likely visited the Santa Rosa train depot in the image during the 1890s. He could have gone from Berkeley to Oakland, taken a ferry across the bay, then the train from San Francisco to Santa Rosa. A horse and buggy would have carried Payne and his daughter, Lynette Payne, to Altruria.
Of course, it is also likely that we will not know for sure that Edward B. Payne stepped foot in this train depot, but the odds look pretty good with this analysis.
How sad that the depot no longer exists for me to step foot there too.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton, c1880. Wikipedia, public domain.
Quick- who is Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
No, she is not a relative of mine. (I wish!)
You may have dozed off during the maybe two minutes of your high school history class that focused on her and the movement which she helped found.
If you are female in America, or African-American (male or female), you owe many of your rights to her tireless work for suffrage and abolition.
If you are male, she helped gain rights for your sister, mother, wife, and daughters, and helped make all persons in our society more equal, which benefits all.
Today is the anniversary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s birth. She was born to Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston Cady on 12 Nov 1815 in Johnstown, New York. Her father was an attorney and state Supreme Court judge, and Elizabeth was formally educated in a time when few women had that privilege. Despite her father owning slaves, she also was an abolitionist, temperance worker, and a leader of the early women’s rights movement.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the principal author of the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments,” first presented in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention. Based on the Declaration of Independence, it listed the ways that women did not have equal rights in the United States of America: they were taxed without representation, subject to laws they were unable to have a voice in, etc.- the same as the grievances colonists had with Great Britain around 1776. The Oneida Whig stated later that the convention’s ‘Declaration’ was “the most shocking and unnatural event ever recorded in the history of womanity.”
Elizabeth was different from many in the women’s movement because she addressed other women’s issues, not just suffrage: divorce and custody (men automatically got the children in the few divorces of the time, even if they were bad parents), work and income, property rights, and even birth control. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony who is now the better known suffragist. They had an equal partnership, however, with Elizabeth writing speeches and Susan delivering them, since she was unmarried and had no children and could travel more easily than Stanton, who had seven children.
So why is a post about Elizabeth Cady Stanton on this blog? Yes, she is one of my heroes, but her work affects all the women in our family who came after. Edith Roberts was in college the year women got the right to vote- I once asked her what she remembered about it, did she go out and exercise her right to suffrage right after it became law, did she also protest and write to get women suffrage? She replied that she didn’t even remember the event, as she was so busy in school and with her sorority. (I was disappointed.)
Also, Edward B. Payne, our McMurray ancestor, was active in the woman’s suffrage movement in Berkeley, California in the 1890s. More about this in a future post.
Women’s Suffrage- women are not too emotional… Article in Marion Daily Star (Marion, Ohio), 08 May 1897. Volume XX, Number 143, Page 7, Column 6. NOTE: Women did have the vote in Wyoming in 1897, thus the reference to lunatics there being only men.
Although she married, Elizabeth had the phrase, “I promise to obey” removed from her portion of the vows, later writing, “I obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation.”
Over 70 years after the beginnings of the women’s suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton died on 26 Oct 1902 without ever having voted in the United States of America.
2) North Star, July 28, 1848, as quoted in Frederick Douglass on Women’s Rights, Philip S. Foner, ed. New York: Da Capo Press, 1992, pp. 49-51; originally published in 1976, cited in Wikipedia article on ‘Declaration of Sentiments’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Sentiments
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