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!)

 

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 2013-2019 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. 

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.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

[Am I related? Yes, if you are a descendant of Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude “Midge” (McMurray) Cook. If you are not related, you may still enjoy this series of posts, since this is National Poetry Month (!!) and because this poem speaks to our history, psyche, and culture. Hopefully all will enjoy.]

Fifty years ago today, in 1970, a group of concerned environmentalists celebrated the first official “Earth Day.” Pollution of water and air, as well as trash and litter, were becoming bigger problems as our population increased and the “things” we purchased as individuals and a society became disposable. So many of our ‘throw-away’ items never really went away, however, just temporarily out of sight into a landfill or an old overgrown lot in a neighborhood or down by a river. Our country, states, and municipalities have developed regulations over these last fifty years to help control trash and minimize pollution to help us all stay healthier and to maintain our precious water, air, land, and ecosystems. Although we have not made the progress those early Earth Day celebrants knew was needed, we have come a long way over these fifty years, and Americans are healthier, in some ways, because of this awareness and drive for change.

Our ancestors knew that polluted land, air, and water were unhealthy for us all, and that trash piling up could cause outbreaks of disease, draw vermin that carried disease, and was smelly and unsightly.  Our ancestors also were frugal, and many of them quite poor- they could not afford to throw away old clothing and bedding, glass bottles, or fabric sacks (bags). They did have some mechanisms to collect these items and reuse them, and one of the ways they did that was by allowing ‘rag pickers’ and others to assist with solid waste ‘disposal’- really “reuse” and “recycle” before those words were trendy. Some of our immigrant ancestors would have this job soon after they got off the boat, since they likely had little money once they had paid their passage and rented a home or apartment in America, and they probably spoke no English which was a barrier to a conventional job. There was also quite a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment at times as a new ethnic group flooded in, and these groups felt discrimination in economic as well as physical ways. Rag pickers were considered some of the lowest in society, sadly. Some of our Broida family (unrelated to the McMurrays and Paynes) came over as immigrants from Lithuania, and were rag pickers in New York City right off the boat. They worked hard, brought over the rest of the family, and finally became merchants of fine men’s and women’s clothing- the American dream and truly a “rags to (what would have seemed like) riches” story.

We do not know much about our very early McMurray and Payne ancestors, but rag picking  could have been a job some of them did, or it could have been a way to make a little money on the side. Many persons “of an age” will remember collecting glass soda bottles and later cans along the side of the road and turning them in for two cents or a nickel each, and then using that money for a comic book or candy at the five-and-dime, or to help buy dinner if the family was in dire circumstances.  Salvage yards, flea markets, and those who dumpster dive or pick up ‘good’ trash from the ends of driveways on pick-up days are also carrying on the tradition of caring for the earth and reusing/recycling materials.

In earlier days, a rag picker would have a cart or a pack animal and walk through the streets, calling out their offer to buy rags, bottles, cloth sacks, metals, even bones. Sometimes the rag picker would purchase the items, other times they would just remove garbage for a citizen or business who would be grateful to see it gone. The rag picker or the family might clean and/or sell the items to a person or business who would then reuse or recycle the product. Glass bottles are one example- they could be cleaned and reused, or melted to form new glass. Sometimes ragpickers sold their finds to a middle person who would then work with purchasers.

Rev. Edward B. Payne (1847-1923) was living in Berkeley, California in 1892 when this poem was published. He had been brought up in the Congregational faith with deep New England roots. His father, Joseph H. Payne, was an ordained minister, and his mother, Nancy (Deming) Payne, came from a line of Congregational deacons. Edward’s wife, Nannie (Burnell) Payne, also came from deep New England Congregational roots- her father Kingsley Abner Burnell was a lay missionary who travelled the world and her mother, Cynthia Maria (Pomeroy) Burnell, had a father who was a deacon in the church. Edward and Nannie lived in Berkeley from 1875-1880, after he was ordained. He ministered to the first church built in Berkeley, the Congregational Church. Edward had a crisis of faith though, and became a Unitarian minister, serving in New England for some time before he was called again to Berkeley in December, 1891. He was the first Unitarian minister installed in Berkeley, and he helped develop a very active Unitarian Society. According to this poem, he was challenged by a Book Club Committee, which may have been a Unitarian group, though could have been a secular local group, since the University of California was also in Berkeley. The city was still small- just 5,101 citizens in the 1890 census, and likely had rag pickers who helped keep the small town clean. The Book Club tasked Edward with determining how waste materials gathered by these persons, such as “Rags and bottles, sacks and bags” could possibly have any relationship to literature. Rev. Payne was a perfect candidate for this mind-tickling task, as he was incredibly well-read, a deep thinker, and an excellent writer. The committee most likely thought that the Reverend would devise an intriguing story to tie together these incongruous topics, and that he did. He even set the story in poetry, and, like any talented religious teacher, he provided a number of morals to the story.

Our next post will provide the poem in its entirety. We hope that you will enjoy the poem, and think of how it has meaning for us today. With the Covid-19 virus pandemic shedding a glaring light on human social and economic disparities, our divisiveness as a country, and a (sometimes) lack of understanding that all humans are equal, we can take these words from 1892 and bring new meaning into our 21st century lives.

Stay safe out there, and wash your hands, please.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. The “Waste Philosophy” booklet/poem presented in these posts is scanned from a family copy, so very generously given to the author by her dear aunt in 2018. It is quite treasured, knowing that it was held in the hand of Edward B. Payne, and then his daughter, Lynette (Payne) McMurray, who may have been the person who underlined some of the words in the poem. The Bancroft Library, University of California-Berkeley, also has a copy of this booklet- the only other copy found in many years of searching libraries. A scan was requested and paid for in 2014 (prior to knowing of the family copy), but was not posted here as permissions would have been required from the Bancroft. This booklet should be considered Public Domain due to its age.
2. Berkeley, California population statistics– http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Berkeley40.htm

 

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 2013-2019 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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: 

1. 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
2. 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.

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.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

(Click for Family Tree)

Edward B. Payne is that ancestor that engenders obsession in at least one family historian known to this author. Accordingly, his name is frequently put into search boxes when there are a few idle moments, when it really is time for sleep, or at those moments when the yearning to know more about him just won’t quit. Since he was a minister, writer, lecturer, founder of a Utopian colony, close friend of Jack and Charmian London, etc., there are probably close to 1,000 known mentions of him in print found online.

The above booklet was one of the results from a recent online search. But why would this show up in a Google search for “Edward B. Payne”? About to move on among the hits, a slight pause brought this to mind:

Tuesday’s Tip: Don’t discount Google hits too quickly

Painful as it is to admit, Google is smarter than humans in so many ways (not all ways, thankfully). At least, Google can ‘read’ SO much faster than I can, whizzing through books and websites in seconds to bring me just the choicest morsels I am searching for, or didn’t even know I was in need of. This is one prime example.

Google had a reason to choose this link, so it was important to not pass it up, and figure out a connection.  To find that connection, first a look at the Table of Contents was in order, but no Edward B. Payne (lovingly called EBP in our household) there. Next, a quick skim through the book, thinking my eyes would pick his name out of hundreds, but really, the booklet was mostly about why cremation was a good option, the process, etc. No EBP jumped out. At the back of the book, however, were testimonials with a name attached- this might be the answer. Sure enough, a page-by-page search pulled up his name, and this quote:

 

Thus it turns out that “Edward B. Payne” actually did fit in with a cremation search result for a number of reasons, so it was a good to follow and analyze in greater detail. Here are a few things we already knew, which should have tipped us off that this was a good search result:

1. Edward B. Payne was a close friend of Jack London, who was cremated and his ashes placed at the rock now in Jack London State Park; Jack’s wife Charmian was cremated and ashes placed there as well.
2. EBP’s first wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne was likely cremated, as she is listed on a funeral card at Cypress Lawn Cemetery & Crematorium, but under “Interment Location” are the letters, “N/A.” This card was created in 2011 after our research request, and we have been unable to get any earlier paperwork from the cemetery. She is not listed in the genealogy section of the Cypress Lawn website, either, and has not been found on Find A Grave. . This lack of burial evidence suggests she may have been cremated and her ashes scattered, or kept in an urn on a mantel.
3. Russ Kingman, author of “A Pictorial Life of Jack London,” was the founder of The World of Jack London Museum and Bookstore, in Glen Ellen, California, and a noted Jack London researcher. In a personal phone call around 1991, he told me
   that he thought Edward’s ashes had been spread at the same rock as were the ashes of Jack and Charmian (Kittredge) London.

   The moral of the story? Follow our Tuesday’s Tip, and don’t quickly discount Google search results until you have eliminated them through other knowledge of time or place, or until you have checked out the result thoroughly!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. https://archive.org/details/cremation00oddf

 

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 2013-2017 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 or use of our blog material.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Star Trek on a family history blog?

Madness? No- it really does make sense, and it is good to connect our current world with that of the past. Studies have shown that children who have a sense of family and their family history have more resilience- and that is always good in this crazy world.

“Altruism” is a fairly recent word in our language- it comes from a French word in the 1850s. Most know that this word means an unselfish, caring devotion concerning the welfare of others. It is even used in a biological sense with animals, when their behavior does not contribute to their reproduction or longevity, but does help genes from a close relative get passed on. In popular culture, of course, the 1982 film, The Wrath of Khan (see 3:15 in clip), has Spock and Capt. Kirk finishing each other’s sentences: “It was logical. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” This epitomizes altruism.

“Cooperation” rather than “competition” is a way that altruism is put into practice. Edward B. Payne believed strongly in cooperation over the rampant competition of the late 19th century, with railroad magnates and big business making men rich while the middle classes and poor struggled. In 1893, the year that started a mostly-forgotten serious depression in America, William Dean Howells published A Traveller from Altruria. The book was a Utopian science fiction/fantasy, in which a traveller described his own home, where altruism flourished. The novel was a huge hit, and small societies of “Altrurians” sprang up, including in the San Francisco and Berkeley, California area. Edward B. Payne was a charter member of one of these groups in Berkeley. The groups discussed social reform, but the Berkeley group took it a step further- they wanted to put their altruistic ideals into practice by forming a colony in the Santa Rosa, California area. Rev. Edward B. Payne wrote and published a newsletter, The Altrurian, funds began coming in, land was purchased, and members of the group began to move to “Altruria” in October of 1894.

There were some management problems, and definitely financial problems- after all, the venture was started during an economic depression that would stun the nation for years. The project was abandoned in 1896, but Payne called it a “glorious failure.” The small cooperatives that had been selling produce from Altruria out in the community continued, and similar cooperatives continue today.

“Altruria” in Santa Rosa has been mentioned in many books, articles, and even dissertations in the years since. (See notes.) A 2009 book, The Utopian Novel in America, 1886-1896: The Politics of Form, by Jean Pfaelzer, discusses Howell’s two Utopian novels and states:

“A Traveller from Altruria and Through the Eye of the Needle launched no programs, newspapers, imitators, or clubs, although they did inspire a certain Edward B. Payne to found a short-lived community named Altruria.”

Madness? A wild idea? A lone voice acting on a hopeless idea? Maybe, and some of the newspapers at the time also suggested that the formation of the Altruria colony was madness and would not survive. But Payne was not a lone voice- there were many who wanted to follow an altruistic lifestyle then, and many continue to do that today, although most do not live in colonies devoted to cooperation.

Even though the above book quote is not entirely true- there actually were Altrurian clubs and newspapers across the United States- Edward B. Payne would most likely be very pleased that his own cooperative efforts are still noticed, and still a part of the conversation in our society.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1.  Edward Bellamy’s 1888 Utopian novel, Looking Backward: 2000-1887 was likely also inspiration for the Altruria colony.
2. McMurray, Pamela M. “To the friends of cooperation…” The Quest for Cooperation and Edward B. Payne.” Russian River Recorder, Issue 124, Spring 2014, pp. 4-7. Healdsburg, California: Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society.
3. Pfaelzer, Jean. The Utopian Novel in America, 1886-1896: The Politics of Form. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009, 75.
4. Hine, Robert V. (1953). California’s Utopian Colonies. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library. pp. 101–113
5. O’Connor, Peter Shaun (2001). On the Road to Utopia: The Social History and Spirituality of Altruria, and Intentional Religious Community in Sonoma County, California, 1894-1896. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services.
6. LeBaron, Gaye, Dee Blackman, Joann Mitchell, and Harvey Hansen. Santa Rosa: A Nineteenth Century Town. Santa Rosa, CA: Historia, Ltd, 1985, 113.
7. Lewis, James R. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998.
8. Goal, Iain, Janferie Stone, Michael Watts, Cal Winslow. West of Eden-communes and utopia in northern California. PM Press, 2012, pp. 4-5.
9. “Altruria” article on Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruria,_California

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

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. 

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 or use of our blog material.