McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

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

 

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Today is an apt day to begin exploring the topic of women’s suffrage on the blog: 137 years ago today, on 10 January 1878, what became the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was introduced to Congress. It was the first legal step to enfranchising over 50% of the population, but took 72 years before passage in Congress and ratification by 36 states.

On 26 August 1920, the ratification was certified- our female ancestors finally had the right to vote in all elections throughout the United States of America.

It is a simple, short amendment:

Amendment XIX

1) The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

2) Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

 

Getting to this point, however, was not simple, nor was it short. The beginning of the national movement for women’s rights, including the right to vote, began long before the amendment was introduced at our nation’s Capitol. The Seneca Falls Convention in July, 1848 discussed the “…social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman.” Sadly, none of the original activists of that time period, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, lived to see the fruits of their labors, nor ever legally cast their vote in an election.

Women- and men too- worked diligently through the years after 1848 to educate the public, Congress, and even the President of the United States that women should have the right to vote. Their work left us letters and banners, ribbons and buttons, and a wide variety of artifacts that were used to promote their political agenda. I would like to share some of these artifacts  through this blog topic.

None of these items have been passed down in our family that I know of, but our ancestors had to be aware of the women’s suffrage movement- I wonder which side they were on?

“Votes for Women Pinback”

This pin was commissioned by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in the early 1900s to stimulate interest in the cause and start what we now would call, “a national conversation.” We know that this design was in use by at least 1912, when Rosalie Livingston Jonas campaigned for women’s rights across Nassau County, New York with a pony and cart. She sold these buttons, suffrage literature, cake, and tea, and was accompanied by Elizabeth Freeman, an American who had been jailed with British women protesting for the vote in London.

These simple black-on-gold buttons were given out or sold for a penny (or sometimes a nickel) to help fund the movement across New York and other states. Lapel pins were definitely effective in promoting their message- in 1917 women in New York gained the right to vote in state elections after one million of these buttons were handed out. (Of course, it took a lot more than just a button…)

Bastian Brothers Company in Rochester, New York manufactured this particular pin; Whitehead and Hoag were the other manufacturers commissioned by the NAWSA. Additionally, local companies may have produced similar pins for other groups, and sometimes the groups had the paper on the reverse printed with their name.

This pin is only about 5/8″ in diameter and made from celluloid, a ‘new’ material first used for political campaign buttons in 1876. The image was printed on the celluloid initially, but it proved too brittle to be useful. The process was perfected 15-20 years later when the image was printed on paper, covered with celluloid, and the button attached  to a metal support with pin. Millions of political campaign, advertising, and other pins were made with this process for many years, as it produced colorful and inexpensive  buttons.

Buttons like this, or ones similar, were probably worn by our ancestor Edward B. Payne and his second wife Ninetta Wiley Eames Payne. They both worked for the women’s suffrage movement in California, especially around 1896. California’s women lost that referendum, but the suffrage bill was passed in 1911, making California the sixth and largest state to give women the right to vote. A little gold button was probably a part of that success.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) “Our Documents- 19th Amendment to the Constitution:” https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=63

2) Remember ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ and “How a Bill Becomes a Law”?  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo and “The Constitution” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzAJyK0ovo8. Passing and ratifying an amendment to our Constitution is a bit more complicated, but these videos are a fun blast from the past.

3) See also my post “The Anniversary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Birth” at https://heritageramblings.net/2014/11/12/the-anniversary-of-elizabeth-cady-stantons-birth/

4) “The Seneca Falls Convention” on the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian website: https://www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm

5) The Bastian Brothers Company began in 1895 and is still in business today making advertising novelties. See their website at https://www.bastiancompany.com/about.shtml.

6) Kenneth Florey, Women’s Suffrage Memorabilia: an illustrated historical study. (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013) 31-34.

 

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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.

 

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.