The Payne Family
The Payne family
is one that is interesting and varied as much personal historic narrative has
been written about them. They were a prominent family in the history of
Vermilion County in Illinois. Also, my great-grandmother, Permelia
Payne Doyle Malcom was loved dearly by all who knew her and remember her
personally. She was a hardworking frontier wife and mother and from what I
have been told and read, a bit of a renegade. She was generous, kindly and
ready to lend a hand to all that needed her expertise in many of the talents it
took to survive on the then "wild" Midwestern frontier in the late years of the
19th and early 20th century.
On these pages I will include as much as I have found about the
Payne family. This will include information about
Permelia, her first husband, Thomas (Reed) Doyle), her two
children by that marriage and what has been written about the
Payne Family who lived in Danville and Potomac, Vermilion
County, Illinois during the tumultuous times before, during and
after the Civil War.
To view a genealogy report of the Paynes from Prosper Payne down
to Permelia and her siblings,
click here.
Here too, you will find our
family histories, memories, photos and other facts about the Payne branch of our
family.
More about Permelia and her second husband, Joseph Malcom, and
their children will be included on the Malcom page of this
website.
The two photos below are the only pictures I have of the Payne
family.
Permelia Ann Payne, pictured on the left, is my maternal great grandmother.
She was born June 7, 1843 in Danville, Ill, She died on Dec 14, 1935
in Oto, Iowa.
Abel Wade or Watkins (Great Uncle Wad)
Payne is on the right. ►
He is Permelia's brother and is photographed in his
Civil War uniform. He was a survivor of the infamous Civil War internment
camp for Union prisoners of war at Andersonville.
Below are
six direct
connections to a web site compiled by
Alice Marie Beard.
Since
these pages are a part of another web site on the internet, you will have to
use the "back" browser button to navigate back and forth within her site and
from her site back to mine.)
Alice Marie is an excellent
genealogist and her web site is easy to use, informative and fun to read.
She has spent years researching the Payne family and other related families so
you will find a lot even though you are only interested in the Paynes. I
have selected just a few connections on her site to take you quickly to those
that particularly interested me. For the John Payne, Sr. and Hannah (EarL) Payne
(Permelia and "Wad's" Grandfather
and Grandmother) family story as it appeared in the
Illiana Genealogist,
click here ►
1.
John Payne, Sr. and other
links. Also, you will find more detailed information about Alonzo Grimes Payne (Great
Uncle "Lon") and Permelia's other brothers, their wives and children.
There is even some detailed information about Joseph and Permelia Malcom's
children, our grandparents.
For the story of John Payne Jr. and his wife Virletta
O'Neal Payne and their family, click here ►2. John
Payne, Jr.
John and Virletta were the parents of Permelia, Uncle "Wad" and their
brother and sisters. As you will find out, John Payne, Jr. was
shot and killed for wearing a "Butternut Pin" which was supposed to
signify that he was a southern sympathizer.
See Butternut Pin ►► ►
This photo of the Butternut Pin was sent to me from the Iowa Historical Society with this description The
one in our collection is a small thin slice of a butternut nut with a
steel steel pin. Pin is about 1 inch in diameter. Original label read:
“Worn by the Copperheads in Southern
Iowa in 1863."
Here
click here ►3.
One link to
Payne, Permelia
you will find Alice Marie Beard's story of
Permelia,
her marriage to Thomas Doyle, her "dance" with Abraham Lincoln and her "union"
with Joseph Malcom. You will find that her opinion of Permelia differs
from ours and our memories actually stem from those who knew her personally.
We as her grandchildren and great grandchildren, of course, believe that the
marriage to Joseph Malcom was real and many fond memories of Permelia have been
written about her. I will place these memories on the Malcom page of this web
site. From what I have read on Ms. Beard's website, Permelia's family in
Danville certainly had several likely social and possible military connections
with Abraham Lincoln both before and after he was President of the United
States. We believe this story about Permelia's encounters and her dance with Abraham
Lincoln to be true.
Click here ► 4.
One link to Payne,
Able Wade is more information and a poem written by
Great Uncle
"Wad" who is pictured above.
Here, also, is more family information about Abel
(click on
this link --) Uncle
Wad
My sisters and I grew up hearing with
morbid curiosity the story that we had an ancestor that was "hung as a witch in
Salem". Perhaps, click here ► 5.
Alice (Mrs. Henry) Lake (one link)
is
the woman my mother told us about. I don't know yet whether this woman
also has a Lake family connection to our Lakes but perhaps one will be found.
Also, at the bottom of this page, Ms. Beard includes a family connection to
Lizzie Borden,
you know, the one that "gave her father forty whacks" with an axe.
Click here to read about ►
6.
William O'Neal Payne (one link), another
brother of Permelia's who served in the Civil War.
Remember that you can read more about the Paynes at this address which contains
more family information about Permelia and her family.
More information
about the descendants of Prosper Payne
See this page
for further logical arguments that the Payne Family in Vermilion County,
Illinois were friends and acquaintances of President Lincoln.
The Paynes and Abe
