Our Payne Ancestry
We usually devote attention at most Payne reunions to our more immediate ancestors, Dr. Isaac Payne, his wife, and their children and grandchildren. We've occasionally gone deeper into our ancestry -- back to the Camden/Kershaw area of SC and the great-grandfather of this Dr. Isaac Payne, a Philip Payne who probably moved there from NC in the 1740s. Tracing back further beyond this Philip's father (probably a John Payne) is very difficult. DNA developments and its usage in the last decade have given us a few clues, though, about the Payne heritage in England. I'll depart from my usual focus on Winn Parish, LA to discuss a little about our roots in England.
From DNA analysis (and a Q-tip swab of the inside of my mouth in 2002), it seems that our probable ancestor is a John Payn of Wymondham, Norfolk. This John Payn was a chief lieutenant to King Henry IV of England in the years immediately before and after 1400. John Payn had earlier been in charge of handling supplies and provisions for Henry of Bolingbroke in his military campaigns in France before he became King Henry IV. John Payn could not have undertaken such a role without a background in shipping and commerce, and many Paynes in various parts of England before and after 1400 were traders abroad of iron, wine, cloth, etc.
From that time until late in the colonial period (around 1700), many Paynes in England held prominent positions in both Royal governments and in the private sector. What still needs to be determined is how our ancestry goes from this John Payn of Wymondham to our Paynes in the early Carolinas. It will take additional scholarship/research, and probably some luck, to ever be able to chart our particular Payne line all of the way back to this John Payn of Wymondham or his near relatives.
We do know a little, though, about the origin and evolution of the surname Payne. One interesting source for this information that is fairly consistent with other sources is the book Devonshire Wills by Charles Worthy in 1896 (pp. 431-432). Worthy discusses an exodus of certain related families from the old Roman Empire to Normandy in France in the early Middle Ages. These emigrants did not interact easily or well with typical residents of Normandy and confined themselves to certain villages and towns in Normandy. They were known as the "Pagani," which in French was "Payen" or peasant or "Pagan" or infidel. Although in some ways these Pagani or Payen had to hold to the laws and customs of their new homeland, they didn't forget and continued to practice some of their ancient rituals and ways. By the 10th or 11th Century, though, their name alone often remained to distinguish them from others there and from their connection to the Roman Empire. As Normanized Romans, several prominent Payens OR Paganels were key lieutenants of William the Conqueror. One was Ralph Paganel or Paynel, whose immediate descendants were known as the "Fitz-Paynes," and he was Sheriff of Yorkshire, where he held 15 manors in 1087. He also held 15 manors in Lincolnshire, 10 manors in Devonshire, and 5 manors in Somerset. We can see the descendants of this Ralph Paganel or Paynel being called Fitz-Payne, and later still being called Payn or Payne or Paine and their owning considerable land in various parts of England. One branch of this descent apparently fostered John Payn of Wymondham.
