FARMING THEN 

Winn  Parish, and particularly the area around Dodson, New Hope, and Hudson, was a very different place a century ago than it is today.  It was a bustling and fairly populated area.  Due to the virgin timber boom, many moved into the area to seek a better life.  Farming was still the mainstay, though, for many people there. Unlike the more fertile land along rivers and streams in the southern and western part of the parish, many farmers in this area had hilly, sandy and clay land that was less productive.  

The cash crop then was cotton, but the emergence of the boll weevil in the first decade of the century cut cotton crop productivity later by nearly half.  Poisons then could have helped somewhat with the boll weevil problems, but many farmers couldn't afford these poisons.  Corn was also a major crop for many, since it could be fed to the farm animals, and cornbread was common fare at the dinner table.  Corn was shelled and taken to a local gristmill for grinding.  Peanuts were also quite commonly grown at area farms.  Cows and mules ate the corn shulks, hay, and peanut hulls.  Peas, beans, soybeans, tomatoes, potatoes, greens, sweet potatoes, peaches, and other fruits were also common crops for personal use.  Some farmers, like Buddy Payne, later bought canning equipment and then packaged and sold some canned items, such as tomatoes and peaches.

Sugar cane was another popular crop there.  When late October and November arrived, the cane was cut and carried to someone nearby who had a syrup mill.  The cane was stripped and chopped and then cooked and packaged in gallon cans.  Buddy Payne often would get 50-100 gallons of ribbon cane syrup at that time of the year.  Some of it the family would consume, and some of it was sold at his store.

Farmers then would set aside some of their surplus from good crop years as protection from the occasional year when droughts, bad weather, and poor crops occurred.  Buddy Payne would save seeds as well and sell or give these seeds to local farmers.  The Buddy Payne family didn't have many luxuries, but they had the basics (and more than many other families who had less acreage and didn't operate a community store).  
 

ANNUAL REUNION NEWS

The Payne-Foster Reunion is scheduled this year for Saturday, Oct. 20 from 10:00am until later in that afternoon.  We're expecting a larger turnout for this reunion due to a key change in the timing for the related Buddy and Martha Payne Reunion.  This Buddy and Martha Payne Reunion had been held previously over an early June weekend every even-numbered year.  The organizers of this Buddy and Martha Payne Reunion decided that it would be better to avoid the extreme heat and humidity of previous June reunions and to shift this reunion to coincide with the October reunion of the broader Payne-Foster Reunion.  The Buddy and Martha Payne Reunion will start Friday afternoon (Oct. 19) and run through Sunday afternoon, but a portion of this time (Sat. 10-2 or so) will be devoted to getting together with the broader set of kin who attend the annual Payne-Foster Reunion.  The agenda for the annual Payne-Foster Reunion will continue as before with lunch set for about 12:00 noon; however, we'll likely see more attendance from the Buddy and Martha branch of the family.

Looking forward to the nicer weather of October and seeing you at this year's reunions.

Early History of Dr. I.B. Payne

Isaac B. Payne was born in Wilkinson County, Georgia in 1837.  He was one of seven children of Joseph Payne and Senia or Seney Crumbley Mitchell.  He was the grandson of Joseph Payne, Sr. and Mary Brassfield who moved from the area near Camden, South Carolina to Wilkinson County, Georgia  around the turn of the nineteenth century.  Isaac B. Payne was the great-grandson of Philip Payne and Mary Flannegan.  Philip Payne apparently had roots among the many Virginia Paynes, while Mary Flannegan was an immigrant (and probably an indentured servant in her early years in the South Carolina colony) from Northern Ireland.

Isaac B. Payne’s maternal line is still much of a mystery.  His mother was supposedly of full or mixed-blood Creek.  She was born a Crumbley and was legitimated and adopted in 1819 by a fairly prosperous Wilkinson County, Georgia couple, Isaac and Elizabeth Mitchell.  State records imply that Isaac Mitchell was Seney Crumbley’s birth father.  In later years, it appears that Isaac Mitchell had little confidence in his son-in-law, Joseph Payne. His will written in 1840, well before his death a decade later, specifies that under no condition should Joseph Payne be an administrator of or in control of assets left to his adopted daughter Senia and their children, which would have included the 15-20 slaves that the 1840 census indicates were held by the Mitchells.

The older children of Joseph and Seney Crumbley Mitchell Payne appear in the 1840 federal census, but the 1850 census shows three of these children under the household of Isaac and Elizabeth Mitchell, then 78 and 79 years of age.  Something happened to Isaac Payne’s parents between 1840 and 1850 that left three of the male Payne children, including Isaac, in the household and care of the Mitchells and other Payne children listed in other nearby households.  Based on her research, Peggy Payne has indicated that Joseph Payne lived for some years beyond 1850 and appeared in a county court later in the divorce of one of his daughters.  Perhaps Seney died in childbirth with her last child or from disease.

Apparently Seney’s Indian heritage was present in her children.  There are stories of difficulties for her youngest son, Joseph B. Payne, assimilating into white culture and his stated intention to resettle in the Indian Territories in Oklahoma.  He apparently left a family in Georgia under troubled circumstances and accusations of misconduct and started a new family in Louisiana.

Upon Isaac Mitchell’s death in the early 1850s, the administrator of his estate, Thomas N. Beale, reported periodically on the expenses and disbursement of the Mitchell estate to the Payne children.  During these years, Isaac attended local schools.  He boarded for a short time with his older brother, James W. Payne, who was a young schoolteacher in Wilkinson County (Davidson, 1930, Chapter 24) as well as boarded with a Dr. James T. Hudson, M.D., who practiced medicine in that county.  Isaac B. Payne completed his education in 1857 at the Albany Medical School in New York.  Why did he attend medical school, and why so far away from his native Georgia?  What influence, too, did young Isaac’s exposure to a far different culture in Albany, NY have on his later life in Louisiana?

Children of Isaac B. Payne and Sarah Foster Kidd Payne: Luler A. Payne

Luler was the sixth of their seven children and born in 1877 (after Jim and before Buddy).  The April 9 issue of The Southern Sentinel briefly notes her passing at a young age.  "We are sorry to learn that Mrs. Payne of Ward 7 had the misfortune to lose a bright little girl about two weeks ago.  She was about nine years of age and died very suddenly.

Children of Isaac B. Payne and Sarah Foster Kidd Payne: Brack Payne

Joseph Braxton Payne (or Brack/Brax Payne) was their fourth child. Like his older brother, Joel, Brax Payne had a strong influence on his Winn Parish community. There are many descendents of Brack and Della Elizabeth Garr Payne who probably know much more about their direct ancestors than I do, and I hope one or two will add more to what follows.

Brack Payne's wife Della was a niece of Lucy Margaret Garr who married Joel Payne (or Brack's older brother). The Garrs and Paynes were perhaps the two most prominent families in their part of Winn Parish around the turn of the twentieth century. Brack Payne and Rev. W. M. D. Garr were the ones who established the Hudson Camp Meeting in 1899. They contributed land and building materials to construct the Hudson Tabernacle and the later college. Brack owned and ran saw mills in the area and purchased timber for his mills. Since Dr. I. B. Payne died in 1879, when his many of his children were quite young, the older boys such as Joel, Ed, and Brack assumed responsibilty for helping provide for their family. Brack and Della Payne, in particular, took care of the youngest son Buddy and his mother Sarah during the hard times. Buddy worked later for Brack in his commercial interests (sawmills, cotton gins, etc.), and by 1906 Brack, Jim, and Buddy Payne were contracting together for timber teams to cut pine trees in the area. During the Great Depression and much later, Brack Payne loaned money to his brother Buddy to try to keep his community store going and his family well. Later when Buddy tried to repay these loans, Brack and his family wouldn't accept his payment.

Buddy Payne's children described their uncle as a hard-working and very loving family man. Brack's daughters, particularly, were affectionate and very devoted to their father. There were eight children in that family: Waymon Bertus, Luther Maldon, Bernie Lee, James Osborne, Hazel Hurst, Mildred Elizabeth, Sarah Arlene, and Joseph Buren. One of Brack's sons, Luther Maldon Payne, served as mayor of Dodson from 1946 to his death in 1949. Brack and Della Payne were very active members for many years of the Dodson Methodist Church. Brack died in 1955, and Della died in 1963.

Children of Dr. I.B. and Sarah Payne: Edwin Erasmus Payne (1870-1914)

Less appears to be known about the third child, Edwin Payne, of Dr. I.B. and Sarah Payne than his older brother, Joel, or younger brothers, Brack, Jim and Buddy. Edwin Payne lived in Winn Parish, was a farmer, and joined his brother Joel on the 1912 parish ballot as a potential alderman. According to a niece of his, Ollie Payne Kelly, who was interviewed in 2001, "He was working in his field picking cotton, and somehow he drank from water stored in his barn that had poison in it. They found him down in that barn and don't know what happened."

Edwin married Carrie Cook (1885-1937) in 1906, and she survived his death by 23 years. Her obituary can be found in the June 24, 1937 issue of the Winnfield Enterprise newspaper. Carrie Cook came to Winn Parish with her family from Adams County, MS at age 10. The children of Edwin and Carrie Payne were Helen Opal, Ruby, Roy, Edwin, and Saule. Helen Opal became a teacher who served as a teacher in Winn Parish in the 1920s. This Edwin and Carrie branch of the Payne family tree has descendants who have attended the Payne-Foster Reunions over many years.

Children of I.B. and Sarah Foster Kidd Payne: James Lewis Payne

The fifth of these seven children was called Jim. He and his wife, the former Ida Snow, resided on the hill property adjacent to and north and west of the land in the Hudson area owned by his brother, Buddy Payne. Jim Payne was a member of the Nazarene Church and was also a charter member and later secretary of the Hudson Holiness Interdenominational Camp Meeting. Jim died in 1955 at the age of 80, and Ida died the following year at the age of 72. Jim Payne and his wife had no children, but often spent time with his brother Buddy and their friends and relatives who would gather down the hill from his place at the community store. The Buddy and Martha Payne girls would also visit Jim's house and help Jim's wife, who was an invalid, with household chores and cleaning. Buddy would go periodically into town in his car and bring back food and supplies for Jim and Ida, as well as his own family.

Jim Payne was an avid reader and, like his brother Buddy, loved poetry, particularly nineteen- century poems about nature and pastoral beauty . As a very religious man, Jim was a talented hymn writer who composed songs that were sung in local and area churches. He traveled occasionally to churches in Louisiana and Texas to sing and lead singing there. A few of his poems, were published from time to time in the Dodson Times, such as "Beulah Heights" that appeared in the Friday, May 4, 1904 newspaper. The hymn ends with the following lines:

"Beyond the fair haven of blissful peace, Beyond the billows of the surging tide;
Beyond the golden strand where pain will cease, There my soul is longing to abide." "