An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 369
	
	JAMES H. PAYNE, of Seattle, Washington, was born in Shelby county, Kentucky,
May 5, 1823, a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Wright) Payne, natives,
respectively, of Virginia and Kentucky. In the fall of 1823, after spending a
number of years in Shelby county, Kentucky, the father moved his family to Owen
county, Indiana, where he secured a farm, erected a cabinet shop, and there
passed the remaining years of his life.
	James H., the youngest of thirteen children, and the only survivor of the
family, remained with his parents until twenty-two years of age, attending to
the duties of the farm and also assisting his father in the shop. In February,
1845, he engaged as clerk in a mercantile store in Grand View, Kentucky,
receiving $8 per month and board, and one year later purchased an interest in
the business. In the fall of 1852, on account of failing health, he sold his
interest in the store, and in the following spring, in connection with Benjamin
Freeland and Henry Colman and their families, he decided to come to Oregon. They
started March 21, 1853, the little train numbering eight wagons and 180 head of
cattle and horses, and, with the usual experiences of the pioneers, they crossed
the plains and mountains to The Dalles, Oregon, thence by the Barlow route to
the Willamette valley, locating near Brownsville, Linn county. Mr. Payne
purchased a claim of 320 acres for $500, the only improvements being a little
slab-house, 10 x 12 feet, and even this seemed large after living in wagons so
many months. Food was very expensive, and the only supply was wheat at $2.50 per
bushel, which was ground for flour, cracked for mush and browned for coffee.
With a sick wife and two small children, Mr. Payne struggled through the first
winter, often driving ten miles to cut and draw rails to fence a little ground
for the spring crops. They remained on the farm about five years, and during
that time improved the house and put thirty acres of land under the plow. In the
fall of 1858 our subject engaged in cabinet work and the furniture business in
Albany; in the spring of 1866 began carpentering in Salem, and in 1868 came to
Seattle.
	After arriving in this city Mr. Payne first followed the grocery trade for a
few months. In the spring of 1869 he was one of a syndicate to purchase the New
Castle coal mines, which they improved and operated about two years, and then
sold at a great sacrifice. He was next employed on the Snohomish Indian
reservation about nine months, but, there being but few facilities for educating
his children there, he soon returned to Seattle, where he has ever since
resided. Mr. Payne followed contracting and building until 1889, and in that
year erected his cottage home at 304 Olympic avenue, and retired from active
business.
	He was married at Grand View, Illinois, September 26, 1848, to Miss Mahala
B. Freeland, a native of Spencer, Indiana. They have had five children, namely:
Emma A., widow of James Thomas; Mary E., deceased; Julia A., now Mrs. C.H.
Staddleman; Flora E., wife of W.H. Hughes; and Quinn E., deceased. The latter
was a young man of great promises but after a service of eight years as mail
clerk between Seattle and Whatcom, his health failed from hardships and
exposure, and his untimely demise ensued.
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
* * * * 

Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project.  Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.