Henry B. Payne

Henry B. Payne
United States Senator
from Ohio
In office
March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1891
Preceded by George H. Pendleton
Succeeded by Calvin S. Brice
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 20th district
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877
Preceded by Richard C. Parsons
Succeeded by Amos Townsend
Personal details
Born (1810-11-30)November 30, 1810
Hamilton, New York
Died September 9, 1896(1896-09-09) (aged 85)
Cleveland, Ohio
Resting place Lake View Cemetery
Cleveland, Ohio
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Mary Perry Payne
Relations William Collins Whitney
Frances P. Bolton
Oliver Payne Bolton
Michael Whitney Straight
Children Nathan P. Payne
Oliver Payne
Parents Elisha Payne
Esther (Douglass) Payne
Alma mater Hamilton College
Signature

Henry B. Payne (November 30, 1810 – September 9, 1896) was an American politician from Ohio. He served as a Democratic U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative from Ohio.

Early life and legal career

Henry Payne[lower-alpha 1] was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York, in 1810, the son of Elisha and Esther (Douglass) Payne.[1] Both of his parents were Connecticut natives who had moved to New York in the 1790s.[1] Payne attended the common schools and graduated from Hamilton College in 1832.[2] After graduation, Payne read law in the Canandaigua office of John C. Spencer, a Whig politician and future Secretary of War.[2] While working there, Payne became good friends with Stephen A. Douglas, the future United States Senator and 1860 Democratic presidential candidate.[1]

In 1833, Payne moved to Cleveland, Ohio, which was then a town of just 3000 people.[1] Douglas preceded him there, but was ill, and Payne's first task on arrival in Ohio was to nurse his friend back to health.[3] He continued to study law, this time under Sherlock J. Andrews and in 1834 was admitted to the bar.[2] He opened his own practice the same year, forming a partnership with future United States federal judge Hiram V. Willson.[4] The firm became successful quickly, and within ten years Payne & Willson was among the top firms in Ohio.[4] In 1836, Payne married Mary Perry, the daughter of a local merchant.[1] They would have six children, including Oliver Hazard Payne, the Gilded Age businessman, and Nathan P. Payne, a future mayor of Cleveland.[1]

Business career

Payne's law practice continued to be successful through the early 1840s, but after suffering from attacks of hemoptysis (bleeding in the lungs,) he was forced to curtail his activities.[4] Instead, he devoted his time to business affairs and local politics.[5] He began to promote the extension of railroads into Cleveland. Along with a few associates, Payne founded the Cleveland and Columbus Railroad in 1851, and served as its president.[4] He also invested in several other local railroads.[4] He resigned the railroad presidency in 1854, but the following year became president of a different railroad, the Painesville and Ashtabula.[4] That same year, Payne became one of Cleveland's first water works commissioners.[5]

Ohio politics

Payne entered local politics as a Democrat, serving as a Presidential elector in 1848 for Democratic nominees Lewis Cass and William Orlando Butler.[4] He was a member of the Ohio Senate from 1849 to 1851. His skill as a parliamentarian led his party to nominate him for the United States Senate in 1851, but the election went to Whig candidate Benjamin Wade.[lower-alpha 2][1] Payne attended the 1856 Democratic National Convention, where he worked successfully for the nomination of James Buchanan.[1] He ran for Governor of Ohio in 1857, but narrowly lost to the incumbent Republican, Salmon P. Chase.[1] In 1860, he again attended the Democrats' convention, where he helped nominate his old friend, Stephen A. Douglas, and sided with Douglas's faction as the party divided into northern and southern halves.[6]

At the 1860 convention, Payne denounced the right of secession, and during the Civil War that began the next year, he was a staunch supporter of the Union.[1] During the war, Payne used some of his wealth to help equip Ohio regiments.[6] After the war, he continued his political activity, leading the Ohio delegation to the 1872 Democratic National Convention, where he supported the eventual nominee, Horace Greeley.[1] In 1874, Payne ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Ohio's 20th district, and was elected with a 2500-vote majority.[1]

Federal politics

In the House, which was controlled by the Democrats, Payne served on the Banking and Currency Committee.[6] The previous Congress, controlled by Republicans, had passed the Specie Payment Resumption Act, which would return the United States to the gold standard by 1879. Opinion among Democrats was split, with Eastern Democrats supporting the Act, and Western and Southern members hoping for its repeal.[6] Payne authored a compromise bill to repeal the Resumption Act while still, eventually, returning the country to the gold standard.[6] It passed the House, 133 to 120, but the Senate declined to take up the matter.[7]

He served on the 1876 Electoral Commission on the disputed presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. Payne ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1880 and 1884, but won election in 1884 to the Senate. He served a single term and did not seek a second term. During his time in office, Payne remained active in Cleveland's business community: in 1888, he arranged for the construction of the Perry-Payne Building in the present-day Warehouse District.[8]

Payne died in Cleveland on September 9, 1896. He is interred in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.[9]

Family life

Their son-in-law was Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney.[10]

Payne was the maternal grandfather of Frances P. Bolton[11] and great-grandfather of Oliver Payne Bolton,[12] both of whom later served in the United States House of Representatives. He was also the great-grandfather of Michael Whitney Straight, a confessed spy for the KGB.

Notes

  1. ↑ He originally had no middle initial, but according to a granddaughter, he added the "B." later in life to give his name "a more pleasing effect."[1]
  2. ↑ Before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, Senators were chosen by their states' legislatures.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Weisenburger 1934, p. 325.
  2. 1 2 3 Reed, Randall & Greve 1897, p. 96.
  3. ↑ Memorial Record 1894, p. 37.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reed, Randall & Greve 1897, p. 97.
  5. 1 2 Memorial Record 1894, p. 38.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Reed, Randall & Greve 1897, p. 98.
  7. ↑ Hoogenboom 1995, p. 356.
  8. ↑ Perry-Payne Building, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, 1998-04-23. Accessed 2013-09-22.
  9. ↑ "PAYNE, HENRY B. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ Newspaper Enterprise Association (1914). The World Almanac & Book of Facts. Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 662. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "BOLTON, Frances Payne, (1885 - 1977)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Bolton, Oliver Payne, (1917-1972)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved July 15, 2014.

Sources

External links

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