WILLIAM D. PAYNE --1897

Said the 1897 Herald: "He is a typical son of Texas, of the sturdy, athletic type, well calculated for the work of grappling with the hardships that attend those who strike out on the frontier and blaze the way for civilization. He was raised mostly in Leon County in the state where he was living at the opening of the war. His father enlisted in the Confederate service while William was but a boy. From Leon County he came to Bell and afterwards to Hamilton County about 1877, when population was thin and scattering.  He settled not far from Evergreen, bought land in the Leon valley and removed there. He owns 600 acres, most of which is in the most valuable class of bottom land. He raises immense crops of corn, cotton, cane, and cereals. Two years ago a disastrous overflow destroyed nearly all of his growing crop, but with the pluck and perseverance that characterizes men of his stamp, no sooner than the water subsided than he set about repairing the mischief done by the flood and when the winter season came, he was well supplied with stock feed planted after the flood. Mr. Payne is still in the prime of his life, has always been a democrat, and expects to remain one. He is a man of the independent type, and his paper is worth dollar for dollar with all who know him."

Dennis Payne, now living near Hamilton (1938) is a son of William D. Payne.