John Payne
27th United States Secretary of the Interior
In office
March 15, 1920 – March 4, 1921
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byFranklin Lane
Succeeded byAlbert B. Fall
President of the United States Shipping Board
In office
1919 – February 1920
President of the Chicago South Park Board
In office
1911–1924
Judge on the Superior Court of Cook County
In office
1893–1898
Personal details
Born(1855-01-26)January 26, 1855
Pruntytown, Virginia, U.S.
DiedJanuary 24, 1935(1935-01-24) (aged 79)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Kate Bunker
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​
(m. 1913; died 1919)​
Signature

John Barton Payne (January 26, 1855 – January 24, 1935) was an American politician, lawyer and judge. He served as the United States Secretary of the Interior from 1920 until 1921 under Woodrow Wilson's administration.

Early life and career

Time cover, 12 May 1923

Payne was born on January 26, 1855, in Pruntytown, Virginia, the son of Amos Payne, who was a medical doctor and farmer, and the former Elizabeth Barton.[1]

Admitted to the bar in 1876 in West Virginia, Payne entered politics five years later as the chairman of the Preston County Democratic Party. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1883, and was elected in 1893 to the Superior Court of Cook County, which he served on until resigning from that post in 1898.[2] Payne notably oversaw the Patrick Eugene Prendergast's unsuccessful appeal to his conviction for assassinating Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison Sr.[3]

After resigning his judgeship, Payne was the senior partner in Winston, Payne, Strawn and Shaw. A successor firm, Winston & Strawn, still exists. He was the president of the Chicago's South Park Board from 1911 to 1924.

John Barton Payne in the Chicago Eagle newspaper, 1910[4]

In 1913 he declined an offer from president Woodrow Wilson to serve as solicitor general of the United States.[5]

After the outbreak of World War I, Payne went to Washington, D.C., to act as the counsel for the Emergency Fleet Corporation and was the general counsel of the United States Railroad Administration Feb. 1918-Aug. 1919.[6] From 1919 through his appointment to Wilson's cabinet in February 1920, Payne served as the Chairman of the U.S. Shipping Board.

From October 1921 until his death, Payne served as the Chairman of the American Red Cross. In May 1921, Payne pledged funds for the permanent structure for the Warrenton Library[7] in Fauquier County, Virginia.

Payne was a founder of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond in 1911, and he donated 50 paintings to the museum in 1919.[8] Some of his personal papers were given to the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.[9]

Personal life

Payne married Kate Bunker on October 17, 1878. She died after a long illness. Payne married his second wife, the former Jennie Byrd Bryan (daughter of the late Thomas Barbour Bryan), on May 1, 1913. Jennie Payne died in 1919, and he remained a widower in office.

He died of pneumonia after an operation for appendicitis on January 24, 1935, at the age of 79. Two days later, an Associated Press obituary ran in the Chicago Tribune. Payne was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C., next to his second wife.[10]

In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS John Barton Payne was named in his honor.

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2009-12-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "John B. Payne (1920–1921) | Miller Center". millercenter.org. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. ↑ Morton, Richard Allen (2003). "A Victorian Tragedy: The Strange Deaths of Mayor Carter H. Harrison and Patrick Eugene Prendergast". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 96 (1): 6–36. ISSN 1522-1067. JSTOR 40193609. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Donovan, Henry. "Chicago Eagle". Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Toler, John (1 July 2018). "The Greatest Volunteer to Humanity". Piedmont Lifestyle. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  6. ↑ Public Acts, Proclamations by the President Relating to the United States Railroad Commission and General Orders and Circulars Issued by the Director General of Railroads to December 31, 1918. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919.
  7. ↑ "Fauquier County Public Library -- Home Page". 20 August 2008. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "European Collection Fact Sheet - VMFA Press Room". vmfa.museum. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  9. ↑ "John Barton Payne Papers". Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William & Mary. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "JUDGE PAYNE PAID WORLD'S TRIBUTE". Newspapers.com. Evening Star. 27 Jan 1935. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
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