WHY BEING A HAYNES CAN MEAN YOU ARE A PAYNE
In 1990 the Spotts-Payne Family held their 11th Reunion in Lewisburg, WV. The patriarch of the Payne family was Albert Payne. His wife was Ida Bell Dunsmore Payne.
Albert Payne was the son of Martha Ann Payne Haynes Jones. He was the brother of Socrates Haynes, Elizabeth Haynes, Dudley Y. Haynes, Charlotte Haynes, James Haynes & Purcey Haynes. He was the stepson of Solomon Haynes and Peter Jones.
Prior to emancipation, Albert's mother, Martha Ann was a "Payne". She may have been enslaved and carried the slave name Payne or she may have been a free inhabitant with the surname Payne. (Henry N. Payne was a free inhabitant in Monroe County as early as 1840). At any rate, Martha's first five children (Socrates, Albert, Elizabeth, Dudley & Charlotte) initially carried the surname Payne. After emancipation, Martha married Solomon Haynes on July 4, 1865 in Kanawha County. All of her children changed their surnames to Haynes and were recorded in that name in the 1870 census. Martha & Solomon had at least two more children (James & Purcey) who appear to have been the biological children of Solomon Haynes. By 1880, Albert appears in both the Haynes and the Payne surname. In the 1880 census he appears as Albert Haynes. In 1881 he signs as a witness for his sister's, Elizabeth's, marriage as Albert Payne but the city officials list him as Albert Haynes. When William Henry Brown & Relda Dunsmore marry at his house in 1888 he appears as Albert Payne. Thereafter, he consistently appears as Payne.
We will never know why Albert was the only one of Martha's children to keep the Payne surname and to not adopt the name of his stepfather.
To complicate matters, Albert's sister, Elizabeth, married a Haynes & became Elizabeth Jane Payne Haynes Haynes.
So, all of the descendants of Socrates, Albert, Dudley, Elizabeth, Charlotte, James, and Purcey are the descendants of Martha Ann Payne (of Fayette/Kanawha/Monroe Counties).
In at least one document Albert was referred to as "Albert Payne of Nickell's Mill" & this is in line with Eva Peter's assertion that Elizabeth (Albert's sister) was the seamstress for the Nickell family.
Albert Payne died on 5/17/1925 at 67 years of age at the McKendree Hospital in Fayette, WV. (His niece's granddaughter (Sandra Belton) would later write a children's book entitled "McKendree")
For the first five of Martha's children, then, they may have not been the biological children of a Haynes but only surnamed Haynes due to adopting the name of a stepfather. My greatgrandmother, however, did later marry a Haynes and I am, therefore, biologically a Haynes on at least one side. On the other side I am probably, truly, a Payne.
This genealogical discovery meant a lot to me as when I was a child my father would often tell me "You know, you really are a pain!". He said this, of course, because I was a difficult child. He had no idea that he was engaging in a double entendre/double meaning and I wouldn't know this either until I started looking into my past.
I didn't attend the Spotts-Payne Family Reunion but some other Haynes may have attended not knowing that they were also Paynes.
For more information on Albert Payne see:
--1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 census records
--WV Daily News, Lewisburg, WV, Thursday, 8/2/1990, 11th Spotts-Payne Reunion Held at Local Inn .
--Numerous marriages for which he was a witness/informant (Black Residents of GC ...)
--History of Brushy Ridge (Colored)
--Dr. Montgomery's papers at the GHS
--Journal of the GHS, Vol 7 #6
--Shuck's GC Birth Records
--MC Cemeteries - Neff Orchard Road (Black)
--African American Records by Bodemuller
--WV Death Certificates # 5862, 14063, 7985, 14063, 5862