Looking for Payne, Howell ancestors

It's amazing what a week's worth of concentrated research can turn up.

I think I spent all weekend seated at my computer going through old queries on Genforum and Rootsweb, trying to find some link to my Payne family. And, believe it or not, I found one.

This Internet never ceases to amaze me. My search had reached almost desperate proportions because I'm trying to meet a deadline for "The Heritage of Carroll County, Georgia," a book which will be published in the near future.

My mother's roots go deep into Carroll County and I want our family to be represented, if only with short stories about our ancestors.

These "Heritage" books are wonderful and really contain valuable information not only about the people, but also the history of the area. One on Fayette County is due out soon. I purchased one last year on Cleburne County, Ala. and found it well worth the price. These books have been published for several counties throughout the United States. To find out more, go to www.countyheritagebooks.com.

Getting back to my research topic; in one weekend, I found quite a bit more on my Jasper Payne and met a relative who is descended from one of his sons, James C. Payne. The best part is that she is just a short distance away in Temple and we can talk on the phone without calling long distance. My Jasper was actually William Jasper Payne, b. abt 1830 in Tenn., married to Mary (Polly) Ann Woods in 1852, also of Tenn., who had three sisters and two brothers.

The Mary "Paine" I found in 1870 Carroll County was, indeed, his wife, or maybe I should say, his widow. William Jasper was a Civil War casualty, as I suspected, who died from a fatal case of measles while his unit was in retreat from Yorktown to Richmond. He died in the hospital there in Richmond and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery. This information came from two sources: Elizabeth Dial, who had been to the Georgia Archives and seen the information, and Wally Smith, a fellow Payne researcher, who found it at his library. I am grateful to both Wally and Elizabeth for helping me out on this.

Elizabeth helped put spouses with Jasper's children, which gave me more names to work with and more relatives to look for. Her husband, Ray, is the one actually related to the Paynes, but they do this genealogy thing together, and have been doing it for some time.

The children of William Jasper Payne and Mary (Polly) Ann Woods were: (1)Elizabeth Payne, b. abt 1853, m. James Williams; (2)Joseph Joshua Payne, b. 20 Jan. 1854, m. Louisa Elizabeth Boyd (my great-grandparents); (3)Caleb "Kale" Payne, b 20 Jan. 1854, m. Fleman Williams (Joseph and Kale were twins); (4)Rachel Payne, b. abt 1856, m. James Richards; (5)James C. Payne, b. 29 June 1858, m. Mary Elizabeth Pope (these are Ray's great-grandparents); and (6)Hannah Payne, b. abt 1862, m. James Maroney. Hannah is buried in Etowah Co., Ala.

Since Mary-Polly was so young (she was 38 years old and single in 1870) we believe she might have remarried and are looking in this direction. There may be more half-relatives we don't know about. If you are connected to any of these families, I sure would love to hear from you.

I also heard from Lee and Jean Allison (ljallison@juno.com) who are looking for their Allison kinfolk in the Milledgeville area. Lee and Jean write: "Hi, Your April 15, article got me to thinking that maybe the "sideways" is the way to find someone." (Note: My article and letter from Vicky Chambers mentioned going after siblings and related surnames if you are at a dead end on your direct surname ... sort of "sideways," if you will. JK)

"Several of the cousins and I have been looking for the birth and death dates and other information on James Allison who was married to Sarah Fannin (Fanning). She was born on Oct. 15, 1771, and died on Sept. 13, 1815. They were married in Milledgeville and probably are buried there as well.

"They had these sons: Wade Hampton Allison, b. 1797, Smallwood Putnam Allison, b. 1807 (he served in the Civil War), Green Anderson Allison, b. 1808, John F. Allison, b. 1812 (my GGgrandfather), Abraham K. Allison (he was the sixth governor Florida), and a James Allison Allison (must have loved the Allison name!).

"There are lots of surname kinfolks, such as Dinglers, Sansoms, Aikens (Akin), Evans, Helms, Head, Ingram, Leach, Nichols, Oglesby, Paschall (Paschal), and wouldn't you think that there should be someone that could give us the information on James we need? "We have been told to go to Baldwin Co. and look around. That is a probable lead for us. We need to know who to contact there and not go on a wild goose chase.

"Enjoy the articles as I have been hunting for folks for many years and can find more on the maternal sides than the paternals. Lee and Jean Allison."

Lee, I am totally unfamiliar with that area. I would first check to see if there is a genealogical library or public library with genealogical material available in Milledgeville. You can do this online by searching for Milledgeville and/or Baldwin Co. on the GAGENWEB site (http://www.rootsweb.com/~gagenweb/). Go to the Georgia home page with the above address. Once there, click on counties/table, and it will list all the county Web sites.

Click on Baldwin County and it will take you to the Baldwin County page. There should be a link to the local historical society, if one exists. There should also be an e-mail address for the person who maintains the site. You can write and ask if there is a local society that can help you out. Anyone who has information on Baldwin County, Milledgeville, or the Allison family, please contact Lee and Jean at the above e-mail address.

I hope I've given you some helpful tips this week and would love to write about your ancestors. Send mail to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Until next week, happy hunting!