Living

• Gender	Female
  Notes	At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld.
  Person ID	I1552	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006

  
  

  Father	Thomas Hamilton Payne, II,   b. 20 Mar 1893, Marlow, Indian Territory ,   d. 12 Dec 1957, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon
  Mother	Bessie Bird Gentry,   b. 14 Dec 1894, Alma, Stephens County, Indian Territory ,   d. 3 May 1958, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
  Married	27 Dec 1912	Stephens County, Oklahoma
  Family ID	F21	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	James Cullen Hanna,   b. 16 Dec 1925, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma ,   d. 21 Nov 1990, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
  Children	1. Living   2. Living   3. Living
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006
  Family ID	F1078	Group Sheet

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		St. Elizabeth's Academy, Purcell, Oklahoma, Established 1888; Students PLEASE HELP US IDENTIFY the Unknown students in this picture Top Row: Appears to be one of the RICE sisters from Noble, Oklahoma Middle Row: Unknown, Bessie Gentry PAYNE (the mother of Lois and Fay PAYNE) Bottom Row: Lois Marie PAYNE, Fay PAYNE, UNKNOWN Please help us identify the unknown Students
  		St. Elizabeth's Academy, Purcell, Oklahoma, Established 1888; Payne and Rice sisters Top Row: Fay PAYNE, Anna Laura PAYNE, Jessie RICE Bottow Row: RICE Twin, Lois PAYNE, RICE Twin
  		PAYNE FAMILY REUNION - 1927 Home of Aunt Annie (O'Neill) Sparks - 303 Hickory, Duncan, Oklahoma This 1927 Payne Reunion photo is of 41 people. On September 21-23, 1999, Charles R. Strong along with his mother, Anna Laura "Rooney" (Payne) Strong and two aunts – Dora Fay (Payne) Pierce-Yeager and Lois Marie (Payne) Hanna reviewed the picture. The late Lewis Adair Payne had already prepared his own list identifying all persons. Both list had errors. Mary Gwendolyn “Marilynn” (Payne) Wade of Marlow later helped Charles Strong reconcile the two lists and correct some errors. One reason for differences in the two lists was due to the existence of two pictures, which were almost, but not exactly, identical. This photo slightly differs from Aunt Annie’s version. . NOTE-The list below is numbered left to right - top to bottom. The first number is sequential in total, and the second number is position within the row. TOP ROW 1 1 Paul Puckett, Boy living with Hattie (Brown) Payne. 2 2 Mabel Lyles 3 3 Baby is Mary Gwendolyn “Marilynn” (Payne) Wade. 4 4 Joseph Ray “Jodey” Payne Jr. 5 5 Virginia (Payne) Hardin - d. of Walter W., # 22 below 6 6 Vera (Payne) Roberts-Young, -d. of Walter W. #22 and mother of #30 below 7 7 Mary Ethyl (Payne) Benton-Madison-Parker. d. of W. W. # 22 8 8 Claude Chadwick Payne 9 9 Ruth Hazel Witherspoon-d. of Mable (Gentry) Witherspoon, d. of John Price Gentry. 10 10 Florence Scott d. of # 23 Lou Payne Scott & niece of W.W. Payne 11 11 Marvin Walter Payne Sr. Father of #'s 8, 28, 37, & 38 12 12 Gracie (Gentry) Payne Wife of # 11 Marvin W. Payne 13 13 Rene Gentry - s. of Frank Melton and Ada (Jones) Gentry, and nephew of Gracie #12 14 14 Edna (Surginer) Payne, First wife of John Earl (Dukie) Payne 15 15 John Earl, (Dukie) Payne 16 16 Caroline "Carrie" (Cover) Payne 17 17 Harry Carl Payne,Sr. MIDDLE ROW 18 1 William "Billy" West - Grandson of # 23, Louise (Payne) Scott 19 2 Joseph Ray Payne, s. of Wm. Henry H. Payne 20 3 C. Frank Payne, Brother to # 11, Marvin W. Payne Sr. 21 4 Annie (O'Neill) Sparks, Wife of #26 22 5 Walter Winkle Payne 23 6 Louise "Lula" (Payne) Scott 24 7 Hattie (Brown) Payne 25 8 Orville Scott 26 9 James Rufus Sparks f. of # 33, Mary Pat (Sparks) Kubic BOTTOM ROW 27 1 Anna Laura "Rooney" (Payne) Strong 28 2 Mary Olive (Payne) Thompson 29 3 Mary Ethyl (Benton) Jones 30 4 Clifford "Bosco" Roberts 31 5 Virginia Payne, sister to # 4 above, and d. of Joseph R. & g.d. Wm. H. H. Payne ? 32 6 Dora Fay (Payne) Pierce - Yeager 33 7 Mary Pat (Sparks) Kubik 34 8 Francis Hardin, d. of Virginia Payne Hardin, # 5 above, (in lap of Mary Pat) 35 9 Thelma (Gentry) Callaway - d. of Edgar J. Gentry & g.d. of Wm. M. Gentry 36 10 Lois Marie (Payne) Hanna 37 11 Lewis Adair Payne 38 12 Marvin Walter "Snort" Payne Jr. in Lewis' lap. 39 13 Willie Lee "Billy" Payne ? 40 14 Paul James Payne 41 15 Jean Bruce (Benton) Turner
  		Gentry, Bessie Bird ca 1930 with her daughters This picture, of Bessie with her daughters, was probably taken around 1930. From left to right are Bessie Gentry Payne, Anna Laura Payne, Fay Payne, Lois Payne, and Patty Gay Payne.

  
  

  Documents

  St. Elizabeth's Academy, Established 1888, Purcell, Oklahoma Founded in February, 1888, one year before Oklahoma was opened to settlement and barely a year after Purcell was established as a junction point on the Santa Fe, St. Elizabeth is one of Oklahoma's most famous old schools. The spacious, roomy, two-storied frame building, set in a grassy plot with a peaceful background of slender poplars, elms and cedars, is still a thing of considerable beauty. For many years it was the only educational landmark in an unsettled area, and the sight of students playing about its grounds, supervised by the black-robed nuns, against the bright southwestern skies, has become familiar to nearly all Oklahomans who have lived here any length of time. When St. Elizabeth's convent was founded, in 1888, Purcell was a part of the Chickasaw nation of the old Indian territory, and the gateway to the great ranching empire which lay to the west and south. The country then was all pastureland, heavily wooded and a ranch of 10,000 to 20,000 acres was commonplace. Most of the settlers were Chickasaws, but here were also Choctaw families, and a good many white settlers. All were eager to send their children to school and the news that St. Elizabeth's convent had opened in Purcell was welcomed far and wide. Families packed their children and brought them to board and room at the convent, or if there was no space there, boarded them in homes and they attended day school. Three eager young nuns, all now dead, of the Order of St. Francis, made their way west from Philadelphia and arrived in Purcell on Feb. 14, 1888. At the time there was under construction a three-room frame building on the same lot where the Benedictine priests had built a one-room church. Sunday services were conducted in the church which on week days was converted into two school rooms by hanging a heavy carpet to form a partition. By November, however, the new three-room frame building was completed and enrolment consisted of 120 pupils. Ages of these pupils ranged from 6 to 18 years. Soon, there were 25 boarders, then 50. Money for the grounds, buildings and teachers was paid for by Miss Katherine Drexel of the wealthy Philadelphia Drexel family. She had become interested in educating the Indians through the efforts of Father Vincent Jolly, O.S.B., who taught at the Sacred Heart academy situated in unsettled wilderness in what is now Pottawatomie county. Father Jolly, accompanied by Father William Capital, took turns in coming to Purcell to hold services. Father Jolly told Miss Drexel of the Indian boys and girls who needed educational opportunities, and described the great wilderness, which pioneers were still to conquer. One church was unable to bear the expense. But Miss Drexel could and did for 60 years. Miss Drexel furnished money for the grounds, buildings and early support, and a new building site was selected in 1891 by the Very Rev. Ignatius Jean, Benedictine priest, while Rev. F. Steven, director of the Indian bureau, gave the plans of the building to Miss Drexel. At her instigation, Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia designated the Sisters of St. Francis of the Philadelphia Foundation, Mother House in Glen Riddle, Pa., to take charge of the mission. Miss Drexel also offered to pay of the sister's support. In an area known as Love's pasture, named for the late Robert Love, Purcell's founder, who proved to be very helpful to the new school, ground was broken and the building erected which still stands today. On the second floor near the chapel is a bronze plaque dedicated to the founder, the late Father Vincent Jolly. Government support by which the Indian girls' tuition was paid in part by the government was withdrawn in 1932......(Causing the sisters) to run the institution on practically no income except from Miss Drexel. For some time the sisters kept the girls without government aid from their own slender resources as teachers. Continued maintenance soon became impossible. The school shut its doors for good in 1948. (Excerpted from an August 15, 1948 article in the Daily Oklahoman about the closure of St. Elizabeth's)