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Olivia McClanahan

Olivia McClanahan

Female Abt 1844 - 1910  (~ 66 years)

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Generation: 1

  1. 1.  Olivia McClanahanOlivia McClanahan was born about 1844 in Schuyler County, Missouri; died on 1 Apr 1910 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Ken Harvey writes "She was known as Ollie and is remembered as having had violet coloured eyes. In the census of 1880 she gave her age as 34. This would result in her year of birth being 1846. A possible son, Billie Payne believed to have been born abt. 1891, was also listed. This is thought to be an error. Grace Payne, also listed here as a child, is almost certainly Marvin Walter Payne's wife, Grace Ellen Gentry.

    Ollie used to teasingly say, when the atheletic Sam went off to distant parts cowboying for a month or so, that she was going into town "to get herself a fatman." Presumably his weight would keep him in one place. Young Effie would always reply "Yes, and I will damm him to.""

    Lynell Cordell found this brief mention of her final illness in the Duncan Eagle, dated Thursday, Jan. 13, 1910:

    "We regret very much to learn that Mrs. S.M. Payne, who lives in the Wood Reserve, received a severe stroke of paralysis on last Tuesday, and since that time has been dangerously ill."

    Lynell was not, however, able to locate an obituary.

    Olivia married Samuel Marshall Payne on 20 Aug 1873 in Schuyler County, Missouri. Samuel (son of Thomas Hamilton Payne and Martha Jane Marshall) was born on 11 Mar 1849 in Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri; died on 20 Jun 1916 in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried on 21 Jun 1916 in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 2. C. Frank Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born in May 1875 in Missouri; died about 1936 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma.
    2. 3. Aubrey Hamilton Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 28 Mar 1877 in Shelby County, Missouri; died on 25 Nov 1954 in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas; was buried in I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas.
    3. 4. Samuel E. Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born about 1879 in Texas; died about 1904 in Hardeman County, Texas.
    4. 5. Marvin Walter Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 17 Jan 1881 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas; died on 4 Jan 1948 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma.
    5. 6. Effie Mae Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born in May 1883 in Texas; died about 1963; was buried in Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma.


Generation: 2

  1. 2.  C. Frank Payne Descendancy chart to this point (1.Olivia1) was born in May 1875 in Missouri; died about 1936 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    In 1910, it APPEARS that Frank was living in Bell County, Texas, and married to an Estelle. They were living, along with her two children from a prior marriage, in the boarding home of George Hughs.

    Kenneth Harvey writes that "Frank was believed to have married his first wife in order to give her unborn son a name. He claimed the child was his but no one believed him in later years. He was known to be that sort of generous type of man. The mother died shortly after the marriage. At the time of the 1920 census, he was living with his brother-in-law in Duncan on Pine Street.

    His sister Effie then raised the little boy that was believed to have been adopted. There were no papers involved. He was somewhat difficult youngster and was later sent to a military academy. He was not really very popular in the extended family-actually he was rather disliked. Afterwards he drifted to California and lost contact with the Payne family.

    Peggy had been married before and had a son who was a gambler. He ended up owning the Wade Hotel in Duncan as a result. She had a daughter who lived out in Hollywood.

    Spent thirty days in jail for allegedly making whisky during prohibition. He had not actually been making it but merely in the vicinity and the authorities knew that-they simply wanted more information. He refused to squeal however about who the real perpetrators were and as a result accepted the blame.

    He didn't like cowboying. He would not stand for drunken brawls where he worked. Frank was a big man.

    Frank is buried in Section 10, Block 10, Plot 2, Marlow Cemetery, Oklahoma. It is recorded that he died in Wichita Falls, Texas. (Dorothy Pattison, MCCLANAHAN FAMILY HISTORY (unpublished))."

    (Research):

    Census Listings:

    1910 Census
    Texas, Bell, 2 Wd Temple, ED 112
    Payne, Frank W Lodger M W 46 M1 7 Missouri MO VA Commercial Trader Clothing Payne, Estelle E Lodger F 2 42 M2 7 2/2 Mississippi Kentucky Georgia
    Keach, Harold G Lodger M W 13 S Tx Tx Tx
    Keach, Georgia D Lodger F W 11 S Tx Tx Tx

    1920 Census
    Oklahoma, Stephens County, Duncan
    Haycraft H.S. Head RM W 48 Missouri Missouri Missouri Truck Owner
    Haycraft, Effie Wife F W 36 M Tx Missouri Missouri
    Payne, ---Brother-in-law M W 44 Missouri Missouri Missouri Real Estate
    Payne, Clyde F Nephew M W 4 S Tx US US (Later called Payne Haycraft)

    1930 Census
    Payne, Frank Head Rent $22 M W 54 M age 1rst M 34 Mo Mo Mo Casing Oil Field Payne, Peggy J. Wife F W 40 M age 1rst M 37 Ok Ok Tx Cashier Cafe
    Ireland, Buck H. Stepson M W 19 Ok Ok Ok Waiter Cafe
    Coffey, Lavina J. Stepdaughter F W 10 Ok Ok Ok


  2. 3.  Aubrey Hamilton PayneAubrey Hamilton Payne Descendancy chart to this point (1.Olivia1) was born on 28 Mar 1877 in Shelby County, Missouri; died on 25 Nov 1954 in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas; was buried in I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas.

    Notes:

    He was living with Sarah and their two children in either Richland or Rock Creek township, Stephens Co., Oklahoma in 1910. Ref: DWL 116/Family 116

    Aubrey H. Payne, age 42, and his wife, Janie, were living in Marshall, Texas in 1919. [Payne, Walter W AFFADAVIT OF HEIRSHIP OF SAMUEL MARSHALL PAYNE WHO DIED INTESTATE]

    As of the 1930 census, the family appeared to be living in Donna Texas. The household was headed by Jennie S. Payne, age 49, divorced. Aubrey H, age 50, was listed last, and as a boarder? He was also shown as divorced.

    Aubrey married Sarah Jane Williams about 1904. Sarah was born on 22 Mar 1881 in Texas; died on 3 Aug 1964 in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas; was buried in I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 7. Sylvia Jeannette Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 14 May 1906 in Sunset, Montague County, Texas; died on 8 Jun 1991 in Bowie, Montague County, Texas; was buried on 11 Jun 1991 in Davidson Cemetery, Davidson, Tillman County, Oklahoma.
    2. 8. John Marshall Payne, Sr.  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 10 Mar 1909 in Oklahoma; died on 19 Nov 1992 in Parsons, Decatur County, Tennessee.
    3. 9. Ella Delilah Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born about 1911 in Oklahoma; died before 1922 in Oklahoma.
    4. 10. Eugene "Rusty" Russell Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 20 Sep 1914 in Davidson, Tillman County, Oklahoma; died on 2 Mar 1980 in Mazon, Grundy County, Illinois; was buried on 5 Mar 1980.
    5. 11. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  3. 4.  Samuel E. Payne Descendancy chart to this point (1.Olivia1) was born about 1879 in Texas; died about 1904 in Hardeman County, Texas.

    Notes:

    On the 1880 Cook County, Texas census, he was listed as "Billie."

    Sammy's body never grew and he died unmarried at a young age. Shortly before his death he had a good pair of riding shoes made for him which were later worn by a succession of his small nephews and nieces, ending with Lewis Payne. Sammy used to ride around on a very small pony.


  4. 5.  Marvin Walter Payne Descendancy chart to this point (1.Olivia1) was born on 17 Jan 1881 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas; died on 4 Jan 1948 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Kenneth Harvey wrote the following brief biography of Marvin Walter Payne: Marvin was named after the Methodist Bishop Marvin whom his mother particularly respected.

    Marvin was about twelve years old when his photograph was taken in a family group with his parents. This photograph survives and is in the collection of Lewis Adair Payne (1997).

    As a teenager he was out on the trail cattle herding with his father when he became very ill. Totally incapacitated he was left to lie in agony on the bedrolls in the accompanying chuck wagon. They were miles from anywhere. He later believed that the severe bouncing and bucking of the wagon as it slowly and labourously moved across the untamed countryside saved his life. Much later on it was proved that he had in fact survived a burst appendix; not a very common occurance. Most die from it. He was to say in later years that "I left my appendix on the Western Trail and the cattle walked over it."

    He worked as a cowboy and attended high school part-time until he was twenty.

    There is another photograph, this time of his high school graduation in from Quanah High School in May 1901. This shows him holding his sheepskin diploma-no "mere paper" at that time! The photograph shows five girls dressed like bridesmaids and one boy with a flower in his button hole, all students surrounding a man who is presumably the school principal. Marvin, the solitary boy (young adult), is at the rear (apparently education was not a very macho activity among the youth of the town). His younger sister Effie stands to his immediate right. Marvin read an essay to the assembled parents on "Closing Events of the Nineteenth Century." His sister Effie read an essay on "Duty." One of the other girls present was a Payne double first cousin, Lula Pearl McClanahan (daughter of Fred Lafayette McClanahan and Calla Payne). She read an essay on "Courage." Other graduating students were Bettie Carter, Cora B. Matlock, and a Miss Johnson. A long term correspondence with Miss Gabie E. Betts, later Burton (1871-?) begins after Marvin graduates from Quanah High School. Miss Gabie, as she refers to herself, used to live in Quanah where she taught in the elementary School. She was known as one of the best primary school teachers in the Panhandle. She later moved to teach at Clarendon College. She addresses Marvin in very affectionate terms--indeed as her son. The letters were saved by Grace after Marvin's death, and passed down to Mary Ann Mounts Payne.

    Marvin graduated in 1903 from the Metropolitan Business School.

    Marvin married Grace Gentry in 1907 and the young couple lived with her parents for some years in Oklahoma until they moved back to Quanah, Texas. He then worked there in a lumber company from about 1912.

    On his father's death in 1916 the family farm was mortgaged and the family divided the proceeds. Marvin fell heir to the mortgage and immediately rented it out to help pay off the mortgage . He now worked as a book-keeper for a wholesale company in Chickasha, circa. 1920, and then moved back to Duncan where he was involved in a restaurant. He didn't stay long at that and he was to become the manager of the Chickasha Cotton Oil Mill in 1921. He then lost this job when the mill was sold during the depression. The family returned to live on the farm, four miles S.W. of Marlow, on Hell Creek. Unfortunately times were very difficult and he could not keep up the payments. The family property was repossessed by the mortgage company. The local official delivering the eviction notice, in about 1937, was a friend and he was to say "Marvin I hate to do this to you." The poor man's only response was "You have to, its your job." Marvin put the papers on the kitchen table in the house and never looked at them. The whole tragic experience hit him very hard indeed and really robbed him of all subsequent motivation. They now put the family furniture in storage but could not even keep up these payments; consequently it too was all lost. To add insult to injury, some years later oil was discovered ont he farm and today (1997) there is a sign which says; "Chevron USA Inc, W.M. Payne Lease Sec 35-2N-8W."

    Grace's mother was unable to keep up payment on her own home mortgage, and sold the residence to her daughter and Marvin for a dollar. The families moved in with Mary on Spruce road. It was not long, however, before Marvin was unable to keep up those payments, and that house was lost as well. It was a bitter time. At some point the family returned to the old Marlow farmstead which they had been forced to leave, paying rent to live there. Marvin eventually went to work with a cattle auction company.

    According to Fay Payne Yeager, Thomas R. Marshall (Vice President of the United States) was a cousin of Martha Jane Marshall Payne. He stayed in the home of Marvin and Grace (Gentry) Payne while on a speaking tour of Oklahoma. He said he remembered attending family reunions with Martha when he was younger.

    M. W. Payne, Long Resident Here Dies

    Duncan Banner Monday Jan. 5, 1947 Pg. 1 Transcribed by C. R. Strong 11-29-2003

    Marvin Walter Payne, 1106 Oak, died at 10 o'clock Sunday night in a local hospital after a lengthy illness. He was a retired accountant.
    The funeral service will be held at the Beeson Grantham Funeral Home chapel at 3:30 p. m. Tuesday, with the Rev. John A Callan (sic), pastor of the First Methodist Church, and the Rev. Thurmond George, pastor of the First Baptist Church, officiating.
    Born in Gainesville, Tex., Pay ne came to Duncan in 1904 and had been a resident here for more than 40 years.
    Surviving are the widow; three sons, Chad In Berlin, Germany, Lewis Adair of Stillwater, and Marvin W. jr., Duncan; one daughter, Mrs. Bob Thompson, Pampa, Tex;, one brother, Aubry (sic) H., Muleshoe, Tex; and five grandchildren.
    Pallbearers are Rich Edwards, Bill Boydston, J. B. McLendon, Leroy Tucker, Oscar Young, J. D. Walker, Leonard Bumpas, and H. C. Allen.

    Marvin Payne is Buried in Marlow From an unidentified Duncan, OK newspaper, dated 1948

    Death took a longtime resident of Stephens County this week after he had been ill for many years. Marvin Walter Payne died in a Duncan Hospital Sunday night. He had lived in Duncan and vicinity most of the time since 1904 and will be remembered as the manager of the Duncan Cotton Oil Mill, a position which he held for many years. Payne was born in Gainsville, Texas. When he was a child, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Payne, moved to Quannah, Texas, where they owned one of the big ranches in that part of the country. Payne was reared and educated in Quannah. He came to Duncan as a young man. He married Grace Ellen Gentry of Arthur in 1907.

    He was in Chickasha for many years where he was connected with the Chickasha Cotton Oil Mill. In the early thirties he became ill and moved back to the old homeplace northwest of Duncan. He is survived by his widow and his four children, Chad who is now stationed with the Army in Berlin, Germany; Lewis Adair, Stillwater; Marvin W. Jr., Duncan, and Mrs Bob Thompson, Pampa, Texas. Funeral Services were held at the Beeson-Grantham Funeral chapel on Tuesday afternoon with the Rev. John A Callan of the First Methodist Church and the Rev. Thurmond George of the First Baptist Church officiating. He was buried in the Marlow Cemetery.

    NOTE No Headstone in Marlow Cemetery, but known to be in Sect 10 Blk 10 (Lot 5?), Believed to be b.1-17-1881 d. 1-4-1948

    (Research):World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
    Name: Marvin Walter Payne
    City: Chickasha
    County: Grady
    State: Oklahoma
    Birth Date: 17 Jan 1881
    Race: White
    Roll: 1851777
    DraftBoard: 1
    Age: 37
    Occupation: Book keeper
    Employer: J.D. Turner & Co., Chickasha, Grady Co. OK
    Nearest relative: Grace Payne, Chickasha, Grady Co. OK
    Height/Build: ------
    Color of Eyes/Hair: Brown/Brown

    Census Information:

    1930 census Stephens Co. OK King Twp., ED 69-7
    Sheet 13B 511 So. 8th (?)
    217/233
    Payne, Marvin W., MW 49 M 26 TX MO MO
    Payne, Grace, wife FW 41 M 18 TX TN WV
    Payne, Chadwick, son MW 22 S OK TX TX
    Payne, Mary, dau. FW 17 S OK TX TX
    Payne, Lewis, son MW 16 OK TX TX
    Payne, Marvin, Jr., son MW 4 9/12 S OK TX TX

    They owned their home, with a value of $2000, and owned a radio as well.

    (Courtesy of Lynell Cordell)

    Marvin married Grace Ellen Gentry on 22 Jan 1907 in Stephens County, Oklahoma. Grace (daughter of William Miller Gentry and Mary "Molly" Evelyn Mounts) was born on 3 Nov 1888 in Decatur, Wise County, Texas; died on 16 Dec 1966 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 12. Claude Chadwick Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 18 Feb 1908 in Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 3 Dec 1955 in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma; was buried in Fort Sill, Comanche County, Oklahoma.
    2. 13. Mary Olive Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 19 Sep 1912 in Marlow, Indian Territory; died on 1 May 1992 in Longview, Gregg County, Texas; was buried on 4 May 1992 in Fairview Cemetery, Pampa, Gray County, Texas.
    3. 14. Lewis Adair Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 15 Mar 1914 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 18 Aug 1998 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma.
    4. 15. Robert Anthony Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born about 1922 in Oklahoma; died about 1922 in Oklahoma.
    5. 16. Marvin Walter "Snort" Payne, Jr.  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 13 Jun 1925 in Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma; died on 23 Jul 1979 in Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma; was buried on 25 Jul 1979 in Fort Cobb, Caddo County, Oklahoma.

  5. 6.  Effie Mae Payne Descendancy chart to this point (1.Olivia1) was born in May 1883 in Texas; died about 1963; was buried in Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Effie's date of birth is given as 1883 by the Ancestral File database.

    There is another photograph, this time of his high school graduation in from Quanah High School in May 1901. This shows him holding his sheepskin diploma-no "mere paper" at that time! The photograph shows five girls dressed like bridesmaids and one boy with a flower in his button hole, all students surrounding a man who is presumably the school principal. Marvin, the solitary boy (young adult), is at the rear (apparently education was not a very macho activity among the youth of the town). His younger sister Effie stands to his immediate right. Marvin read an essay to the assembled parents on "Closing Events of the Nineteenth Century." His sister Effie read an essay on "Duty." One of the other girls present was a Payne double first cousin, Lula Pearl McClanahan (daughter of Fred Lafayette McClanahan and Calla Payne). She read an essay on "Courage."

    Effie raised the boy that her brother Frank was believed to have adopted.

    She never had any other children.

    The Comanche Reflex
    Comanche, I. T.
    (Comanche, Stephens County, Oklahoma)
    Friday, August 11, 1905
    MISSES ADA MCCALLAHAN and EFFIE PAYNE of Duncan were in the city. Miss McCallahan has been elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of MISS FANNY BAKER.

    Effie married Hugh S. Haycraft on 18 Jul 1909 in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma. Hugh was born in 1878 in Missouri; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 17. Living  Descendancy chart to this point


Generation: 3

  1. 7.  Sylvia Jeannette PayneSylvia Jeannette Payne Descendancy chart to this point (3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 14 May 1906 in Sunset, Montague County, Texas; died on 8 Jun 1991 in Bowie, Montague County, Texas; was buried on 11 Jun 1991 in Davidson Cemetery, Davidson, Tillman County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Email from Rick Payne [rapayne@frii.com] to Charles Strong (cstrong832@aol.com) on 10/17/2002:

    BIOGRAPHICAL TEXT: I was told that Sylvia Couch worked as a telephone operator in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma before and for a little while after she married. She was a strong Christian woman and taught sunday school at church most of her adult life. She was Southern Baptist. She was a farmer/rancher's wife. From 1921 to 1948-49 her father Aubrey Payne lived with her. She never had any children because she and Woodrow were cousins. When she died, she left everything she had to her nieces and nephews. She was a good a decent woman with no real vices. James Avery Couch gave Woodrow & Sylvia the 1/2 acre in Donna, Texas when he and Sylvia were married. It was a real small house. Then after Woodrow and Sylvia went back to Davidson, Oklahoma circa 1932. Sylvia moved to the Couch Farm once owned by her father-in-law. In March James Avery Couch, Woodrow's father died and left him the family farm. In September of 1934 he had to sell the place to pay off debt. They moved back to Hidalgo County. Sylvia and Woodrow had to sell the Couch Family farm in Davidson Oklahoma to pay off bills, so they rented a farm in south Texas in the Rio Grande Valley in the general area of Edinburg and Donna, they would live here until 1939. Near the end of 1939 or very early 1940, Sylvia and her husband Woodrow Wilson Couch moved to a farm in Bailey County Texas, near the city of Muleshoe, in West Texas. Life was very good for them here. They stayed in this area 25 years. In 1952 Woodrow Wilson Couch was elected as a Bailey County Commissioner. They left the county in 1965, going to Clairette, Erath County, Texas. Woodrow was in the Democratic Party when he was a County Commissioner. Clairette, on State Highway 6 some fifteen miles southeast of Stephenville in southeastern Erath County, was established when the Texas Central Railroad was constructed through the area in the early 1880s. The community was named for a popular brand of soap. In 1940 it had 275 residents, five businesses, several churches, and a post office. Changes in agriculture and transportation patterns subsequently reduced the town's prosperity. From 1968 until 1990 its population was estimated at fifty-five. The 1984 county highway map showed a church, a community hall, and three businesses at Clairette. It is due south of Fort Worth. It was here that Sylvia and Woodrow purchased a ranch in 1965. She resided in Sunset, Montague County, Texas 1966. She died in the hospital: Bowie Memorial Hospital of Acute Myocardial Infarction according to Dr. H.Lorain Evans, M.D. Like so many others in our family she is buried in Davidson, Oklahoma at the Davidson cemetery, her funeral was handled by: Burgess-Fry Funeral Home of 201 West Walnut Street in Bowie, Texas. June 11, 1991. She was 85 years old. She was a grand lady and a good person. You would have liked her.

    Sylvia married Woodrow Wilson Couch on 18 May 1928 in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas. Woodrow was born on 9 Aug 1910 in Oklahoma; died on 14 Sep 1972 in Bowie, Montague County, Texas; was buried in Davidson Cemetery, Davidson, Tillman County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 8.  John Marshall Payne, Sr. Descendancy chart to this point (3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 10 Mar 1909 in Oklahoma; died on 19 Nov 1992 in Parsons, Decatur County, Tennessee.

    Notes:

    Sylvia Payne Hudson (chudson@marktwain.net) emailed Charles Strong on 14 August 2002 that "(John) Marshall Payne...was married to ?? they had three children; Betty Payne Brown, John Payne, and Robert Payne. Betty lives in Egypt with her husband, I think John is in Tenn. and Robert (Bobby) died in Tenn. about 8 or 10 years ago. All of them have children, probably in Tenn. Uncle John died a couple of years after Bobby. He had married a woman named Lois from Tenn. when the children were small, and not too long after his first wife passed."

    John married Amanda Belle Bond on 21 May 1930 in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas. Amanda was born on 2 Jul 1909 in Missouri; died on 11 Oct 1936 in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 18. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 19. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 20. Robert Marcus Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 13 Feb 1934 in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas; died about Nov 1993.

    John married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  3. 9.  Ella Delilah Payne Descendancy chart to this point (3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born about 1911 in Oklahoma; died before 1922 in Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Lynell Cordell notes that Ella Payne & brother Jean Payne...(she thinks)...are enumerated together in the 1930 Federal Census in Stephens County, Oklahoma, King Township, ED 69-5, Sheet 7B


  4. 10.  Eugene "Rusty" Russell PayneEugene "Rusty" Russell Payne Descendancy chart to this point (3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 20 Sep 1914 in Davidson, Tillman County, Oklahoma; died on 2 Mar 1980 in Mazon, Grundy County, Illinois; was buried on 5 Mar 1980.

    Eugene married Joanna Devries about 1937. Joanna was born on 2 May 1914 in Parkersburg, Butler County, Iowa; died on 1 Jun 2004 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 21. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 22. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 23. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 24. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Eugene married Marjorie Rees Clark after 1940. Marjorie (daughter of Frederick Lake Clark and Marjorie Ella Rees) was born on 12 Jul 1922 in Coudersport, Potter County, Pennsylvania; died on 20 Feb 1989 in Oklahoma; was buried in Springfield, Greene County, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 25. Jacqueline G. Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 3 Apr 1942 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, California; died on 10 Nov 2007 in Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming; was buried in Glenrock Cemetery, Converse County, Wyoming.
    2. 26. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 27. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 28. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    5. 29. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    6. 30. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    7. 31. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  5. 11.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

  6. 12.  Claude Chadwick Payne Descendancy chart to this point (5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 18 Feb 1908 in Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 3 Dec 1955 in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma; was buried in Fort Sill, Comanche County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    He was born near the County Line of Stephens and Carter counties, Oklahoma.

    An infancy photograph taken at Cobb's Studio in Quanah, Texas, circa 1910 which suggests that Chad, as he was known, was born there? however the 1920 census gives Oklahoma as place of birth. Photograph is in the possession of Lewis Adair Payne (1997).

    He was named Claude after his father, Marvin's, great life-long friend Claude Holcombe, who lived in Quanah, TX.

    He is not in the Payne/Gentry family reunion photograph of 1927, when he would have been nineteen, because ... could he have already joined the army?

    Military Discharge recorded in Stephens County Courthouse Book 22, page 287. Not viewed.

    His marriage probably occured before July 21st. 1936 as entered above as his younger brother, Lewis Adair Payne, "lunched at Chad's and Lois's [while in Duncan]. Place certainly run down, don't believe I could live there any more."4 on that date.

    Worked for OTASCO in Guthrie c. 1939. 5

    1955 ? "M-Sgt. C.C. Payne
    Full military funeral services for M-Sgt. Chadwick C. Payne, 47, of 1907 Ash, will be held at 10:30 Tuesday in the new Post Chapel at Fort Sill with Chaplain (1st Lt.) Charlie W. Hargrave and Rev. Russell T. Rauscher, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal church, officiating. Burial will be in Fort Sill cemetery with Becker Funeral home in charge. Sgt. Payne, a captain in the reserve, died at 3 p.m. Saturday at the family home apparently of a heart attack. He had just been released from the hospital on a 24 hour pass at the time of his death."6

    1998 ? Lewis Adair Payne, 84, ... ... ... died died Tuesday, 18 Aug. 1998, at Stillwater Medical Center [OK] .... ... ... He was predeceased by two brothers, Claude Chadwick Payne and Marvin Walter Payne and one sister Mary Olive Thompson. Survivors include his wife of fifty-five years, Lunora; two daughters; Robin White of Joplin, Mo and Penny Harvey of Glencoe, OK; and his two grand-sons Bracken White of San Francisco, Ca and Gentry White of Columbia, Mo and grand-daughter Anne Marie Busse of Joplin, Mo. ... ... ...7

    Claude married Lois Macel Reed on 24 Dec 1935 in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Lois was born on 30 Jan 1917 in Gage, Ellis County, Oklahoma; died on 17 Oct 2004 in Jefferson City, Cole County, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 32. Maj. Claude Chadwick Payne, Jr.  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 14 Feb 1937 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 9 Feb 2008 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried in Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma.
    2. 33. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  7. 13.  Mary Olive PayneMary Olive Payne Descendancy chart to this point (5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 19 Sep 1912 in Marlow, Indian Territory; died on 1 May 1992 in Longview, Gregg County, Texas; was buried on 4 May 1992 in Fairview Cemetery, Pampa, Gray County, Texas.

    Mary married Robert Andrew Thompson about 1941. Robert was born on 30 Oct 1897; died on 4 Mar 1986 in Burnet County, Texas; was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Pampa, Gray County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 34. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 35. Robert Daniel Thompson  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 29 Jan 1944 in Pampa, Gray County, Texas; died about 1947 in Pampa, Gray County, Texas; was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Pampa, Gray County, Texas.

  8. 14.  Lewis Adair Payne Descendancy chart to this point (5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 15 Mar 1914 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 18 Aug 1998 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Lewis was named after David Lewis Adair who was dating a fellow resident of his parent's rented house (corner of 10th and Main, Duncan, OK.). David was so pleased when he was told falsely by the girl that the new baby was being named after him that he purchased a pair of shoes for the child. The gift was gratefully accepted. The name was probably shortened as there was a David L. Payne well known in Oklahoma history (a Yankee captain boomer involved in scandal).

    1932 - Attended Ardmore High School.

    1933 - In January, he moved to Lefors, Texas, to live with his aunt Pearl for the rest of the academic year. He went to the local High School. He was described on arrival as coming "from Ardmore with a fine [report] card." He immediately became a reporter on the school newspaper 'The Pirate' and gained a schoolwide reputation as a poet and orator.

    1934-Graduated from Duncan High School.

    1936-8 Began a daily journal which he was to regularly write up for one year. Went to work with a Tulsa barnstormer, Earl Field, and learned aircraft engines on the job. He earned about five dollars a week. He was living with his parents in Duncan.

    1940 - Ground Instructor's Certificate # 41961-40 issued 10th October 1940.

    1941-- Started teaching at Oklahoma A & M College. Aircraft mechanics certificates #M-64172-41 issued 7 April 1941

    1943-45 Aircraft Maintenance Supervisor for Government Flight School, Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 1945, Lewis, his wife Lunora, and their oldest daughter, Robin were living at 511 Hester Street.

    1945-46 Self employed, buying and selling surplus wartime aircraft. In the June 7, 1998 Stillwater NewsPress, Steve Clark wrote that for a short time right after World War II, Stillwater had its own "air force...the warplanes-475 bombers and fighters began arriving at Searcy Field in 1945 to be parked until the government could figure out how to dispose of them...All 475 planes were bought by one man: Paul Mantz, the famous air racer and movie stunt pilot who died in the 1960s during the filming of THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX....Mantz paid $55,426 for the whole batch, making most, if not all of his money back by draining the planes's fuel tanks and selling the thousands of gallons of 100-octane gasoline. He kept 12 of the warbirds for himself...Most of the leftovers were sold to a scrap dealer from Wichita, though a few others escaped destructions..." Lewis Payne purchased one of the seven P-51 Mustangs in partnership with another man. At some stage his partner crashed and was killed. Lewis turned his share to the insurance money over to the grateful widow...In 1988 there are 51 of these aircraft still flying and each is worth about hald a million dollars.

    1946-Pilot certificate #466435 issued on 19 March 1946

    1946-1950 Instructor aircraft mechanic

    1950-1952 Quality Control Inspector for Convair Aircraft, Fort Worth, Texas.

    1952-61 Aircraft electrical shop supervisor, Arabian-American Oil Company, Saudi Arabia.

    1961-1964 Started a retail liquor business in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This was not a success in a town where few people drank.

    1964-1965 Downtown Airport, Oklahoma City.

    1965-1968 Engineer for Philco-Ford Corporation, Fort Benning; Seychelles; Green Hill; Thailand; Vung Tau, Vietnam.

    1968- Maintenance Supervisor, Swan Rubber Company, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

    1970-1971 Field Engineer with Philco Ford, worked in Taiwan (9 months) and Iran (6 months) erecting still towers.

    Obituary

    "Lewis Adair Payne, 84 was a longtime breeder of Arabian horses in addition to being an aircraft mechanic. He was also a retired expatriate engineer.

    He died Tuesday, 18 August 1998, at Stillwater Medical Center. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Strode Funeral Home. Private intermment and service will be at a later time in Duncan.

    Payne was born March 15, 1914, in Duncan, to Marvin Walter Payne and Grace Ellen Gentry; both the children of Oklahoma Pioneers. He married Lunora McWethy in 1943. She is the daughter of William Meade McWethy and Ethel Arretha Phenis both formerly of Stillwater.

    In the last 37 years of his life, Lewis devoted himself to the breeding of Arabian horses in the Stillwater area. His objective was achieve classical perfection in both body type and movement. His artist's eye later resulted in national recognition from a minority interested in the preservation breeding of this fine horse-celebrated by the 4th century B.C. Greeks in the marble statuary of the Parthenon frieze. At considerable cost to him he did not allow the untutored requirements of the market to damage the historic bloodlines of his horses. For a long time he stood alone.

    Originally an aircraft mechanic in the later barnstorming days, Lewis was to instruct students in aircraft maintenance for the National Defense Training School during WWII at Searcy Field, the Stillwater airport. From there he spent nine years with his young family in Saudi Arabia working for Aramco. He later became an engineer for Philco-Ford with whom he worked all over the world.

    He was a man who expanded his formal university classes with very extensive reading and travel. He last journeyed around the world at the age of 80. His curiousity was wide and his interests were cosmopolitan.

    He was predeceased by two brothers, Claude Chadwick Payne and Marvin Walter Payne and one sister, Mary Olive Thompson. Survivors include his wife of fifty-two years, Lunora; two daughters; Robin White of Joplin, Missouri and Penny Harvey of Glencoe, OK; and two grandsons Bracken White of San Francisco, CA and Gentry White of Columbia, MO and grand-daughter Anne Marie Busse of Joplin, Mo.

    Memorials may be made to the Stillwater Airport Memorial Museum."

    Lewis's ashes were buried on a hill, under an oak tree, with a view of Hell Creek below. The burial site was on the land his grandfather Sam homesteaded and where he himself grew up during his teenage years. There was a brief informal religious ceremony conducted by son-in-law Tom White. Afterwords a picnic was served at the East Wing of the Stephens County Fairgrounds.

    (The above is courtesy of Kenneth and Penny Harvey)

    Lewis married Lunora McWethy on 8 May 1943 in Pawnee, Pawnee County, Oklahoma. Lunora (daughter of William Meade McWethy and Ethel Arretha Phenis) was born on 10 Feb 1911 in Lorena, Beaver County, Oklahoma; died on 8 Mar 1999 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 36. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 37. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  9. 15.  Robert Anthony Payne Descendancy chart to this point (5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born about 1922 in Oklahoma; died about 1922 in Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Stillborn. Not listed by his mother in her listing of her four surviving children, hence exact date unknown.


  10. 16.  Marvin Walter "Snort" Payne, Jr. Descendancy chart to this point (5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 13 Jun 1925 in Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma; died on 23 Jul 1979 in Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma; was buried on 25 Jul 1979 in Fort Cobb, Caddo County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Known as "Snort" from the noise he used to make as a baby when feeding.

    He was a teacher in Cushing, Oklahoma for a long time. He read widely. Marvin later had a job working with the Indian community.

    He liked Pow wows and "good" music. His favorite cigarette was Camel, cigar White Owl, drink Gin, sport football, and his favorite authors were the poets Byron and Whitman.

    He was 54 when he died. The funeral services were held at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Andarko. His pall bearers were Joe Mayfield, Oral Jackson, Glenn Payne, Ed Monasco, Windell Haley and Homer Strong.

    Marvin married Willadine "Deana" Myers on 29 Jan 1950 in Apache, Caddo County, Oklahoma. Willadine was born on 28 Jul 1926 in Oklahoma; died on 28 Nov 1993 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 38. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 39. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 40. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 41. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    5. 42. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    6. 43. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    7. 44. Lynn Rebecca Myers Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 7 Feb 1962 in Elkhart, Morton County, Kansas; died in Feb 2021.

  11. 17.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (6.Effie2, 1.Olivia1)


Generation: 4

  1. 18.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (8.John3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 19.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (8.John3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 45. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 46. John Marshall Payne, III  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 12 Sep 1979; died on 1 Jul 1999.

  3. 20.  Robert Marcus Payne Descendancy chart to this point (8.John3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 13 Feb 1934 in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas; died about Nov 1993.

    Notes:

    According to Sylvia Hudson, he was married to Shirley and they had three children. Diane, Robert Marcus, Jr, and ?.


  4. 21.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 47. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 48. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 49. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 50. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    5. 51. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  5. 22.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

  6. 23.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

  7. 24.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

  8. 25.  Jacqueline G. Payne Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 3 Apr 1942 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, California; died on 10 Nov 2007 in Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming; was buried in Glenrock Cemetery, Converse County, Wyoming.

    Notes:

    Jackie G. Adamson McQueary, 65, she died at home in the company of her family, closest friends and two beloved pets, on Nov. 10, 2007, after a courageous battle with lung cancer.

    She was born on April 3, 1942 in Van Nuys, Calif., the daughter of Eugene Russell Payne and Marjorie Reese Clark Payne.

    She lived in many different places growing up. The oldest of seven children, she helped raise her younger sisters and brothers. In Neosho, Mo., in 1960, she met Harold Ralph Adamson.

    They were married in December 1960 and had two children. They owned a ranch outside Goodman, Mo., until 1978. At that time they moved to Redlands, Calif., until 1991. In time she felt the need to be closer to her grandchildren, and relocated to Fort Collins, Colo.

    Her husband died in Fort Collins in 1995.

    In 1997, she married Patrick Lane McQueary. They moved to Casper in 1998, where she lived until her death.

    She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife, and sister but mostly a mentor and friend to all.

    She was always joyful and full of life. She had a great sense of humor, was extremely witty with her words, she had incredible amounts of spunk. Dancing was a great passion. She was an excellent seamstress, she loved to cook and bake.

    She made the very best blackberry cobbler in the world, she loved yellow roses, and a good Scotch whiskey.

    She is survived by: her husband, Patrick Lane McQueary of Mills; her daughter, Denise L. Adamson-Weakland and husband of Mills; her son, Terry L. Adamson and wife of Calhan, Colo., her sisters, Sylvia Hudson of Bethel, Mo., Connie Givens of Springfield, Mo., and Angel Sue Swartz of Verona, Ill.; her brothers, Andy R. Payne of Bartlesville, Okla., Richard A. Payne of Denver and Mickey Joe Payne of Woodlake, Calif., three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

    She was preceded in death by her parents and her first husband.

    Interment at the Glenrock Cemetery .


    Burial::
    Glenrock Cemetery
    Converse County
    Wyoming, USA

    Source:

    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=2196918&GRid=22900779&CScnty=3123&

    Jacqueline married Harold Ralph Adamson, Jr. on 31 Dec 1960 in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri. Harold was born on 26 Feb 1936 in Kansas; died on 18 Jun 1995 in Ft. Collins, Larimer County, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 52. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 53. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Jacqueline married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  9. 26.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 54. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 55. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 56. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 57. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  10. 27.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 58. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 59. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  11. 28.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 60. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 61. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 62. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  12. 29.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

  13. 30.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 63. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 64. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 65. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    4. 66. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  14. 31.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (10.Eugene3, 3.Aubrey2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 67. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 68. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  15. 32.  Maj. Claude Chadwick Payne, Jr. Descendancy chart to this point (12.Claude3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 14 Feb 1937 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 9 Feb 2008 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried in Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma.

    Notes:

    Obituary
    The Duncan Banner online edition
    Published on February 12, 2008

    Feb. 14, 1937 -Feb. 9, 2008

    Retired Maj. Chad C. Payne, 70, of Duncan, died Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, in his home with his family after a lengthy illness.Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Heritage Oaks Church of the Nazarene with the Rev. Bobby Howard officiating. Interment with military honors will be at 1 p.m. in Fort Sill Post Cemetery under direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.

    Mr. Payne was born Feb. 14, 1937, in Duncan, to Chad C. Payne Sr. and Lois Reed Payne. He graduated from Lawton High School in 1955 and from Cameron University in 1957. He then attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1960. He married Pat Tompkins on Dec. 31, 1957, in Burkburnett, Texas.He served two tours of duty in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, flying helicopter gunships. He was awarded the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medal with 49 clusters, the Purple Heart, and Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

    Mr. Payne was director of the Delta Elderly Nutrition Program serving Stephens and McClain counties for 31 years.He was a very talented Western artist and enjoyed painting, classical music and gun collecting.

    Survivors include his wife, Pat of the home; two sons and a daughter-in-law: Scott and Michelle Payne of Duncan, and Richard Payne of San Francisco, Calif.; a sister, Rosemary Merriman of Florida; six grandchildren: Leslie Majors, Sydney Payne and Lyndsey Payne, all of Duncan, Kale Payne of Norman, Blake Payne of Fort Drum, N.Y., and Candice Payne of Edmond; and two great-grandchildren: Chase and Hunter Majors of Duncan.

    He was preceded in death by his parents.Bearers will be members of the military.Honorary bearers will be Jim Busby, Tom Cooper, Bob Crissman, Pete Iglesias, Mike Klinker, Kirby Spain, Bill Stribling, Johnnie Sweeten and Early Watkins.Memorial contributions may be made to Fresenius Dialysis Medical Center, 4516 SE Lee Blvd., Lawton, OK 73501.Online condolences may be made at www.granthamfuneralhomes.com .


    The following biography was written by Ken Harvey:

    Duncan veteran pioneered air mobility idea in Vietnam.

    Mention Vietnam, and the image most people conjure up is one of human tragedy. The conflict left enough gaps in the populace to cover a whole wall in Washington, to say nothing of the lingering effects veterans suffer from; injuries, disease, post-traumatic stress syndrome, chemical dependency, Agent Orange and, disturbingly, neglect. It was, after all, a defeat that most Americans would sooner forget.

    But today we turn to Chad Payne for a slightly different picture-that of the Vietnam veteran as a pioneer in the air mobility concept. In 1971, W.E. Butterworth wrote in his book "Flying Army" that 'the war in Vietnam, whatever else it has cost, has given the United States Army a capability in mobility by air. Without the unprecedented maneuverability of the Airmobile Division, the Vietnam conflict would have gone much worse for the United States than it did,' Butterworth said.

    Payne, now project director for Delta Nutrition in Duncan, was an Army pilot when helicopters came of age. He watched them outgrow their role of flying ambulance to become gunships, transports for cargo and personnel, and flying cranes for the retrieval of downed aircraft.

    To appreciate the strides in aviation that came out of Vietnam requires some understanding of what went before. Military aviation dates back to the Civil War, when Thaddeus Lowe sent up his balloons for observation purposes.

    The next stage in the development of aviation is represented by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division and dogfights between World War I fighter planes with dual machine guns synchronized to fire between spinning propeller blades.

    Fast-forward to World War II. The Army Air Forces were created by Congress on June 20, 1941, but there were growing pains as the Air Force asserted its independence. The need for Army-owned, Army-controlled light aircraft responsive to the needs of ground forces became evident, and the Grasshoppers were born. These served as observation posts for directing artillery fire or as taxis for couriers.

    Meanwhile, Russian-born Igor Sigorsky, who had shelved his idea of a helicopter in 1910 until technology had progressed enough to cope with the many problems posed by rotary-wing aircraft, decided in the 1930s that the time was ripe. By 1939, his VS-300 could stay aloft for two minutes. Two years' worth of modifications expanded that limit to 1 hour, 32 minutes, 26.1 seconds.

    Others turned their minds to the problem (Stanley Hiller, Frank Piasecki and Larry Bell). During the Korean conflict, however, helicopters were used for little more than the medical evacuation purposes shown on "M*A*S*H.

    Then came Vietnam.

    The first people sent by President John F. Kennedy were special forces people and advisers. Helicopters made their appearance there in December 1961 with the Piasecki H- 21, a 20-passenger transport helicopter first acquired by the Army one month after the Korean armistice.

    In response to a wish list known as the revised Military Characteristics for a Utility Helicopter of 1959, Bell Aircraft Co. produced the HU-1A, standing for Helicopter, Utility, Model 1, Modification A. The Army called it the Iroquois, but to Payne and his contemporaries it was simply the "Huey."

    Brought to Vietnam by way of the Utility Tactical Transport Company in Okinawa, the Huey was the first turbine-powered helicopter produced in the United States.

    "All of a sudden we had a relatively compact aircraft that was easy to maintain and speedier," Payne said.

    In 1960, the same year that the 82nd Airborne Division began receiving them, the Rogers Board decided to put the helicopters into a more active combat role. In those days technical representatives from Bell Helicopter were in daily contact with the pilots, who used to get certificates from Bell saying that they were among the first to fly this new craft.

    It was on Dec. 11, 1961, that the 57th Transportation Co. from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 8th Transportation Co. from Fort Bragg, N.C., docked in Saigon. Aircraft were being used to transport troops in combat.

    In 1962, Lt. Gen. Hamilton H. Howze, then the 18th Airborne Corps commander, was designated to set up a board to study combat mobility concentrated in the helicopter. Payne, who was going through flight school at the time the Rogers Board was in session, was by this time with the Aviation Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, which was part of the 18th Airborne Corps.

    With a speed amazing to those who were observing the situation, the Howze Board cut through the usual bureaucratic red tape. Its recommendations were to proceed full steam ahead on the whole idea of Army Aviation and begin a divisional level troop test immediately.

    After Utility Tactical Transport a Company got shot up by the Viet Cong in the initial gunship clash in January 1963, Payne saw the Army begin to replace Huey A's with B's in May-June 1963. The A's had a 550-hp engine. The B's initially had a 960-hp engine, but later it was beefed up to 1100 hp with a few modifications. The engine weighed 595 pounds and could be changed in the field in 30 minutes. It also had blades that could chop through trees to get into tight places; the old H-21 had had wooden blades.

    "The aircraft was designed to work on, to fly, to use," Payne said.

    It was still designed for "med evac, but it could hold a command control console for controlling a whole operation; haul cargo and troops into combat; broadcast messages or drop leaflets for propaganda purposes; and then there was Payne's favorite use: by mounting guns and rockets on it, the helicopter became a fighter bomber.

    When his superiors learned he had flown H-21s in flight school and had 500 hours of flight time in Hueys, Payne was sent to the 33rd Transportation Co. at Bien Hoa.

    "We began to concentrate on implementing the concepts initially spawned by the Rogers Board and tested by the Howze Board," Payne said.

    The 33rd Transportation Co. became the 118th Aviation Co., and by the end of September, they were all flying the Huey B model. There were two platoons of 'slicks' used as cargo/personnel transports and armed with machine guns in the doors. There was one platoon of gunships equipped with machine guns and rockets. Payne ended up as an instructor pilot of the gunship platoon. His job was to make sure everyone was current in the M-6 weapons system, which consisted of four machine guns on a flexible mount that could be aimed by the co-pilot.

    "We wanted more firepower, so we came up with a jury-rigged rocket system. We scrounged and stole parts from various places and had to do our own wiring. I spent a lot of time down at UTT learning to build and employ weapons systems because that was the only gunship company in the world."

    "We ended up with a rocket system which we bolted to the gun mount. It held 16 rockets. if one was hot, you were stuck with it. The rocket tube would blow up. Sometimes it would cause damage, sometimes not. You never knew what might happen when you hit the trigger. You might end up in a rice paddy running from your helicopter 'cause it was about to explode."

    In November 1963 Payne was on the way to mess hall when he heard that the president had been shot in Dallas. Coming as it did one month after the Vietnamese overthrow in which they used a barricade of tanks to keep the U.S. troops from interfering, it gave him a strange feeling to be in a foreign country and hear of Kennedy's assassination.

    Activity picked up in December. A co-pilot, Lynn Rothenbuhler of Fort Wayne, Ind., was killed instantly by a single bullet that month. Within a week, two gunships from UTT were lost. Both pilots had been Payne's friends back in the 82nd Aviation Battalion. A complete crew was lost on one. The other was shot down in the Mekong, and only two survivors were pulled from the water. For the rest of Payne's tour, the 118th Aviation Co. operated all over the country from Camau in the south to Quang Ngai in the north.

    Gunships generally flew in pairs for protection, but Payne's was the exception. Col. Kenneth D. Mertel liked to fly in a gunship, and he wanted to fly with an instructor pilot.

    "We used to get into some hellacious gunfights. If we'd ever been knocked down, we would have been MIA because there was nobody to pick us up," Payne said.

    Payne returned to the States in May 1964 to the next development in air mobility, the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning, Ga. After a three-month-long field problem in which he went up against his alma mater, he was sent as part of a mission to help settle problems in the Dominican Republic. He spent the first anniversary of his return from Vietnam in the Dominican Republic, musing that he had hardly seen his family since he had been back.

    Payne was one of only 300 who could wear the 11th Air Assault badge on his right shoulder to indicate combat. The next thing he knew, he was hearing a speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson that the 11th Air Assault had been redesignated as the 1st Cavalry and was going to Vietnam. Payne was soon told he didn't have to go unless he wanted.

    The reason was that he had already had two combat tours within a year. Having returned in May 1964 from one tour of duty in Vietnam, he was sent with the 11th Air Assault to quell problems in the Dominican Republic and spent the first anniversary of his return there, wondering when he would ever get to see his family.

    Payne spent one month training new members of the Ist Cavalry, checking people and getting them ready for Vietnam. Then he went to Fort Rucker, Ala., where he became a gunnery instructor. (Fort Sill had been home to the Army Aviation School until August 1954, when it was relocated to Fort Rucker because the other combat arms of the Army objected to the prospect of artillery dominating what was obviously going to be a function of the Army as a whole, according to W.E. Butterworth in his 1971 book "Flying Army").

    There was no gunnery program when he arrived, so Payne had to write the gunnery familiarization program. He remembers that as 18 months of relative peace and time with my family "also, some of the best duty I ever pulled in the Army."

    In 1967, when he left Fort Rucker Army Aviation was producing 600 pilots a month. That contrasts with 22 new pilots turned out the month of his graduation seven years earlier. The Army's helicopter program was at this time only 19 years old.

    In '67 it was back to Vietnam for another tour. Payne was initially assigned to the 9th Infantry Division and three months later to the 120th Aviation Co., which operated out of Hotel 3 on the Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Saigon.

    "We lived downtown in a villa, had maids to wash our clothes and shine our boots, great restaurants to eat in, and no shortage of Viet Cong." he said.

    Again he ended up with the gunship Platoon, dubbed the Razorbacks by their original platoon leader, who had attended the University of Arkansas. Payne was with them from September 1967 throughout the remainder of his second tour.

    By this time, the Army had a C 8 model Huey which was 20 knots faster than the B model, but they seemed to be everywhere else but with the Razorbacks, which still had the B's and the M-16 weapons system.

    The Tet offensive, the biggest battle of the war, came in January 1968. Payne's unit was off-duty when they got a call saying the embassy was under attack. He was one of five people in a jeep headed for Tan Son Nhut when they took a bullet through the windshield. It came out the middle of the jeep, but miraculously, no one was hit. Payne said he had a bad feeling, nevertheless.

    "Nobody could fire. We were working over the city. Nobody could shoot into the city," he said.

    Aircraft were drawing some tracer fire off the runway and Payne flew down Highway 1 across the end of the runway.

    "As I turned, the assault on Tan Son Nhut started right under me, They must have thought I was a 'slick' 'cause they never paid any attention to me," he said.

    He dumped 48 rockets on an enemy regiment that was on line, advancing on Tan Son Nhut.

    They broke the initial assault but the VC did not give up. His team went back to the airfield to re-arm, then took off again for the west end of the runway, but the enemy was waiting for them. They hit the machine gun, and the man stationed there caught part of the fire through the web between his forefinger and thumb. It smashed the gun, and he wrapped a handkerchief around the wound.

    "Whole sections of Saigon were destroyed during that fight," Payne said. There was nowhere else to go; every major city was under attack. His craft took 39 hits in about 12 seconds on one pass, and nearly everyone aboard but himself was nicked.

    They were still receiving fire as they approached the heliport. Even at a hover, the enemy seemed about to overrun them. They took cover under a revetment so they could rearm their aircraft. Payne said he had 26 men in his platoon, enough to man four helicopters.

    "That was the only time in my life I knew I was going to die," he said. "Obviously, I was in error."

    Payne said they took off down their own flight line and he was about to hit the firing button when he got the call that the Viet Cong were falling back. The 3/4 Cavalry of 25th Infantry Division set up a defensive perimeter around the heliport so that they had a secure place to rearm and refuel.

    "The movies are correct. The cavalry does come to the rescue. They felt like we'd rescued them, we felt like they'd rescued us."

    "In the first 12 hours of the Tet offensive, all 9 aircraft of the Razorback platoon were shot up beyond local repairs and were replaced by rebuilt Huey B's flown in from Corpus Christi, Texas. We slapped weapons systems on 'em. They were intended for 1st. Cavalry, but they ended up with us. They decided the capital (of South Vietnam) was more important," Payne said.

    Just prior to dawn that morning, they got a call from Capital Military District asking them to check out the Cholon district of Saigon. By this time, there were fires all over Saigon and smoke was building up.

    The Razorbacks caught a lot of ground fire on their way over. From the air they could see jeeps turned up on their sides and the bodies of children and civilians sprawled out. They were irked to see, in the midst of the havoc, a senior officer's Bachelor Officer Quarters where a poolside party was in progress, and the officers' Vietnamese girlfriends waving up to them.

    "That was the first night of the Tet offensive. We ended up firing into Saigon a whole lot. We chased them into the countryside ... The fighting went on into April," Payne said.

    In late April, they got word of a second offensive in the making. Somewhere along the line, Payne had been promoted to major, and he had orders to leave for home May 14. So far, he had been lucky.

    Then, in the Giadinh area of Saigon, in the middle of the night, about the first of May, he was hit for the first time. He watched a little flash down below him, and felt his knee come up and hit him in the chin. The bullet had come through the chin bubble of the helicopter and some of the heavier metal pieces. Part of the jacket hit him on the little finger. He thought the finger had been shot off, but it was just a metal fragment stuck into it that came out quite easily.

    The real wound was on the back of his thigh. "I still have the bullet in my leg. Nice little memento, but I can't show it to anybody," he said.

    Payne felt the impact, but went back for another pass. When he landed, a litter was fetched, but he was walking around and didn't want to get on it because he felt if he did it would be giving up.

    "I made it through almost two years of flying gunships before I got wounded. I think that's a record," Payne said.

    He left as the May offensive was scaling down, and got out of the Army in 1971, but by that time the gunships he had helped pioneer were accepted by the Army and the rest of the world. (1)

    Military Discharge recorded in Stephens County Courthouse Book 21, page 93. Not viewed. Chad was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his military service.

    2000 Chad Payne's former gunship door gunner is a Hollywood screenwriter and movie producer now. He told Chad he keeps writing him into some of his characters. He evidently rounded out the Col. Kilgore character in "Apocalypse Now" using Chad as his model. Apparently that's the character that famously said "I love the smell of napalm in the morning". Chad claims he finds that scary, but I don't think there is much that would scare the same Chad.(2)

    The book "Seven Firefights in Vietnam" records Chad Payne's Vietnam experiences in greater detail.

    Chad is becoming quite a successful Western artist now. His prints are selling like hot cakes. He is really very good indeed. A serious western artist in his spare time.(3)


    (1). Mitch Meador, Mitch (1993) Duncan veteran pioneered air mobility idea in Vietnam. The Sunday Constitution newspaper, January 10, 1993 - Duncan Oklahoma (2). Harvey, Kenneth Charles (1996) (3). Payne, Lewis Adair (1996) Conversation with Kenneth Charles Harvey

    Claude married Patricia Ann Tompkins on 31 Dec 1957 in Burkburnett, Wichita County, Texas. Patricia was born on 26 Jan 1941 in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma; died on 15 Jun 2012 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried on 20 Jun 2012 in Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 69. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 70. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  16. 33.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (12.Claude3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 71. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 72. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 73. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  17. 34.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (13.Mary3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 74. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 75. Christy Ferrell  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 10 Jul 1970 in Bexar County, Texas; died on 16 Jul 1970 in Bexar County, Texas.
    3. 76. Brent Andrew Ferrell  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 20 May 1971 in Webb County, Texas; died on 21 May 1971 in Bexar County, Texas.
    4. 77. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  18. 35.  Robert Daniel Thompson Descendancy chart to this point (13.Mary3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 29 Jan 1944 in Pampa, Gray County, Texas; died about 1947 in Pampa, Gray County, Texas; was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Pampa, Gray County, Texas.

    Notes:

    Known as Danny or Danny-boy.

    PAMPA-Traffic Accident Fatal for Child

    Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon for Robert D. Thompson, 3 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Thompson, who was killed at 12:25 Tuesday afternoon in the streets of Pampa. This was the first traffic fatality in the city of Pampa this year. Services will be held in the First Baptist Church in Pampa with the Rev. E. Douglas Carver, pastor the church, officiating. Burial will be in the Fairview cemetery with the Duenkel-Carmichael funeral home in charge of the arrangements. Officers reported that the small child was playing about 50 yards from his home and ran from behind a parked car into the path of an automobile driven by J.B. Massa, co-owner of the Soft Water Service Company. The child died instantly. Attending physicians reported that the young boy died of a skull fracture. The child is survived by his parents; one sister, Dorothy; grandparents, Mrs. A.P. Thompson of Breckenridge, and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin W. Payne, Duncan, Oklahoma; uncles Fred Thompson, former mayor of Pampa, and Fritz Thompson of Borger. (Unidentified clipping from 1947)


  19. 36.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (14.Lewis3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 78. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 79. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 80. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  20. 37.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (14.Lewis3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  21. 38.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 81. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 82. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 83. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  22. 39.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 84. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 85. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  23. 40.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 86. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 87. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 88. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 89. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  24. 41.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 90. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 91. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 92. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  25. 42.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 93. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 94. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 95. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 96. Ciera R. Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 24 Apr 1996; died on 26 Aug 2005 in Caddo County, Oklahoma.
    2. 97. Keelie M. Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 23 Jan 1998; died on 26 Aug 2005 in Caddo County, Oklahoma.
    3. 98. Tye A. Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 27 Apr 2000; died on 26 Aug 2005 in Caddo County, Oklahoma.

  26. 43.  Living Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1)

    Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 99. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 100. John Robert Payne  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 27 Jun 1984 in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma; died on 28 Mar 2003 in Booker, Lipscomb County, Texas.
    3. 101. Living  Descendancy chart to this point

  27. 44.  Lynn Rebecca Myers Payne Descendancy chart to this point (16.Marvin3, 5.Marvin2, 1.Olivia1) was born on 7 Feb 1962 in Elkhart, Morton County, Kansas; died in Feb 2021.

    Notes:

    Has some family papers.

    Lynn married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 102. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    2. 103. Living  Descendancy chart to this point
    3. 104. Living  Descendancy chart to this point