Benjamin Franklin Payne Familysubmitted by: Lori Gilbert The following is just some interesting information that may be of interest in Grundy County. Perhaps someone in the county will even be interested enough to provide an entire history on the following families. Lori  Benjamin Franklin Payne was born in Georgia about 1803. He married Elizabeth Conn around 1842 and moved his family to Grundy County, Tennessee before 1850. His children are: Zebadiah C, Thomas Benton, Lucinda J [Sanders], Ann E, George Conn, Minerva E [Rogers], James Buchanan, Jesse, Jerome Franklin, William Elson and Robert L. Payne. The family appears: 1850 United States Federal Census in District 6, Grundy County, Tennessee and in 1860 in District 7, Grundy County, Tennessee The oldest son; Zebadiah C Payne was born in Missouri between 1841 and 1843. He married Louisa J Price in Grundy County, Tennessee on 21 March 1863. She was the daughter of J. W. [Wilson?] and Martha Price whose family also resided in Grundy County [District 8] in the 1860 census: 1860 Grundy County, Tennessee J W Price 43 1816 North Carolina Male Martha Price 33 1826 Tennessee Female Louisa Price 16 1843 Tennessee Female George Price 11 1848 Tennessee Male Sarah Price 8 1851 Tennessee Female Louisa Price 6 1853 Tennessee Female John Price 3 1856 Tennessee Male Joseph C Price 6.12 Tennessee Male Zebadiah C. Payne may have suffered a leg wound during the Civil War and later died because his wounds would not heal; perhaps around 1863; leaving Louise J Price/Payne and an “8 year old son”. Both of the following newspapers [among many others] carry articles on this family; especially as they may pertain to the history of our country and the part Grundy County holds in this history: The Morning News Review from Florence, South Carolina ; 25 December, 1926 Newark American Tribune from Newark, Ohio; 29 Dec, 1926 The Washington Post; 22 January 1911 Zebadiah and Louisa Payne had a son referring to himself as: McCager W Payne. [Records also indicate his name as derivatives of: Macjah Cazun Payne.] He and his half-sister Laura Ida Elizabeth Booth claim their mother Louisa J Price Payne married John W Booth in Franklin County, Tennessee after the death of her first husband Zebadiah. They also believed the Booth their mother married was the same John Wilkes Booth that killed Abraham Lincoln in 1865, but that he escaped death in Garrett’s Barn, and a Confederate soldier was in his place. Newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts from that time are confusing and contradictory, and only add to the mystery. Huge amounts of information remain concerning a conspiracy and possible escape of John Wilkes Booth, and the controversy will continue. Perhaps he did marry a Grundy County woman, and left her before the birth of their daughter Laura, to hide out in Indian Territory, Texas and finally Oklahoma. Perhaps Grundy County did have a woman by the name of Louisa J. Price Payne Booth, who lived out her days in Grundy County, well aware of the part her second husband played in the history of America. |