His Grandaddy Decked George Washington

His Grandaddy Decked George Washington

(and lived to tell about it)

Captain John Payne
1788 - 1854

Note:  Each time I look at this picture of John Payne, it's like looking back into history.  This is a man who became a lawyer at 18, led a company of cavalry soldiers in war at 25, was at the Battle of the Thames (WITH HIS FATHER), and later a politician and county administrator.  Does this face look like the face of a man who could lead a charge into battle.......Oh yeah!

John Payne was born on February 18, 1788 in Loudon County Virginia son of Duval and Hannah Innes Brent Payne.  The family moved from Virginia to Fayette County, Kentucky in 1789.  John received his law degree  at the age of 18 from the Transalvania University in Lexington in 1806. He was admitted to the Ky. Bar in 1809. He was a Freemason.  The John Payne Lodge #245 is named in his honor.

During the War of 1812, 25 year old John Payne led a company of Kentucky Light Dragoons fromn Bracken County, Ky.  Dragoons were the “shock troops,” horse mounted soldiers armed with sabers and blunderbuss who usually led the charge into battle to intimidate the enemy.  It was his company that stopped overnight at Ft. Amanda on their way to Ft. Meigs. 

John Payne was twice married, his first wife, Eliza Sprigg, died in 1810, less than two years after their marriage and three years later he married Letitia Whiteman.  Together they had 4 children; Duvall, (1820), Catherine (1823), Benjamin (1828) and Matilda (1832).  Duball and Catherine both died before their father. 

Leticia Whiteman Payne
1794 - 1852

In 1813, at the request of General Harrison, he organized a company of light dragoons, and joined the Regiment of Col. Johnson on 22 May 1813.  He was a presidential elector in 1836 and later retired from service as a Brigadier General of the Kentucky militia.  After the war he served as clerk of the Circuit and County courts in Bracken County, Ky. a post he held until 1851. 

John Payne's father Duval Payne

Duval Payne
1764 - 1830

John’s father had served as Kentucky State Senator from 1807-1811, and was a presidential elector in 1813, 1817, and 1825. He  was tall, with dark and piercing eyes and had a very commanding personal appearance.  A section of his obituary reads:

On the 21^st. Ult. At his residence in Mason county, Ky. Colonel DUVAL PAYNE in the 6^th year of his age.  His father was Mr. William Payne, a very respectable, high minded and honorable gentleman of Fairfax county, Virginia, the same who (as related by Ramsey in his Life of Washington) once, on a sudden quarrel in the Court House yard in Alexandria, struck General (then Colonel) Washington to the ground. 

Another story recounts this:

William Payne is a famous footnote in history. He is noted as the man who knocked George Washington to the ground with his hickory stick after an insult. Washington, after recovering from the blow, forgave Payne admitting he was in the wrong.  While on a visit to Mount Vernon with his son Duval Payne, George Washington introduced William and his son to his wife Martha Washington. Washington said, "...here is the little

man who had the courage to knock me down in the court house yard in Alexandria as big as I am."  

The Mount Vernon Chapter of the DAR erected a tablet in honor of the pall bearers of George Washington, one of which was William Payne.  Seems the Washington family in addition to being honest, also held no grudges.  

Letitia, John Payne’s wife died at the age of 58 at their home in Bracken County, Kentucky on Sept. 23, 1852.  John Payne died two years later at the age of sixty five on Jan. 18, 1854.  John and Letitia are buried in the Payne Cemetery near Augusta in Bracken County, Ky.  The cemetery is locatd near the intersection of Main St. and Heather Renee French Blvd.  Drive west  ¼ mile.  The cemetery is on the north side of the road. GPS:     N38°46'09.84”,W84°00’42.86

Graves of John and Letitia Payne