Edward Payne

Grandpa Payne, who was loved by every parent and child in and around Glenwood, was found on a ladder leaning to a loft in his granary Wednesday at 1 a,m,, some few minutes after his expiration form heart failure.

He had only been slightly ill a day or so and no one expected such results. His life has been useful and an example worthy of emulation. The funeral will be conducted today at 2 p.m. from the ward house.

Richfield Reaper, Glenwood section, March 30, 1918, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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EMMA POWELL PAYNE AND EDWARD PAYNE


Edward Payne, son of John Payne and Caroline Arnold Payne was born at Warminster, England May 31, 1832. The family consisted of eight children. Edward was the second child.

At the age of five years, Edward was put to herding the crows off the growing grain at a penny a day. At the age of eleven years he was apprenticed to a gardener and received no more schooling after this age.

He worked at the St. John's Episcopal Church where the family went to worship. The Rector often talked with him about the salvation of his soul and the beauties of the church. Edward asked him why the church was not like the church he read of in the New Testament, and because the minister could not give him a satisfactory answer he became somewhat skeptical.

One day he was cleaning the headstones. The Rector had set him to work weeding around some newly marked off plots in the shady yard beside neglected headstones there--a sort of offense, you might say. Some typically unexplained whim of the very young suggested to him that they really ought to be cleaned, the moss scraped back so that the words might show. After all, hadn't someone taken the time to inscribe all those things in the rock? It was all there, so why not let it show? He was caught up and left his assignment for this whisper of discovery.

The names he uncovered made him think of the resurrection. He had learned about that from the Rector. He had always asked the Rector all about the men who taught that such a thing could happen and where they found out about it, and "Sir, are there such things today? I mean, sir, like visions and such like, and all the things that used to be?"

After awhile of this, the good Rector usually closed his eyes and evenly pronounced that such things now were of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days, that all such things had ceased with the apostles and that there would never be any more of them, and would the work around St. John's ever be done before nightfall. Young Edward leaned as heavily as a very small boy can on a headstone and for a moment was not really there, until his reverie was broken by the sound of the Rector rounding the corner of the church. Edward made for the plots.

As he obtained maturity he became restless and started out to see the world and soon found himself in the city of London seeking work, but with poor success. He got into a conversation with a roommate about religion and expressed himself as a skeptic as he could not find any church to correspond with the one the Savior organized. His roommate asked him if he had ever investigated the doctrine as taught by the Latter-day Saints or Mormons?

He replied that he had never met any of those people. "Well," said his roommate, "If you ever have the opportunity, find out what they teach, for they not only teach the doctrine of Christ but they have the authority to administer in its ordinances. I know whereof I speak for I was once a member of their church, but lost my standing through transgression; but they are the true church."

In the early part of 1854 he was working in the coal pits of Staffordshire and learning that there was a branch of the Latter-day Saints Church in the place. He attended their meeting and was convinced of the truth which they taught. He was converted with this first outdoor sermon and was baptized within a few weeks. This first sermon was preached by George Powell who later became his father-in-law. His baptism occurred the 27th of May of that year and on the 20th of June he was ordained to the office of an elder and began to labor as a missionary.

At the time Edward joined the Church he was accompanied by his brother Charles, who also joined, but did not take an active part, and after he married he drifted away from its influence and his family was never taught the gospel. Edward was left the only representative of his family in the Church, and after leaving home he never saw any other member of his family.

After joining the Church he went to live with the Powell family. Emma, the eldest daughter of that family was born March 1, 1838 at Aldridge, England and worked as a servant as opportunity afforded. Her parents joined the Church in 1850 and Emma was soon baptized. As a young girl Emma assisted her father in the singing, as he was engaged in holding open air meetings and preaching the gospel.

An intimacy grew between Edward Payne and Emma Powell which culminated in their marriage September 15, 1854. The following nine years they spent in the surrounding coal fields where Edward found employment. During this time four children were born to them: George, Harry, Lucy and Thomas.

During the summer of 1863 work in the coal fields was very dull, but the miners in that section were bound to their employers by contract and could not seek employment elsewhere, and could barely live on the meager salary paid them as they were only working half-time. Keeping in view their one great desire to gather to Zion, in the early fall Edward and three members of the church decided to break their contract. So they quietly held a sale of such household goods as they possessed and could spare and raised enough to pay their passage to New York, where they arrived in September.

As they landed on the wharf they were met by an agent from the Pennsylvania coal fields who was looking for miners and at once hired them to go to a place named Fallbrook, Pennsylvania to work in the mines. This was the period of the Civil War and wages in the coal fields were very good. They were able to make from six to eight dollars a day.

When Edward left England Emma and the children went to live with her parents as her father was working at the same place where her husband was employed. As soon as their employer learned that some of his men had left he was very angry and learning that Emma was living with her father notified him that he must turn her out of the house or he and his family would be turned out. The mine owner turned Emma's father out, so she went to the boss and he agreed to let her father stay at work if she would leave as he would not have any American widows living in a company house.

Emma went off to work, leaving George with her father and mother, Harry with a Latter-day Saint family and Lucy with another, and Thomas the baby she took with her. She worked with different families as a servant.

Meanwhile, Edward, in Pennsylvania studied very strict economy resolving to save his means and send for his family as soon as possible, and as a result, on Christmas day of 1863 his family arrived in New York and with them came the families of other brethren and Grandfather Powell. One of the brethren met them at the wharf and soon they were on their way to Fallbrook and to expectant husbands and fathers. All the families lived in one large room.

Elder Joseph A. Young, a son of President Brigham Young soon notified all the saints that arrangements had been made to take care of all who cared to go to Salt Lake City. But in order to do so someone would have to remain and repay the money borrowed to finance the crossing. Edward, being the younger, volunteered to remain and come the following year, on condition that Grandfather Powell would take care of his family until he joined them.

As soon as arrangements could be made, all the families who lived in the house started for Zion, leaving Edward to work in the mines. So Emma, who had taken the responsibility of bringing the family from England, again shouldered the burden of taking them to Zion. What a splendid little mother.

They were assigned to the wagon of William Coleman as follows: Grandfather George Powell and Grandmother Maria Mousley Lunn Powell, with three children, Emma with four children, Uncle James and Aunt Ann Powell Price, Emma's sister and three children, fifteen in all, with all their earthly possessions loaded on top of a part of a load of freight.

When nearly half-wayk to Utah, Thomas, the baby, nearly two years old, took sick and lingered along for two or three weeks and died August 22, 1864 as they were camped at a place called Bitter Creek. He cried for a slice of yeast bread cut from a loaf and wouldn't be comforted. He couldn't eat the food they had.

Another mound to mark the way to Zion. A week or two earlier Uncle James and Aunt Ann Price had buried a boy about the same age. Three weeks before reaching the Valley, Aunt Ann Price gave birth to a baby girl which they named Maria Rawlins in honor of our Captain. Thus there were two deaths and one birth from our wagon. Thomas died at night and Maria was born the next morning.

Grandmother Powell did not walk across the plains. She had erysipelas. After arriving in camp and making the fire of buffalo chips which we gathered as we traveled along, Grandmother was buried to her knees in the ground to take out the inflammation.

In the latter part of September, as we neared Salt Lake City, it was decided by our family to all accompany our teamster, William Coleman, to Heber City where we arrived September 20, 1864 and camped in a log school house for a day or two. At the end of that time we moved into a stable for a few days while a log room, fourteen feet square was prepared, which all three families--the Powells, the Paynes and the Prices--moved into. We later moved into a dugout or half cellar until better quarters could be obtained. On October 2, 1864 Emma gave birth to a daughter who was named Elizabeth.

Think of the faith of a woman who could leave her husband behind and walk two thousand miles in a delicate condition and give birth to a child ten days after reaching the valley, with no light and no bed except quilts laid on the floor, no doctor and no one but Grandmother for a nurse, all for the sake of the gospel.

Winter came and was very severe. The snow was six feet on the level. Grandfather Powell and Uncle James Price found some employment among the farmers. Much of our wood for winter was sagebrush which Grandfather dug out of the snow and tied into small bundles for us little fellows to carry home on our backs. On account of the stream freezing over, the flour mill could not run and there was little flour in the Valley. We were obliged to live on boiled wheat for weeks. We had salt, but no sugar nor milk to go with it, but we somehow struggled through.

Back in Pennsylvania Edward worked and saved and finally engaged to drive an ox team to Salt Lake City. He had never driven an ox team and had hardly seen one, and when he was given four yoke of oxen to yoke and hitch up he realized he had undertaken a big job, but soon he became accustomed to them and got along very well. Once on the plains they were attacked by Indians but succeeded in driving them off without any casualties.

About September of 1865 Edward reached the Valley and was met at the Wever River by Emma and he accompanied her home to Heber City. That fall Edward moved his family into a dugout where they spent the winter. The following spring he bought a city lot and during the summer built a one-room log house on it. This was their first home and they were proud to own it. In this little home their next child, Edward William was born. This was their home until the fall of 1868. In this time they had accumulated a cow, a yoke of oxen, a wagon and a small farm.

In the summer of 1868 there came a great grasshopper scourge and for days they were so thick in the air that they obscured the sun. As a result all the grain and gardens were consumed by them, so it was necessary for Edward to seek work elsewhere. After working for the Union Pacific railroad he found employment in the coal mines at Coalville, and in the fall moved his family there. While residing there the following children were born: John Henry, Margaret Ann and Charles Willard. After working in the mines for nearly six years and not getting ahead, it was decided that we move to Glenwood. So in the month of July 1874 we arrived in Glenwood where Edward bought a small farm and a house and lot.

Eldon Payne, a grandson, tells us that Edward was a fastidious man and kept his yard in immaculate order. His neighbor was not quite so full of this particular virtue and often his unattended chickens would find their way into Edward's garden. When this trespass could no longer be tolerated, Edward politely asked the erring neighbor if he might have the lend of his shotgun. The neighbor obliged and Edward calmly blasted the offenders to pieces, whereupon he graciously returned the neighbor's weapon.

During the fall of this year, through the teachings of President Brigham Young and the leaders of the Church, the United Order was organized and with Edward's usual faith in the gospel and the priesthood he turned all his earthly possessions in to the organization.

During the winters in Glenwood Edward spent a great deal of time teaching Emma to read and write as she had never had any schooling. After she learned to read she read all the church works and read so much that she almost lost her eyesight. Emma became active in the Relief Society, being first counselor and the second president. There she devoted much time to waiting on the sick and preparing the dead for burial. She worked at this for about twenty-five or thirty years.

From the knowledge Edward gained as a boy while working in a drug store he was able to act as a doctor and surgeon for many years to all this part of the country and did a great amount of good among his fellowmen. People came to him for many years and he served them free. He acted as doctor and surgeon while Emma acted as first aid and nurse.

Another grandson, Arnold Payne, tells of a man who came around with a prominent scar across his forehead. Upon inquiry into its source he said, "Why that's where Edward Payne sewed me up with a darning needle."

During the remaining years Edward took an active part in both ecclesiastical and temporal affairs of the Ward. He occupied the position of Ward Clerk for forty years, and resigned at the age of eighty three. He was school trustee for thirty five years and taught school at one time. He was postmaster for ten years, Justice of the Peace for fifteen years and clerk of the town board for twenty years. He was secretary of the irrigation company for twenty five years.

During their residence at Glenwood, the following children were born: James Heber, Emma Maria, Claude Brigham and Benjamin Franklin.

On March 27, 1918 Edward died of heart failure at the age of eighty six years. Death came to Emma at the age of eighty nine years on September 4, 1927 at Glenwood.

The following list is from our records as of May 1, 1970. All are blood descendants of Edward and Emma Payne of Glenwood, Utah.

7 Patriarchs
4 Stake Presidents
1 Temple President
1 Mission President
30 Bishops
181 Missionaries

This represents at least 362 years of missionary work plus many years of home or stake missionary work.

Albert Payne
1741 N 46 E
Provo, Utah

transcribed by Lila Thacker
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Edward Payne was the son of Caroline Arnold and John Payne.

He married Emma Powell September 16, 1864 in Dudley Port, England. They had thirteen children.

He was Born May 31, 1832, Wilshire, Eng. Came to Utah September 20, 1864, with the Joseph S. Rawlins Company. He was a High Priest. Faught in the Black Hawk War and an Indian War Veteran. His occupation was a Farmer.

Children not listed below: Thomas Payne, John Henry Payne