Finding Aid to the John Meem Payne Recollections of Lynchburg

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
JOHN MEEM PAYNE (1840-1934) RECOLLECTIONS OF LYNCHBURG
The Recollections consist of MEEM's reminiscences about Lynchburg before the Civil
War, particularly about where businesses were located and where people lived.
JOHN MEEM PAYNE (1840-1934)
John Meem PAYNE, son of Dr. Robert Spotswood PAYNE and Frances A. R.
MEEM, was born 11 November 1840 in Lynchburg, Virginia. [R. A. Brock, Virginia and
Virginians, Vol. II (Richmond: H. H. Hardesty, 1888), pp. 583-584; 1850 Census, Campbell County, VA,
National Archives and Records Service, M-432, Roll 938, p. 125.]

PAYNE attended the University of Virginia from 1858 until 1861 and was a member
of the Southern Guard, a student company at the University. During the Civil War, he
served as ordnance officer in Richmond, Virginia. He was promoted to Captain in 1863
and ordered to report to Company K of the 48th Regiment, Virginia Infantry. He never
served in this regiment as he was "declared unfit for duty." From March 1863 until
January 1865, he served at Wilmington, North Carolina, "overseeing the importation and
distribution of ord[nance] material." He was later assigned to Greensboro, North
Carolina, where he was paroled on 26 April 1865. [John D. Chapla, 48th Virginia Infantry
(Lynchburg: H. E. Howard, 1989), p. 145.]

John Meem PAYNE married 2 December 1863 in Montgomery County, Virginia,
Elizabeth Allen LANGHORNE, daughter of John Archer LANGHORNE and Margaret
KENT. [Brock, Virginia and Virginians, loc.cit.]
A resident of Amherst County, Virginia, John Meem PAYNE was a lawyer and also
served as Commissioner of Accounts for a number of years. He died 16 May 1934 and
was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Lynchburg. [Obituary, Lynchburg News, 17 May
1934, p. 9 col. 1.]

MS1767