September 17, 2015 / Joanne Yeck

Buckingham Notables: George M. Payne, Esq.

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Ridge Above Marrs Creek, Photo by Joanne Yeck

In 1847, my ancestor, John M. Harris, and his brother, James Harris, purchased Ridge Farm on Marrs Creek from George M. Payne, who removed to Marion County, Florida, where he appears on the 1850 census.

There, John M. Harris established East Farm Female Seminary.

On October 11, 1847, at a meeting of attorneys of the Buckingham bar, practicing in the Superior and Inferior Courts of Buckingham County, the men made the following resolution:

WHEREAS, The members of this meeting have learned with deep regret, that their brother lawyer, GEORGE M. PAYNE, Esq. of this county, is about to remove from Virginia to seek a new home in the South; and being unwilling that the ties that have bound them together for so many years in peace and brotherly love shall be dissolved without some manifestation, on their part, of the regret they individually feel on the occasion of separating from one whose worth of character has ever commanded their confidence and esteem, or without tendering to him their hearty good wishes for his prosperity, distinction and happiness on the new theatre which he is about to enter:

Therefore, Resolved, That the members of this meeting will part with George M. Payne, Esq. with deep regret and sorrow.

Their statement went on at length listing complimentary comments from the members of the Buckingham bar and was signed by Payne’s “sincere friends” – Francis N. Watkins, Jno. W. Haskins, and Thos. S. Bocock.