Horace Payne obituary (published sometime in 1924) Harrisonburg--Rockingham's only centenarian and one of the oldest residents of Virginia, Horace Payne, aged 105 years, was laid to rest at Singers Glen, in the county where his entire life was spent. Payne died at the home of a niece. Spending his last years in a rather out-of-the- way part of the county and living a secluded life, few persons aside from those in the immediate neighborhood knew of the very remarkable man. Records produced by relatives, however, show that Payne was born in 1819. For many years, Payne and his mother conducted a tavern near the foot of the Alleghany Mountains on one of the leading routes to the West. Later he turned to farming and tilled the soil until advanced age forced him to give it up. Payne's mother, married when she was 15 years of age, came to Rockingham from East Virginia. She lived to be nearly 100 years old. Of the family of twelve children, two now survive. They are, Mrs. John Wenger of Dayton, and Henry Payne of Waynesboro. Horace Payne was a brother of my great great grandfather, William Hank Payne, who married Susanna Margaret Heltzel of Hardy Co. They settled near Hillsboro in Pocahontas Co. ------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Kevin Thompson katatty@socket.net USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material AND permission is obtained from the CONTRIBUTOR of the file. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation.