Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of John B. PAYNE, M. D. ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material 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 pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 362 JOHN B. PAYNE, M. D. It is reported that the great Galen once boasted: "I have done as much for medicine as Trojan did for the Roman Empire in building bridges and roads throughout Italy," thus emphasizing with the greatest then-known marvels of accomplishment his own benefactions to humanity. Yet, in the light of modern medical science, how little Galen really did and how radi- cally incorrect, remarkable as they were proved many of his theories and conclusions. To the members of the medi- cal profession the early teachers will ever continue great, but a physician or surgeon of the present day whose pro- fessional knowledge is not vastly broader, higher and deeper, could not lay much stress upon his equipment for his calling. Dr. John B. Payne kept fully abreast of the marvelous developments in the profession, his training was long and thorough and he was engaged in practice for twenty-six years. Doctor Payne was born at Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia. December 31, 1871, a son of Frank E. and Virginia (Simon) Payne, the former a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, and the latter of Barbour County, West Virginia. Frank E. Payne was an agriculturist by occupa- tion and a man of some prominence in his community, where he was held in the highest esteem. He and his worthy wife were the parents of eight children, six sons and two daughters, whom they reared on the farm and brought up to lives of industry and integrity. John B. Payne obtained a good common school educa- tion, and taught in the rural schools two years. As a stu- dent, first in the Fairmont State Normal School and later in the West Virginia University, his literary education, preparatory to that of medicine, was completed. He finished the prescribed course in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1896. For the following six and one-half years he was successfully en- gaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Lumber- port, Harrison County, whence he removed to Clarksburg in the fall of 1902. While engaged in practice there he occupied well-appointed offices in the Union Bank Build- ing. In 1906 Doctor Payne took a postgraduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore. Soon after locating at Clarksburg, where his reputation had preceded him, he secured a desirable practice, and long held rank among the leading physicians and surgeons of the city. He became an active and valued member of the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He belonged to the staff of St. Mary's Hospital, Clarks- burg. In the fall of 1922 Doctor Payne retired and moved to Washington, D. C., to his thirty-six-acre "city farm," which will be his future home. For eighteen years Doctor Payne has been a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and for three years of the Independent Order of Foresters. He is a state officer in the latter fraternity, being a High Court Physician and has also represented his state in the Supreme Court of Foresters at Toronto, Canada. In his political allegiance he supports stanchly the candidates and ideals of the democratic organization. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Doctor Payne has been twice married. In 1896 Miss Sallie Corpening became his wife. She died in 1911, leav- ing a son and a daughter: John Edward, a graduate of medicine from the University of Maryland in June, 1922; and Virginia, who graduated in the same month from Millersburg (Kentucky) Female College. In 1912 Doctor Payne was united in marriage with Miss Eulainne Strove, and to this union there have come four children: Dorothy Jean, born in 1914; Kirby B., born in 1917; Billie F., horn in 1919; and Benjamin B., born in 1922. All the children were born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.