Adeline M. (Mrs. Wm. Pierce) Payne (1834-1923)

PAYNE

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 4/22/2024 at 08:42:02

From the Roland Record, Roland, Story County, Iowa, June 14, 1923.

NEVADA WOMAN DIES PEACEFULLY

Pioneer Woman of Nevada, Former Instructor and Write for Newspaper and Welfare Work, Passed Away on June First

Mrs. Adeline M. Payne, widow of the late Wm. Pierce Payne of Nevada, passed away at her home, peacefully on June 1, at the ripe old age of 88 years. Her death was not the result of any recognized ailment but of the infirmities of old age. She had been failing rapidly but the end was not expected so soon, but dying so quietly she escaped the lingering nearness of death as so many old people experience.

Mrs. Payne was born in Jefferson county, New York, on November 12, 1834, she and her husband being born and reared in the same community. They were united in marriage on January 16, 1859. Their married life extended over a period of 62 years in association with one another, Mr. Payne having died October 21, 1921. The first years of their married life were spent at Lynn, Massachusetts, and here their only son, Wm. O. Payne, was born. After fifteen years living in the states of Massachusetts and New York they removed to Iowa in 1874, coming to Mitchellville, remaining there one year. They came to Nevada, and here they have for the most part made their home since.

She leaves to mourn her death her only son, W. O. Payne, his wife and daughter, and a sister in Pennsylvania and other relatives.

In the first half of her life she was more or less habitually a teacher and in the latter half of her life she was a promoter of the public welfare in various ways. At the age of fourteen she received her certificate and started teaching and attended the last meeting of the Nevada Women's club only a few weeks before she died. This covers a period of seventy-four years and these years were exceedingly well put in. She was a graduate of the New York Normal School at Albany and when she died she was probably its oldest living graduate. After her marriage she also continued her teaching, assisting her husband in the Nevada schools, and also taught in other schools.

This was the preparation for her work in the newspaper work, welfare and club work which were the activities of her later years. In 1882 her husband purchased the Nevada Representative and in this work she was most helpful, writing for the p0aper and later writing columns under the title of "Words for Busy Women." It is believed that the women profited by this, many of the readers having been her pupils in the Nevada high school.

When she was in her sixties she took a trip to Puget Sound and from there a cruise up the coast to Alaska. The children know, many people of the community know and several over the state also know that she was a remarkable woman. She worked for the things that were worth while and from that she had her enjoyment of life. She with her husband celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in the Nevada Public Library for which they were responsible for the erection, as they were the pushers of this project. They also celebrated their sixtieth anniversary, but this was a more quiet affair, due to their advanced years.

She was laid to rest beside her husband in the beautiful cemetery at Nevada. She was gowned in her wedding dress that had been resurrected for her sixtieth wedding anniversary.