Benjamin Coleman Payne
b. 3 January 1796, Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, to William B. and Ellenor (Coleman) Payne
d. 21 February 1886, Boone, Boone County, Iowa

m. 4 December 1823, Cumberland County, Maryland
Maria Bryan/Bryant
b. Maryland
d. 1840, Clay County, Indiana

Children with Maria Bryan/Bryant:
• William Benjamin
• James Robert
• Maria
• Mary
• Thomas
• Cornelia

Benjamin arrived in Indiana in 1831 from Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. He lived near Poland in Clay County until 1852 when he sold his land and moved his family to Boone County, Iowa. He engaged in a mercantile business and kept a tavern while clearing land for another farm.

As a youth, Benjamin worked as a hosteler at a hotel in Dumfries. When Robert Fulton wanted to test the power of steam propelling vessels on water, he met Benjamin, the hosteler, and invited him to be his guest on the trial trip to Alexandria.

Submitted by:
Lorraine Van Dolah
Wichita KS