Oliver Hazard Payne
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Oliver Hazard Payne was born to Harry B Payne (b Hamilton, NY
10 Nov 1810; d 9 Sept 1896; married 16 Aug 1836) and Mary
Perry on 21 July 1839.in Cleveland, Ohio.
Mary Perry was the only daughter of Nathan Perry and Pauline
Shimmer. Nathan had moved to Cleveland in 1804, one year
after Ohio became a state. He became the chief rival of John
Jacob Astor in the fur trade, and later became the leading
merchant in Cleveland.
Edward Perry, a Quaker, emigrated to Sandwich, Mass around
1639.Two of his sons, tired of harassment of Quakers, moved
around 1704 to Narragansett country, near the town of
Newport, Rhode Island which had large farms which used many
slaves imported through Newport. The Church of England
enjoyed greater prestige. The impact of this gay, opulent,
slaveholding society was unfavorable to the growth of so ascetic
a sect as the Quakers, and the Perrys eventually moved into the
Anglican communion.
Freeman Perry married Mercy Hazard in 1755, the daughter of
Oliver Hazard. She inherited 300 acres in North Kingstown and
lived and died there.
The more famous of the Perry's remained in Newport.
Christopher Perry broke out of the pacifist Quaker tradition and
served in both the army and navy during the American
Revolution. His oldest son, Oliver Hazard Perry, was the victor
of the battle of Lake Erie in 1812, but died in 1819 aged 34. A
younger son, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry was a career
naval officer. Samuel Eliot Morison's biography title says it all:




Old Bruin, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, 1794 - 1858,
The American Naval Officer Who Helped Found Liberia, Hunted
Pirates in the West Indies, Practised Diplomacy with the Sultan
of Turkey And the King of the Two Sicilies; Commanded the
Gulf Squadron in the Mexican War, Promoted the Steam Navy
and the Shell Gun, and Conducted the Naval Expedition Which
Opened Japan.
Commodore Perry was instrumental in
establishing the Naval Academy and enforcing education of
naval midshipmen.
Harry Payne had come to Cleveland from Hamilton, New York,
where many of the Paynes settled .. The Payne (or Paine) family
dated back to the pilgrim days in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and
followed the time-honored route from Eastern Massachusetts to
Western Massachusetts then Albany, New York area and
eventually to the middle of New York State when that area was
opened for development. The couple had six children.
Children of Henry B Payne and Mary Perry
Nathan Perry Payne born 17 Aug 1837 at the house of his
grandfather, Nathan Perry, Jr., in Cleveland Ohio; enlisted in the
Cleveland Grays "at the outbreak of the Civil War"; engaged in
numerous commercial and mining enterprises in Mahoning and
Summit Counties of Ohio, particularly in relation to the coal
industry; councilman often from 1862 to 1872; elected Mayor of
Cleveland 1875, serving until 1877; died 12 May 1886 at
Cleveland, Ohio, two months after the death of his grandmother
Perry, whose home he shared.
Oliver Hazard Payne (b Cleveland 21 July 1839, d NYC 27June
1917) is the subject of th is essay
Flora Payne (b 25 Jan 1842 Clinton Park, Cleveland, Ohio; d 5
February 1893 in New York City) married Oliver's Yale chum,
William Collins Whitney in 1869.



Henry Wilson Payne born 7 Mar 1845 at Clinton Park, Cleveland,
Ohio; graduated Yale 1867; Columbia Law School 1870;
admitted to the Ohio bar 1870; practiced at Cleveland; went
abroad for his health and died at Mentone, France, February 8,
1878. One source says he died from injuries originally sustained
from rowing at Yale. He was commonly called Harry.
Elisha Howard Payne born 29 June 1851 at Clinton Park,
Cleveland,Ohio; died there 1 Sept 1852)
Mary Perry Payne affectionately called "Mollie" (born 9 July
1854 at Cleveland, Ohio; died West Palm Beach Florida 20 Jan
1898. married Charles William Bingham who was identified with
the business interests of Cleveland and was the head of William
Bingham Company, manufacturer and distributors of hardware,
founded by Mr. William Bingham, his father. Before going
abroad to study in Germany in 1868, she studied at Newburgh,
New York, with two or three other girls in a private home under
private tutors Mollie spent two years abroad, missing Flora's
wedding. The greater part of Mollie's time in Europe was spent
in study but she also found occasion to visit Switzerland and
just before her return home to spend some weeks in Italy.
Children of William Collins Whitney and Flora Payne
Whitney
• Leonora Whitney born circa 1870, died at birth
• Harry Payne Whitney (b NYC 29 Apr 1872; d 26 Oct 1930)
married 25 Aug 1896 Gertrude Vanderbilt. Couple had three
children: Flora, Cornelius Vanderbilt ( called "Sonny") and
Barbara
• Pauline Payne Whitney (b 21 Mar 1874; d ) in 1895 married
Almerec Paget, Baron Queenborough
•
William PaY.ne Whitney_
(b 20 March 1876 d 25 May 1927)
later known only as Payne married Helen Hay, daughter of






John Hay, Lincoln's personal secretary and biographer.
Couple had two children: John who was known as "Jock" and
Joan; Joan married Charles Payson and she was a co-
founder of the New York Mets in 1962.
• Oliver (b 1878; d Paris, France 3 Feb 1883)
• Dorothy Payne Whitney (b Washington DC 23 Jan 1887)
married Willard D Straight in Sept 1911. They founded the
New Republic magazine. After Willard's death, Dorothy
married 1925 Leonard Knight Emlund; they founded
Dartington Hall school in UK.
Children of Charles William Bingham and Mary Perry
Payne
Oliver Perry Bingham (b Cleveland 2 Dec 1877; d Palm
Beach Florida 14 Feb 1900)
William Bingham (b Cleveland 21 July 1879 )
Elizabeth Beardsley Bingham (b Cleveland 29 Sept 1881; d
??? )
married Dudley Stuart Blossom
Frances Payne Bingham (b 29 March 1885 in Cleveland
Ohio; d 9 March 1977 ) married Chester Castle Bolton
Henry ( called "Harry") Payne Bingham (b 9 Dec 1887; d
NYC 25 Mar 1955)
Click here
for further information about
Harry Bingham
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Oliver Hazard Payne grew up in comfortable circumstances
in a house on Euclid Avenue, the fashionable address in
Cleveland. He attend the local secondary school, where John
D. Rockefeller was a classmate. He completed his secondary


education at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and
entered Yale University in 1859 with the class of 1863.
Civil War Service. When the war broke out, Oliver left Yale
in October 1861, as his father had secured a commission for
him in the 64th Illinois Regiment, the "Yates Sharpshooters".
He soon advanced to the rank of captain and his company
saw action at New Madrid, Missouri (13 Mar 1863), and
Island No. 10 (9 Apr 1962 ), Farmington (9 May 1862),
Booneville, Mississippi (1 July 1862 ), and Corinth,
Mississippi. (Oct 3-4, 1862) as well as in numerous
skirmishes.
In September 1862, he became a lieutenant colonel in the
124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was promoted to Colonel
in January 1863. His regiment fought at Thompson's Station,
Tenn on March 4-5, 1863. Payne fought under General
Thomas at Chickamauga, Georgia, where Oliver was
seriously wounded on Sept 19, 1863. After a recovery of
several months, he rejoined the regiment and fought at
Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and Pickett's Mills, Georgia during
the Atlanta campaign. He may have participated at the
battle of Brown's Ferry, Tennessee on Oct 27, 1864. On
November 2, 1864 he resigned his commission, having
completed his three year enlistment.
click here
for extended treatment of Payne's war service
For Col O H Payne report of Atlanta activity
click here
Payne's Business Activities. Payne returned to Cleveland
in 1865 and started Clark, Payne
&
Company whose
principal business was refining oil. In 1872 he sold out to
John D. Rockefeller, and became principal stockholder and
treasurer of Standard Oil of Ohio, a position he retained until
he moved to New York in 1884. He continued to be a
principal owner of Standard Oil, but used his wealth to
invest in many other ventures. Among these were American
Tobacco Company, Tennessee Coal and Iron Company (which



later merged into United States Steel) and several railroads.
For a detailed description of his business activities,
click
here.
William Collins (1841 - 1904) and Flora Payne (1842 -
1893) Whitney . When Payne attended Yale, he met and
liked William Collins Whitney, a young man from Western
Massachusetts. They shared many interests, although
Whitney was not nearly at Payne's financial level. After the
war, Oliver arranged a meeting between Whitney and
Payne's favorite sister, Flora. They fell in love and married in
1869. Harry Payne gave them a town house at 74 Park
Avenue in the Murray Hill section of New York City. In 1879
Oliver Hazard Payne purchased the Stevens mansion at the
southwest corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue and gave
it to the couple. Oliver also used an apartment on the
second floor as a stopping place when he visited New York
City. William Whitney was very successful as a lawyer for
important clients like Commodore Vanderbilt and in
business, especially with the Metropolitan Railway. He built
an elaborate residence in Washington, DC, where Flora
became known for the dinners and parties she hosted. One
estimate is that during four years there, no less than 65,000
guests attended parties at the Whitneys. The couple had six
children, one of whom was
Pav.ne Whitney,_
who became one
of Oliver Payne's favorite nephews. The couple became
estranged late in their marriage, which they handled by
living in separate houses -- not too difficult as they had
houses in Lenox, Massachusetts, Bar Harbor Maine, New
York City, Washington, DC, and Aiken, South Carolina. After
Flora died in 1893, William became estranged from his
father-in-law; he always resented the common opinion that
it was Oliver's wealth which made William wealthy. In 1896
Whitney married Edith Randolph, a widow with two children.
Oliver Payne resented this marriage and Oliver and William
became estranged. Edith died in May 1899 as a result of a
fall from a horse which placed her in a coma for several




months. William Whitney spent the remainder of his life
racing horses both in Saratoga and England.
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Political Activity Oliver Hazard Payne, his father Harry B.
Payne, and William Collins Whitney were lifelong Democrats,
somewhat of an oddity in the milieu of the late 19th century
rich of New York. Harry B. Payne was a perpetual office
seeker, and Oliver helped him get elected as a
representative from Ohio for several terms. When Harry lost
re-election, he wanted to+ campaign for the Presidency, but
Oliver and William talked him out of this. Instead they
suggested he become a senator of Ohio. At that time
senators were chosen by the state legislature. Oliver Payne
was accused of sitting in a hotel room with $100,000 in cash
and meeting with the members of the state legislature one
by one, after which Harry B Payne was elected Senator. The
US Senate chose not to investigate the charges,
0
H Payne's principal activity while with Standard Oil was
relations with state and national governments -- in effect a
lobbyist for the company.
Both Republicans and Democrats were unhappy with the
scandalous state of affairs in both the state and national
governments. William C Whitney worked for Samuel Tilden
in his run for New York governor and introduced legislation
in NY State which led to the breakup of the infamous Tweed
Ring. Whitney also worked in the Tilden presidential
campaign which resulted in a victory for Rutherford Hayes.
He then encouraged Grover Cleveland to run for Governor of
New York State shortly after he had won election as Mayor
of scandal-ridden Buffalo, and acted as one of campaign
managers for the run for the Presidency. Cleveland's
reputation for honesty propelled him into the race for the
Presidency, and Harry and Oliver Payne pumped $170,000


into his election campaign -- an enormous sum at that time.
When Cleveland was elected, he wished to place Whitney,
who was one of his three closest advisors, as Secretary of
Treasury. However, this was seen as giving in to the oil
lobby, so Cleveland appointed Whitney Secretary of the
Navy. In this position Whitney did a remarkable job of
modernizing the Navy, which had remained stagnant since
the Civil War. Whitney commissioned a large number of steel
ships with modernized guns. Without his intervention, the
US would not have been able to succeed in its efforts against
Spain in Cuba and the Philippines.
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Payne's Properties. After the Civil War, Oliver Payne lived
in Cleveland until 1884, when he moved to New York City. In
1879 Oliver purchased the Stevens Mansion at 57th and
Fifth Avenue and gave it to Flora and William Clifford
Whitney. Oliver used an apartment on their second floor, but
later built a home at 852 Fifth Avenue for himself.
Oliver spent most of his later summers aboard his yacht, the
Aphrodite, then the longest steam powered yacht in the
world (330 feet), traveling to Europe and the Mediterranean
every year from 1898 until 1914, after which he confined his
sailing to United States waters. Earlier Payne had chartered
a steam yacht, the Eleanor, built by the Bath Iron Works of
Maine (recently purchased by General Dynamics, and now
concentrating on Navy high tech vessels). He was impressed
with her beauty and the fact she had traveled some 80,000
miles without needing any repairs, he felt this was the yard
to build his yacht. As a result he had Bath Iron Works build
the Aphrodite, a yacht true to her namesake, being full of
luxury and beauty! The statistics on the Aphrodite:
BIW HULL #25 APHRODITE Steam Yacht for Colonel Oliver H. Payne.
330'Iong, 35'-6"beam, 21'-3 l/2"depth, lS'draft, displacement 1,147
light ship, 1,823 full load, 1 triple expansion steam engine, 3,500




horsepower, 4 boilers, 1 stack. Launched December 1,1898, delivered
March 25,1898. With a 303'Iong deck, 260'Iong waterline, a steam
engine and 3-masted bark rig with the top of the main topmast
136'above baseline and spreading 17,000 square feet of canvas, she
was a "Sea Palace." Reached 17 knots on trials. With a complement of
56 she sailed the World Oceans for 17 years. To the United States
Navy for World War I, commissioned May 29,1917. Used for convoy
escort and patrol off Bordeaux. Struck a mine off Helgeland and
repaired. Returned to the Payne Whitney in 1919 (Oliver Payne had
willed the yacht to his nephew) and sold to Greek owners in 1928.
During the winters, Oliver stayed at a home in
Thomasville,
.
Georgia called Greenwood Plantation, and in the final years
of his life, he summered at his Hudson River estate at
EsoQus
. His New York townhouse was at 852 Fifth Avenue.
When Oliver Payne died, he left the Thomasville estate to
Payne Whitney and the Esopus estate to Harry Payne
Bingham, his two favorite nephews.
After reading this account, Payne Middleton, Payne Whitney's
granddaughter wrote (in 2002):
Oliver was angry that two years after the death of his sister, William C
Whitney remarried. At that time he told Harry Payne Whitney and his
brother, William Payne Whitney and the two sisters that he would leave his
fortune to whichever children took his side; I like to think that they
decided that two would go to Oliver and two would stay with Dad. William
Payne and a sister went with Oliver, and William Payne dropped the
William and was henceforth known as (Plain) Payne which has caused
confusion! So the house in Georgia was left to Plain Payne, who died in
1927, and subsequently to his wife, Helen Hay, daughter of Lincoln's
biographer John Hay, and not to Harry Payne Whitney who inherited
nothing from Oliver Payne but inherited from William C. Whitney
Despite this unpleasantness, Harry Payne Whitney and Payne
Whitney and their families remained friends.
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Philanthropy Payne quietly donated to many educational and
medical causes. In his will he left $500,000 to Philips Academy
at Andover, $200,000 to Hamilton College (recall the Paynes
settled in Hamilton), $200,000 to the University of Virginia, and



$1,000,000 to Yale University, which had granted him an
honorary bachelors degree in 1878. He also left $1,000,000 to
the New York Public Library.
Having been cured of a serious illness by physician Alfred
Loomis, Payne became interested in assisting the medical
profession. In 1887 he endowed the Loomis Laboratory in New
York City for teaching and research in chemistry, biology and
pathology. In 1889 he donated $500,000 to found Cornell
Medical School, and his subsequent donations to this school
totaled over $8 million. He gave New York University $150,000
for its medical school and $100,000 each to New York City's
Post-Graduate Hospital and to the University of Virginia and
Western Reserve University to establish laboratories of
experimental medicine. He also donated $1,000,000 to Lakeside
Hospital in Cleveland, $200,000 to St. Vincent's Charity Hospital
at Cleveland, and $200,000 to the Cleveland Jewish Orphan
Asylum.
The family history in 1954 contains a brief biography of Oliver Hazard
Payne:
Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne, born July 21, 1839, at Cleveland, Ohio;
received his preliminary education at Phillip's Academy, Andover,
Massachusetts; matriculated at Yale College with the class of 1863; left
college to enlist in the Union Army in October 1861; commissioned
lieutenant "First Battalion of Yates, Illinois, Sharpshoo9ters"; saw service
at New Madrid, Corinth, Farmingham and Boonesville; promoted to the
rank of colonel in command of the 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry; his
letters to his father from camp have been preserved by the family; he
emerged from the war with the rank of brigadier general, though he never
used a higher title than colonel; engaged in business in Cleveland after the
war; received degree of A.B. from Yale College in 1878; removed to New
York about 1884; noted for his integrity, sweetness of character and great
accomplishments; an ardent huntsman and interested in outdoor sports;
treasurer and director of the Standard Oil Company; director of the
American Tobacco Company; interested in philanthropic work and a
founder and contributor of the Cornell Medical School and of the New York
Public Library; died June 27, 1917.
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Burial
The Find-a-Grave website indicates that Oliver Hazard Payne is
buried in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Plot
1,Section 6, lot 235
References:
George W Lewis, The CamRaigns of the 124th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer
Infantry,
,
1912 (Available in New York Public Library)
Photo in uniform downloaded from
httR://communitY..webshots.com
Ron Chernow, Titan, the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., New York,
Random House, 1998. This is the best balanced account of Standard Oil,
because Chernow had access to the Rockefeller library in Pocantico
Hills, NY.
Obituary in New York Times 28 June 1917 and article in NY Times 7 July
1917
Aphrodite info:
httR://members.triRod.com/BIW History1Rage6.html
Private communication from Payne Middleton, Oliver's great grand niece,
via Charles Haughton
David Patrick Columbia, Family of Fortune, Quest Magazine, October
2001 , pp 78-87
Payne, Bingham, Bolton and Allied Families, Genealogical and
Biographical, issued under the Editorial Supervision of Ruth Lawrence;
New York, 1954, National Americana Publications, Inc.
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first edition 20 February 2004
reformatted with minor revisions 15 August 2010