This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Payne, Driskell, Herrmann, Van Buskirk, Schmidt Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.pettis/3506/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I am searching for more information regarding Belle Driskell and Charles E. Payne. The were married 13 Nov 1881 in Pettis County, Missouri. On the 1880 census for Pettis County, Belle Driskell was living with another family that was not related to her. In my family files, I have a Charles E. Payne married to Sophia Gertrude Herrmann on 14 Sep 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri. I have the 1900 St. Louis City, Missouri census. It indicated that Charles and Sophia were married 2 years. They had 3 sons living with them in 1900. Sophia was born in Germany 15 May 1880. She had a son named Morgan Thomas Payne who as born 16 Jul 1899. The other 2 sons were not hers. The names of the 2 other sons were: Arthur A. Payne b. May 1888 in Missouri and Frank R. Payne who was born 1893 in Missouri. The payne descendants of Morgan Thomas Payne ( and his biological siblings) say Frank R. Payne was really Frank Charles Payne and was the only son that Charles E. Payne had before he married Sophia Herrmann. They even say that Frank moved to California sometime after 1900 and place his birth to have been in the 1880s. There are discrepancies. What I have found so far does not match up to what the've told me. I think their research is incor! rect to a certain degree. They also indicate that charles E. Payne died 14 Apr 1904. I have not found any death record on the Missouri state archives that matches this. I know the archives are incomplete, but are continuously updated. Other siblings of Morgan Thomas Payne are: Laura Mae Payne b. 3 Nov 1900, William Otto Payne b. 27 Apr 1902, and Sophia Gertrude Payne born 2 Oct 1903. William Otto Payne married Lois Grace Van Buskirk. Laura Mae Payne married John Edward Shires. Morgan Thomas Payne married Dorothy Miller. The 1900 census indicated that Charles E. Payne was born Oct 1851 in the state of Ohio. I checked the 1880 census and came up with the closest match. I found a Charles Payne who's parents were: John Payne and Jane Day of Licking County, Ohio. Again, I am not sure. No one in the Payne family of Missouri knows who the parents of Charles E. Payne were. Sophia Gertrude Herrmann's parents were: Otto Herrmann and Barbara Schmidt. This family were immigrants and have records at Elise Island. Any information regarding Charles E. Payne, Belle Driskell ( if she is the mother of Arthur A. Payne and Frank R. Payne), and Sophia Gertrude Herrmann would be most helpful. Any one a descendant of Arthur A. Payne and Frank R. Payne that can solve this mistery of their father Charles E. Payne? Rebecca Smith