Seeking descendants of Fleming Caleb PAYNE, b. 20 Jan 1854, who died between 1913 and 1920 in either Carroll or Douglas County, Georgia. Burial place is unknown. Would like to share family information. Our family called him "Uncle Cale." He was a Baptist minister and farmer and lived in the Fairplay area of Carroll County. History books list his preaching assignments in Carroll County as Bethel Baptist (1892-93), Mt. Pleasant Baptist (1892-1897), Abilene Baptist (1901), and Consolation Baptist (1912-1913). Married first to Ella Williams (in 1875) and second to Retta Exom or Elam (in 1897). Children, all with first wife, were: Charles R. Payne Robert Homer Payne m. Fannie Tyson Roxy V. Payne m. Steve Clawer William Jasper Payne m. Jewel Johnston John Payne m. Mollie Pope George Washington Payne m. (1) Lula Beatrice Noles and (2) Cora Geneva Griffis Rilla Payne m. Alton Brock Joseph J. Payne m. Birtie Freeman Some of these children are known to have lived in Douglas County. William Jasper Payne was the mayor of Douglasville in 1933. Cale was the twin brother of my great-grandfather, Joseph Joshua Payne who married Louisa Elizabeth (Lou) Boyd. Joseph and Lou are buried at Powell's Chapel in Carroll County. Here is Cale's story as we have it so far: Cale, a twin, was born Jan. 20, 1854, in Monroe County, Tennessee, to William Jasper Payne and Mary Ann (Polly) Wood(s). His parents were married Jan. 21, 1852 in Monroe County and lived in the Sweetwater area in the northeast section of the county. Mary Woods Payne was the daughter of Joel Wood(s) and Mary Sellers whose ancestors came from Pennsylvania to Tennessee in the late 1700s. Joel Wood was the son of Mary Price and the Rev. Richard Wood, a Baptist minister of some renown in Eastern Tennessee. William Jasper Payne is thought to be the son of Fleming and Evaline Payne who also lived in Monroe County until they moved to Whitfield County, Georgia, sometime before 1860. Cale had four brothers and sisters by 1860 ... an older sister, Elizabeth, b. 1852; his twin brother Joseph (listed as Joel in the 1860 Monroe census); Rachel Saphronia, b. May 1856; and James C., b. 1858. Sometime after June 1860 when the Monroe census was taken, Cale's parents moved to Carroll County. The reason being, probably, that his Woods grandparents had already moved to Carroll between 1850 and 1860. Joel Woods, Mary Payne's father, may have been gravely ill as records show his will was made in late 1860 and recorded, following his death, in October of 1860. So the Payne family move from Tennessee to Georgia was probably made between July and September of that year. Whether they intended to move here permanently is unknown, but stay they did, and settled in the Fairplay area of Carroll County. In May of 1861, Cale's father, William Jasper Payne, joined the Civil War effort, enlisting with Co. I, 19th Ga. Regt., the "Villa Rica Gold Diggers." His uncle, Joel Woods, Jr., and cousin, William Woods, also fought with this unit. Within the next year, Cale's father was gone --- the victim of a fatal bout with the measles while he was serving with the Confederate Army in Richmond, Virginia. Joel and William Woods also perished in the Civil War. Cale's father, William Jasper Payne, was buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. In the meantime, back in Carroll County, Cale's mother gave birth to another daughter, Hannah Jane, born about 1862. In 1863, Cale's mother joined the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church, which was then in Carroll County and now is in Douglas. A Nancy Jane Woods, thought to be Cale's aunt, the wife of his Uncle Nathan Woods, also may have joined a few weeks earlier. It is not known how long Mary continued her membership at this church. Cale's mother apparently was extremely poor and could not afford to keep all her children at home. So she "farmed" them out to other families. By 1870, Cale and his brother, James, were living with the Levi Turner family as farm workers, and Joseph was living with William and Elizabeth Williams. The three girls, Elizabeth, 17, Rachel, 14, and Hannah, 8, remained at home with their mother. By 1880, Cale and all his brothers and sisters were married and living in Carroll County. Elizabeth Payne married James F. Williams in 1870, Rachel Payne married James Knox Polk Richards in 1875, James C. Payne married Mary Elizabeth Pope in 1877, Joseph Joshua married Louisa Boyd in 1877, Hannah Jane Payne married James Thomas Maroney (year unknown), Cale, himself, married Ella Williams in 1875, and, perhaps assuming responsibility for his mother's welfare, provided a home for her. All the brothers and sisters lived near one another in 1880, except Rachel, who lived in Douglas County. Joseph and Cale had both followed in the footsteps of their preacher-great-grandfather, Richard Wood. But, while Cale continued in the Baptist tradition, Joseph became a circuit-riding Methodist minister. Tragically, Joseph died with typhoid fever in September of 1891, right on the heels of the death of his infant son. Gooly Ross Payne, in June of that same year. In 1895, Rachel Payne Richards' husband put her and their six children on a boat bound for Texas and they settled in Shelby County near the Louisiana border. Cale apparently missed his sister, as he is said to have been a frequent visitor in the Richards home in Texas. Rachel and James Richards' children's descendants still live there. Both Rachel and James, and several of their children, are buried at Sardis Cemetery in Shelby County. Cale's mother, Mary Payne, applied for a widow's pension and was granted one in 1895. She received $60 per year for 1895, 1896 and 1897, and was deceased by 1898. We do not know exactly when she died or where she is buried. Cale's wife, Ella, also died sometime before 1897, and his brother, James, also died in 1897. Cale remarried Retta (Henrietta) Exom or Elam. My aunt, Milie Payne White, said of Ella that she was a wonderful mother to Cale's children and treated them as if they were her own. She described Cale as a very sweet man, and very emotional. Another relative said he seemed to take all the burdens of his congregation upon his own shoulders. Whatever the case and for whatever reason, this sweet, emotional man took his own life sometime between 1913 and 1920, and Retta is shown in the 1920 census as a widow, living alone. She is thought to have died in 1935, according to Georgia death records. Cale's death shook the family badly, and no explanation of his act is known to this day. Of all the children, these final dispositions are known: ELIZABETH Payne Williams died in 1928 and is buried at Powell's Chapel Methodist Church cemetery in Carroll Co. beside her husband, James F. Williams JOSEPH JOSHUA Payne died Sept. 30, 1891 and also is buried at Powell's Chapel beside his wife, Lousa Elizabeth Boyd. FLEMING CALEB's burial place is unknown. RACHEL SAPHRONIA Payne Richards died Aug. 2, 1922, and is buried at Sardis Cemetery in Center, Texas beside her husband, James Richards. JAMES C. Payne died 23 July 1897 and is buried at Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery in Carroll Co. beside his wife, Mary Elizabeth Pope Payne Richardson. HANNAH JANE Payne Maroney died in 1911 and is buried in Etowah County, Alabama. I would love to meet descendants of Cale and his children in hopes of finding out if family stories told to them reveal anything of the family's earlier life in Tennessee. Research in this area is proving to be extremely difficult. Also would like to find out where the descendants are living and how they have fared. I will be happy to share family information from my line through Joseph Joshua Payne. Most of us are still in the Atlanta area. Thanks, Judy Fowler Kilgore Newnan, GA