The following obituary appeared in the Chenango [Co., NY] American on May 23, 1895: H.D. Payne, son of Delos and Pamelia [Permelia] A. Payne, was born March 23, 1858, at Greene, NY, and died May 11, 1895. Mr. Payne spent a large portion of his early life at the home of his early childhood in Greene. A few years since while on business in New York City, he was nearly suffocated with gas in his room, at a hotel; he was pronounced dead by his physicians, but after five hours work over him he was restored to consciousness. The effects of the gas and the terrible ordeal through which he passed by their efforts to restore him from which he never fully recovered, causing a complication of difficulties that has finally terminated in death. During the last nine years when his health would permit he has been more than an ordinary successful commercial traveler, having traveled over a large portion of the United States, and was anticipating in the near future, if he recovered his health, to travel through Europe. His father lost his life in the Great War of the Rebellion. His younger and only brother perished at the Brooklyn theatre in 1876. He leaves a sorrowing wife, one daughter and a mother to mourn his loss, besides numerous relatives. But they do not mourn as those without hope; they feel fully assured that his loss is their eternal gain. His remains were borne to our beautiful cemetery [Sylvan Lawn] at Greene by loving friends and laid to rest near the side of his brother, where he will await the final resurrection.