LoisBauman wrote: "I am really excited over this discovery as My grand father Mentle whitney named my dad Berniece but it was supposed to be Burnice and I do know that there was a Whitney Payne connection in the family but I did not know how.  I know that Mentle was born in NY state also but do not know where..." There is apparently more than one Whitney-Payne connection: William Collins Whitney and his wife Flora Payne Whitney were part of the gilded age "400" of New York 'high' society. Whitney was Secretary of the Navy under Grover Cleveland (and father-in-law to Gertrude Vanderbilt). According to the Swansburg (or "Swansberg?") biography of Whitney and his daughter, Dorothy Whitney Straight ("Whitney Father, Whitney Heiress" -- published in the middle/late 1970s, Scribner & Sons I think), his line goes to Nathaniel-2, John-1 & Elinor. Flora Payne was the daughter of a political figure, I believe from Ohio. Whitney's father was Joseph Scolly (or Scully) Whitney, but I have no idea what the links between Joseph and Nathaniel were. Hope this helps someone avoid confusion (or at least doesn't heap on any additional confusion) :) Merry