Below is a overall account of Alonzo Grimes Payne, his life and war record. His experience as Brigade Provost Marshall may have qualified him for appointment as a civilian Indian Agent after the Civil War in the Nebraska and Dakota Territories.
Below the narrative see the gravestone of Alonzo and Rhoda Green Payne buried at Springhill Cemetery in Danville, Illinois. You can see that Alonzo was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Danville. He was, as was the rest of his family, a prominent member of that community.
Permelia's brother, was prominent in the lives of Permelia and Joseph Malcom and their children. So much was their admiration for him that they gave their son, Charles, the middle name of "Alonzo". Both my grandfather George William (Billy) Malcom and his oldest daughter, Fanny Maud Malcom Hensler wrote about him in their family memoirs. This page is very factual but does not include the information concerning "Great Uncle Lon" and his service as "Indian Agent" on a Nebraska Indian Reservation after the Civil War near Grand Island Nebraska or the Winnebago Indian Reservation near Decatur, Nebraska. Below are excerpts from Grandpa Billy's Recollections of and Iowa Farmer and Aunt Fan's Genealogy of the Malcom Family in America, Part I written in 1954. It hardly seems possible that these memories were figments of their imagination or just simply fabricated. Both Grandpa and Aunt Fan were good story tellers but not prone to lying. However, I have not been able to substantiate their stories of "Uncle Lon". But then, I have not had time to thoroughly research the subject. NEW: Recently I found this tantalizing tidbit about great Uncle Lon that was part of a newspaper column called the Catlin Clack. This was a regular column of the Danville (Ill.) Daily News because I suspect that the town of Catlin (about 7 miles away) was too small to support their own newspaper. This column printed in the 1880s was mostly comprised of Catlin society news and hometown "goings-on". Shown below is a clipping from the July 27, 1887 edition and the writer implies that Alonzo is home in Catlin on a visit from a job where he may be "scalped" if he is not successful. Even in those days, "scalping" usually occurred west of the Missouri River.
If any who read this and have some historical facts to contribute, please contact me at:
miller.malcom.ft@gmail.com.Billy Malcom's Recollections This recollection by my Grandpa (George William Malcom) was written about the occasion of a visit to his parent's (Joseph and Permelia Malcom) home near Neola, Iowa in Pottawatomie County by his grandfather, Horatio Malcom. His brother "Charlie" is Charles Alonzo Malcom, named after his uncle. The adults were discussing the merits of moving to Woodbury County and raising cattle after a particularly hard cold winter in Neola and the death of many including children who were relatives from the recent diphtheria epidemic in in the winter of 1878/1879. "Uncle Lon" and his service on the Indian reservation are also discussed. Grandpa would have been 8 years old in the spring of 1879.
Aunt Fanny Maud Malcom Hensler's recollections. This is the story of Joseph and Permelia's meeting in Nebraska, their marriage and Aunt Fan's recollection of Captain Alonzo Payne as told to her by Permelia herself. Other records set the year of their marriage at 1868. We, today, of course know that Permelia was not a widow when she met Joseph and that indeed Tom Doyle was still alive.
At the right is the gravestone of Alonzo ► Payne and his wife Rhoda Green Payne. He was apparently a member of a local Masonic Lodge as their symbol is located between his birth and death date. This grave, along with those of other Paynes, is located in Springhill Cemetery, Danville, Illinois.
Below is a census record for the Alonzo Grimes Payne family from 1860-1900.
Alonzo Grimes Payne
Mustered in – Private
Mustered out – 1st Lt.
5th Regiment,
►►
This flag is courtesy of the National Park service flag collection. It is the storm flag flown at Fort Sumpter and measured 8 ft. X 14 ft.
Organized at
SERVICE.-Action at Putnam's Ferry, Mo., April 1, 1862. Doniphan April 4.
Pocahontas April 21. Scouting and skirmishing in Arkansas and Missouri till
June. Smithville June 17 (Cos. "D," "F" and "L"). March to Helena, Ark.,
June 26.July 14. Hill's Plantation, Cache River, July 7. At Helena, Ark.,
till May, 1863. Expedition from Helena to Clarendon August 4-17, 1862.
Clarendon August 15. Expeditlon from Helena to
Jeffersonville and Mariana September 2-6. Expedition from Clarendon to
Lawrenceville and St Charles September 11-13. Near Helena October 22.
Expedition from Helena to Arkansas Post November 16-21. Expedition from
Helena to Grenada, Miss., November 27-December 5. Moved to Snyder's Bluff,
Regiment lost during service 28 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and
5 Officers and 414 Enlisted men by disease. Total 447.