In the excerpt below from my grandfather's (George William "Billy" Malcom) memoirs, is "Uncle Lon", embellished with the title of "Indian Commissioner".  I have looked all over but I cannot find an Indian Commissioner by the name of Alonzo Payne.  That does mean it doesn't exist; I just haven't found it. "Uncle Lon" is found often passing through my Grandfather's memories which take place in western Iowa, just a bridge and a ferry away from the western Indian reservations in Nebraska and the Dakota Territories.  "Lon" is always mentioned in connection with supplying cattle and horses to the Indians the reservations. Remember, too, that rail service by 1869 ran smoothly all the away across Illinois, Iowa and to Grand Island and Fort Kearney, Nebraska.  I feel quite sure that Alonzo dabbled frequently in the livestock supply business during those time after the Civil war until he retired to Pekin, Illinios as a merchant.  Because of his expertise as a horse soldier, he may have joined the many speculators who gathered and drove cattle to reservations, and were paid well for it by the government.

Also, remember that before and during the the war Joseph Malcom, his father, Horatio, and his brother had been engaged in the wagon supply business across the western plains and mountain before and during the Civil War.  How good was it to have such experience on hand in friends and relatives!

Below is an excerpt from page 5 of my Grandfather's Memoirs entitled Recollections of an Iowa Farmer. This part of his story takes pace in Pottawattamie County, IA in the winter of 1877-78 before the Joseph Malcom family moved north to Woodbury County, IA.

The following narrative  is again from Recollections of an Iowa Farmer, pgs. 25 & 26, by George William Malcom.  My grandfather, "Billy" as he was called even as an adult, later in life became a dealer in the cattle supply business and became so good at it that he was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange.  I tell you this as he had a great deal of knowledge about making money in cattle "speculation" business.

Alonzo was mentioned several other times in Billy's memoirs as he interacted with the Malcom family in Iowa and in the western territories.  For more about Billy's life, please go to the Malcom pages of this website.