John Barton Payne
From LoveToKnow 1911
"JOHN BARTON PAYNE (1855-), American public official, was born at Pruntytown, Va., Jan. 26 1855. He was educated at Orleans, Va., read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. He moved to West Virginia and practised law at Kingwood from 1877 to 1882, during the same period serving as chairman of the county Democratic committee. In 1882 he was elected mayor of Kingwood, and the following year went to Chicago, where he was engaged in law practice until 1893. Then he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Cook Co., Ill., but resigned after five years to resume the practice of law. In Nov. 1917 he was appointed counsel of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and also legal adviser to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. In 1918 he was appointed counsel of the DirectorGeneral of Railroads and in 1919 chairman of the U. S. Shipping Board. In Feb. 1920 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior, to succeed Franklin K. Lane, and he served to the end of President Wilson's term.
