Henry C. Payne

Henry C. Payne

Henry Clay Payne (born November 23, 1843 in Ashfield , Franklin County , Massachusetts , † October 4, 1904 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician of the Republican Party . He was a member of the cabinet of US President Theodore Roosevelt as Minister of Post .

Henry Payne, who grew up in Massachusetts, graduated from Shelburne Falls Academy in 1859 . He attempted to join the Union Army during the course of the civil war , but was turned down due to his poor health. In 1863 he moved to Milwaukee , where he found a job in the textile trade.

Payne began his political career in Milwaukee County in 1872 as a member of the Young Men's Republican Club , the local youth organization of the Republican Party. He went up the hierarchy, became secretary and later chairman of the association. In 1876 he was appointed Postmaster of Milwaukee, which he remained for ten years.

In the years that followed, Payne focused on his professional career. He became president of the Wisconsin Telephone Company in 1885 , then director of the First National Bank of Milwaukee, and president of Milwaukee and Northern Railroad , Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company, and Milwaukee and Cream City Traction Company . In 1893, for his contributions to the Milwaukee tram, he was elected President of the American Street Railway Association . Later that year he served as the bankruptcy administrator for the Northern Pacific Railway .

On January 9, 1902, Henry Payne succeeded Charles Emory Smith as Postmaster General in the Roosevelt Cabinet . After the death of Mark Hanna , long-time chairman of the Republican National Committee , in February 1904, he also took over its post. However, Payne himself died in October of the same year.

Web links

• Henry C. Payne in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)

• Henry C. Payne in the database of Find a Grave (English)