William Winter Payne (Congressional Biographical Dictionary)

PAYNE, William Winter, a Representative from Alabama; born at “Granville,” near Warrenton, Fauquier County, Va., January 2, 1807; completed preparatory studies; studied law but never practiced; moved to Franklin County, Ala., in 1825 and engaged in planting; member of the State house of representatives in 1831; moved to Sumter County, Ala.; again a member of the State house of representatives 1834-1838 and in 1840; unsuccessful candidate for the State senate in 1839; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1847); chairman, Committee on Elections (Twenty-eighth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1846 to the Thirtieth Congress; returned to Virginia in 1847 and engaged in planting near Warrenton; chairman of the Democratic State convention in 1859; died in Warrenton, Va., September 2, 1874; interment in the City Cemetery.