These are my grandma's grandparents on their wedding day in La Mars, Iowa in 1880.
Willard Tabor Payne was born in Williamstown, Vermont on August 13, 1849. His family moved west when he was three, eventually ending up in Mankato, Minnesota. A branch of the Payne family still lives in that area.
I don't know what led him to La Mars, Iowa, but assume that was where he met my great-great-grandmother, Lydia Ella Burgess, who had been born in La Mars on November 29, 1857. Their daughter, Ethel Caroline--future motherof Merle and my own great-grandmother, was born in La Mars on April 11, 1882.
Shortly thereafter, Willard returned with his family to in St. Paul, Minnesota. The family moved west from St. Paul to Tacoma, Washington in 1891, following close on the heels of the first direct rail link between Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest.
Willard and Lydia built a home in Tacoma and lived out the rest of their lives there.
Willard died September 19, 1917 in Tacoma. His wife, Lydia, died July 20, 1920.
