Oliver Hazard Payne (July 21, 1839 – June 27, 1917) was an American businessman, organizer of the

American Tobacco The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

trust, and assisted with the formation of

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

, and was affiliated with

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

Early life

Oliver Hazard Payne was born on July 21, 1839, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. He was the son of Henry B. Payne, a businessman,

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, and Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Perry) Payne, who was a member of the Perry family. He was named for Oliver Hazard Perry. He was the uncle of William Payne Whitney and Harry Payne Whitney. He was also the uncle of Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton. Payne was educated at the

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

in Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1859. He attended Yale University, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

Career

In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Payne enlisted in the Union Army. By 1863, he was colonel of the

124th Ohio Infantry The 124th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 124th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 124th OVI) was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 124th Ohio Infantry was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, and mus ...

. He was Brevetted Brigadier General March 13, 1865. Payne began his career shortly after the war, investing in iron and then oil refining. His oil interests were the first acquired by

, and he became a trustee of that firm. He was charged with bribing members of the Ohio Legislature to attain a Senate seat for his father (before the U.S. Senate was directly elected), and with bribing the Democratic Party to name his brother-in-law United States Secretary of the Navy, though the charges were dropped.

Personal life

Payne was a yachtsman and built the steam yacht ''Aphrodite'' in 1898. ''Aphrodite'' was one of the finest yachts of the time with Payne making a round the world cruise aboard and took the yacht to Europe every summer from 1908 until outbreak of war in 1914 limited his cruises to American waters. Payne died at his home, 852

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

in New York City, on June 27, 1917. He was buried at Lake View Cemetery in

.; His estate was valued at in excess of $32,000,000. His estate at Esopus, New York, known as the

Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate is a historic estate, also known as Omega and Wiltwick, located on the west bank of the Hudson River at Esopus in Ulster County, New York, United States. The estate features a Beaux Arts-style Mediterranean pa ...

, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is now the home of Marist College's Raymond A. Rich Institute for Leadership Development.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Oliver Hazard 1839 births 1917 deaths People from Esopus, New York Union Army colonels People of Ohio in the American Civil War Burials at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland