Jennifer Marie Payne

Jennifer was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on September 10, 1969 to the Rev. John D. Payne and wife, Kay McIntosh Payne. She often spoke proudly of being an 8th generation native Louisianan descended from 18th Century French and Canadian émigrés.

When her father’s ministry took him to Wichita Falls, Texas in 1973, Jennifer became a Texan and never lived elsewhere. She was reared in Wichita Falls graduating from Notre Dame High School in 1988. She also was a 1988 Junior Forum debutante there.

She trained to be a historian earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History (summa cum laude) from Austin College and a Master of Arts degree in History from Rice University where her areas of concentration were Britain and the American South in the Nineteenth Century. Having from childhood a deep love of books and an interest in libraries, Jennifer earned a second Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas in 1998.

A gifted historian, her Masters degree from Rice University focused on married women and their property studied through their probated wills in the small rural county of Amite, Mississippi. Having pioneer ancestors in that county allowed her a personal perspective in her research. Jennifer’s association with the history of Amite County continued for many years through a history website that she developed and maintained beginning in 1998. “Jen’s All About Amite County Mississippi” was important in drawing visitors and maintaining interest in the people and history of Southwest Mississippi through the County’s Bicentennial in 2009.

As an avocational historian and genealogist, she researched the history of many other areas and regions associated with her own family, including Assumption Parish and the Bayou Lafourche area of Louisiana, as well as Texas and Southwestern Mississippi. Her research skills surprised many when she uncovered an ancestor who unknowingly came to Texas to fight in the Texas Revolution in 1836, only to return home to Mississippi where his Texas adventures were soon forgotten.

Jennifer’s research often included travel to an area and research into the clothing, way of life, and vocational pursuits of the population. Her travels were not only in the United States, but in Europe, as well. She maintained an extensive collection of period clothing from the 19th Century and was an expert on the 19th Century Louisiana sugar industry. A popular speaker to historical groups, she had a keen mind and wide-ranging interests in cultures and peoples throughout the world.

Her professional career was spent in Austin where she focused on virtual information management, principally for state government. In combining her historian’s research skills with her technology expertise, she said she worked “to create order out of digital information chaos.” After moving to Austin, she became a communicant of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and served on its Vestry.

Although recognized for her avocational and vocational achievements, she loved being “Mama” to her 12-year-old daughter, Mary Page. As her health became a challenge, Jennifer still would attend every volleyball game or school program that she possibly could.

Jennifer is survived by her daughter, Mary Page Jones; parents, The Very Reverend and Mrs. John D. Payne; brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Jaime Payne; two nieces, Chloe and Lexie Payne; and numerous other relatives and friends.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hodge-Martin-Chatfield Museum, P. O. Box 26, Chatfield, Texas 75105, which Jennifer had helped to establish; and to the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Memorial Fund, 2128 Barton Hills Drive, Austin, TX 78704.