John Howard Payne (June 9, 1791 – April 10, 1852) was an American actor, poet, playwright, and writer who had nearly two decades of a theatrical career and success in London. He is today most remembered as the creator of "Home! Sweet Home!", a song he wrote in 1822 that became widely popular in the United States and the English-speaking world. Its popularity was revived during the American Civil War, as troops on both sides embraced it.

After his return to the United States in 1832, Payne spent time with the Cherokee in the Southeast and interviewed many elders. Intending to write about them, he amassed material about their culture, language and society, which have been useful to scholars. But his published theory that suggested their origin as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel has been thoroughly disproved. At that time, European Americans were still strongly influenced by a Biblical basis of history in trying to understand origins of the peoples in the Americas.

Early life and education

John Howard Payne was born in New York City on June 9, 1791, one of seven sons among nine children. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where his father headed a school. The family also spent time at his grandfather's colonial-era house in East Hampton, New York, which was later preserved in honor of Payne. As a youth, Payne showed precocious dramatic talent, but his father tried to discourage that path. After the death of an older son, his father installed young Payne, age 13, in his late brother's position at the same accountants' firm in New York, but Payne showed he had no mind for commerce.

Payne's interest in theater was irrepressible. He published the first issue of The Thespian Mirror, a journal of theater criticism, at age 14. Soon after that, he wrote his first play, Julia: or the Wanderer, a comedy in five acts. Its language was racy, and it closed quickly.

Payne started a college paper called the Pastime, which he kept up for several issues. When he was 16, his mother died, and the academy run by his father was failing. Payne, unhappy in his "exile" at Union, left at Easter to be with his family. He told his grieving father that he was dropping out of college to pursue a stage career. On February 24, 1809, he made his debut at the old Park Theatre in New York in the eponymous role of Young Norval. Scoring a brilliant success, he went on to become the first American actor to play Hamlet; regarded as a prodigy, he was regaled as a home town wonder when he returned to Boston, among other major cities where he toured. His appearances as Romeo to Eliza Poe, Edgar Allan Poe's mother, won particular acclaim, and he favored her to play opposite him in comedies. But despite his success, he had difficulty getting paid by the theaters. In a brief interval away from the theatre, he founded the Athenaeum, a circulating library and reading room.

Career

<!-- thumb|right|Our Home Cyclopedia: Cookery and Housekeeping, published in 1889, has an illustration of the [[hearth in John Howard Payne's home.]] <<NOTE: This claim has been discredited.>> -->

Befriended by the English tragedian George Frederick Cooke, who appeared with Payne in King Lear at New York's Park Theatre, Payne decided to seek recognition in London's theatre world, and he sailed across the Atlantic in February 1813.

The sheet music rapidly sold 100,000 copies, earning its publishers £2,100 net profit in the first year. Years later, when the Lincoln family was mourning the death of their son, the president asked that the song be played repeatedly at the White House. As was typical throughout his career, however, Payne realized only meager profits from its enormous popularity.

While in Europe, Payne had several romantic interests, including a brief infatuation with Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley's young widow and the author of Frankenstein. He lost interest when he realized she hoped only to use him to attract the notice of his friend, Washington Irving. Payne never married.

1832 Return to the US and study of the Cherokee

Leaving Europe after nearly two decades, Payne returned to the United States in 1832. Friends arranged a benefit concert in New York to try to help him earn a stake to get resettled. He also toured the country with artist and naturalist John James Audubon. Payne specifically believed that he had found similarities between the Cherokee language and ancient Hebrew. The Cherokee and other American Indians have been thoroughly proven to have ancient origins in eastern Asia. But, Payne's study and papers have been an important source of information on Cherokee language and culture for subsequent scholars. Payne's song was widely sung during the American Civil War, when it was treasured by troops of both the North and the South. It was also a particular favorite of President Abraham Lincoln. He asked Italian opera star Adelina Patti to perform it for him and his wife when the diva appeared at the White House in 1862. The Lincolns were still mourning the death of their son Willie. The memorial service was held on the 91st anniversary of Payne's birth and was attended by President Chester A. Arthur, members of his cabinet, the State Department, and the Supreme Court; the Marine Band, and a crowd of 2,000-3,000 that included numerous literary and other prominent people. Organizers arranged for a full choir to sing "Home, Sweet Home."

Legacy and honors

  • 1873: A bronze bust of Payne was installed with a public ceremony in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.
  • 1883: Payne's ashes were brought back to the United States, received with honors and held in state at New York's City Hall. They were reinterred in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on the 91st anniversary of his birth.
  • Circa 1890s: Payne's grandfather's home on James Lane in East Hampton was preserved by Gustav Buek, a wealthy admirer of the poet, and identified as "Home Sweet Home" in Payne's honor. Payne spent time there as a child.
  • 1970: John Howard Payne was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Also inducted was his distant cousin, parlor song composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond, born in 1862.

See also

  • Daniel Sabin Butrick (Buttrick), co-authored The Payne-Butrick Papers, 2 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010).

Citations

References

  • Mircea Eliade, Image and Symbol
  • Lee Irwin, "Cherokee Healing: Myth, Dreams, and Medicine", American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 16, 2, 1992, p.&nbsp;237
  • Charles H. Sylvester, "John Howard Payne and 'Home, Sweet Home' ", Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6, p.&nbsp;221 (published 1922), The Project Gutenberg eBook
  • Frank Gado "Appearing As Edgar's Father," Open Letters Monthly, August, 2012.
  • John Howard Payne Papers at Newberry Library
  • Finding aid to John Howard Payne papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.