History
Christopher H. Payne was born in slavery in Monroe Co. on Sept. 7, 1848, and worked as a servant in the Confederate army. He later served as a teacher and ordained Baptist minister, established the West Virginia Enterprise, Pioneer, and Mountain Eagle newspapers, and became a lawyer. In 1896 he became the first African American elected to the West Virginia legislature, later served as a delegate to Republican National Conventions, and was Consul General to the Danish West Indies from 1903 to 1917. He died on Dec. 5, 1925, in St. Thomas.
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Montgomery, West Virginia · United States
